Moved by the suicide plunge from a hotel window of a Czech refugee woman and her two children, President Roosevelt has promised to extend the temporary visas of refugees in the United States until they can find permanent homes in this country or elsewhere, according to Representative Adolph J. Sabath, who saw the President last Saturday.
The senior member of the House and chairman of its Rules Committee, in a letter to the Jewish Daily Courier, said that the President had expressed himself as deeply moved by the suicide of Mrs. Adela Langer with her two children and had promised to do everything within the limits of existing laws to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies.
Mr. Sabath’s letter, as translated from the Yiddish version published by the local newspaper, follows:
“Last Saturday morning, at a conference which I had with the President, before I had a chance to speak to him about the unfortunate suicide of Mrs. Langer with here two children, the President, deeply moved, expressed his sympathy and over the tragic occurrence. The president told me that he would do all in his power, and, of course, within the limits of the law, to help those unfortunate people who are in a similar situation. He severely criticized the conditions responsible for such tragedies.
“He spared me the necessity of asking him that all those refugees who are now in this country on temporary visas should be permitted to remain in the United States until a way is found to enable them to remain permanently on a legal basis or until such time as preparations are made in other countries where they may settle.
“I regret very much that the news of the Langer tragedy reached me only a few hours before Congress adjourned and before I had a chance to introduce a resolution enabling all those with temporary visas to remain in the country until new arrangements are made for them. In the meantime, I have made an urgent request that the temporary visas of the unfortunates should be extended so that they may remain here.”
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