The hope that the exemption of unnaturalized Italians from the class of “enemy aliens” which was announced this week, will eventually be extended also to loyal immigrants who entered the United States as refugees from Axis countries, was expressed here today in a statement issued by William Rosenwald, president of the National Refugee Service.
“It was with gratification that I heard Attorney General Biddle’s announcement exempting unnaturalized Italians from the enemy alien regulations,” the statement said. “It was equally encouraging to learn that the Department of Justice is sympathetically considering the status of other loyal persons. This statement should hold high hope and promise for expatriated peoples whose loyalty to the United States has been attested to on so many occasions. It is my personal observation that the confidences which the U.S. Government new reposes in our Italian group can justifiably be extended to others who look upon America as the homeland to which they owe their complete loyalty, even though they now are classified as “enemy aliens.”
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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.