The Senate Immigration Committee’s report on the Wagner-Rogers bill for admission of 20,000 refugee children, amended to deduct the number from the present quotas for Greater Germany, will be submitted to the Senate on Tuesday.
The report will say that the legislation is predicated on a “serious emergency.” The committee, however, feels that the existing quotas should be permitted to stand and will not sanction breakdown of existing restrictions. It emphasizes, on the other hand, that the German quotas have been far from filled in the past few years.
As to the argument that admission of the children will mean bringing their parents over in the future, the Committee’s answer is: “The parents can come now if eligible and if within the quotas. They cannot come in the future unless they are eligible and unless they come within the quota. Admissions from Germany during the past few years have been far less than the quotas.”
The report points out that the need for admission of the children is “not only acute but tragic.” “Children affected by the conditions mentioned,” it declares, “are denied public education, not permitted the use of parks and playgrounds, are insulted and frequently beaten. Meanwhile the condition of the parents is becoming more and more acute. There is no future for these children in Germany.” The report points out that “literally hundreds” of applications have already been received from responsible persons for one or more children, and concludes that the evidence is convincing that the children will not become public charges.
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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.
