President Eisenhower today left the door open for a decision on pressing for revision of the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act by evading a direct reply to a question whether there was any significance to his failure to mention the issue in his State of the Union message to Congress.
The question was posed at his press conference today by a Jewish Telegraphic Agency representative who asked whether there was any significance to the omission of reference to revision of the McCarran-Walter Act and if the President still favored revision.
The President replied that there was nothing significant in the omission. As a matter of fact, there were many, many things omitted, and he thought that he had stated that some of the things omitted would be the subject of later comment. It happens that this year, up until this time, the details of any studies made on the McCarran Act by the responsible departments have not been submitted to him. And therefore whether he is going to recommend immediate revision, he cannot say for certain.
The House Judiciary Committee decided today to tighten rules which in some cases have permitted “undesirable ” aliens to remain in this country. Committee chairman Chauncey Reed said the new rules, however, will speed action on bills to allow desirable aliens to remain.
Rep. Reed explained that under the present system, deportation proceedings against illegally entered or undesirable aliens are halted automatically when a Congressman introduces a special bill to permit the alien to remain here, Almost 2,000 such bills are pending before the committee now.
In some cases, however, individual Congressmen have not been able to investigate fully. Further checks with the Justice Department show that the case is not worthy, and the special bill is killed. But there is a long delay before deportation proceedings are renewed. Some times the alien cannot be located. Under the new rules, deportation proceedings will not be halted automatically upon the introduction of a special bill unless the Congressman sponsoring the bill gives complete Information on the case, Rep. Reed said.
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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.
