Abandonment of the “racist” national origins quota system is urgently needed as a requisite to correction of the injustices in the McCarran-Walter Immigration Law which President Eisenhower has called to the attention of Congress, nine Jewish organizations said in a statement made public today.
The organizations expressed gratification that the President had forwarded to Congress the complaints which he had received of such injustices. His action, they said, was “a practical demonstration of his continued determination to forge an immigration policy and law expressing our best traditions.”
Joining in the statement were the: American Jewish Congress, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans of the United States, National Community Relations Advisory Council, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, United Service for New Americans, United Synagogue of America.
The statement was released through the National Community Relations Advisory Council–joint policy-formulating and coordinating body for Jewish community relations organizations including 28 Jewish Community Councils throughout the country. A flexible immigration law should replace the present law, the organization declared, to “enable this country to respond quickly and within the framework of our permanent immigration laws to such emergency situations as the President described in his message of April 23 calling for a program to admit an additional 240, 000 persons.”
Recalling the President’s assertion that “existing legislation contains injustices; it does, in fact, discriminate,” the Jewish groups called on him to “continue to give leadership to Congress so that this discrimination may cease.” They urged immediate hearings by Senate and House Committees, in accordance with the President’s recommendation.
The New York Times and New York Herald Tribune today published editorials calling for Congressional action on President Eisenhower’s request for revision of 10 specific “injustices” in the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act. The Times calls the President’s action “gratifying” but emphasizes that his request is “only the first step.” The Herald Tribune says it is “in keeping with his demonstrated humane interest in the problems of immigration.” Both newspapers scored Congressional critics of the President’s proposal who immediately after he made the suggestions said that revision of the McCarran Act was not needed.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
