Five of the six members of the Congressional Sub- committee on Immigration who today concluded hearings at the emergency refugee shelter at Fort Ontario expressed the hope and belief after two days of testimony that something could be done within existing immigration laws to make possible the legal entrance into the U. S. of a large majority of the 969 refugees now living in the shelter.
The Congressman generally agreed that the calibre of the residents at the shelter was such that they would make good American citizens. The sub-committee generally looked with favor upon lifting the restrictions on the residents of the shelter in line with the recommendation made yesterday by Brigadier General O’Dwyer, executive director of the War Refugee Board.
Summing up the two-day session, Chairman Samuel Dickstein said that “the committee has been much impressed by the testimony heard.” He hopes to call a meeting of the entire House Immigration Committee sometime immediately after the 4th of July. Should the committee agree, Chairman Dickstein hopes that it will send a recommendation to President Truman urging him to issue an executive order that will reinterpret the original Presidential order of the late President Roosevelt before the refugees were brought to this country.
Meanwhile, Congressman Dickstein sees three possiblities:
1. The release on parole to relief and welfare organizations of such persons as can get the approval of appropriate governmental representatives.
2. The release on bond of all the residents at the shelter. Congressman Dickstein expressed the belief that there were individuals and organizations such as NRS, National Council of Jewish Women, and HIAS which would gladly cooperate in providing such bond.
3. Declare all the residents at the shelter to be illegal immigrants, thus turning them over to the Immigration Dept., making it possible for them to be treated as all other illegal immigrants. This would enable the individual refugee to make application for a change of status, and to leave the country temporarily after a pre- examination to accomplish such change of status.
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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.
