Roosevelt Forming ‘super-committee’ to Act on Political Refugees

A “super-committee” to pass upon applications of political refugees for admission to the United States is being chosen in Washington, under orders of President Roosevelt, it was learned today.

The committee is being formed to settle the differences of opinion between the President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees in New York and certain groups with in the Government as to exactly who and how many should be admitted as political refugees.

Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long has been placed in charge of selecting the personnel of the new committee, which will include representatives of the State, Justice, War and Navy Departments.

The committee will also act as a court of final appeal for political refugees whose admission into the U.S. has been recommended by the President’s Advisory Committee but whose applications for visas have been turned down by consuls abroad. Formation of the committee is expected by interested circles here to break a “bottleneck” which has handicapped admission of political refugees.

Under the procedure to be followed after announcement of the committee’s personnel, all visa applications approved by the President’s Advisory Committee will immediately be routed to the new committee. All applications for admission must be approved by both committees before recommendations will be cabled to consuls abroad.

Placing of representatives of the Justice, Navy and War Departments on the new committee is designed to forestall any possibility that fifth columnists would enter the country in the guise of refugees, it was learned.

Meanwhile, it was learned that the President has turned thumbs down on the proposal that the Interior Department, through independent action, establish the Virgin Islands as a temporary haven for financially independent refugees.

The Chief Executive’s action came after the State Department had blocked the effort of the department’s Territories and Possessions Division to have the haven established through proclamation by Governor Cramer on the ground that the proclamation would be superseded by the authority of the inter-departmental committee now being formed.

The State Department took the resultant dispute to the White House for settlement shortly before the President sailed for his West Indian inspection tour. After receiving reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Army and Navy intelligence which stressed that Communist and Nazi agents and other undesirables had been found in refugee groups seeking emergency visitors’ visas, the President ruled out the entire idea unless some plan could be developed which would meet the State Department’s approval.