A high State Department official said today that the United States stands accused of discrimination, bigotry and hypocrisy in the eyes of the world because of the present immigration law with its quota system based on national origin.
This statement was made by Abba P. Schwartz, administrator, Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State at the annual meeting of the Federation of Jewish Agencies, HIAS and Council Migration Service of Philadelphia. The meeting was held in conjunction with the United HIAS Service, at the National Conference of Jewish Communal Service in session at the Sheraton Hotel.
“The system,” Mr. Schwartz said, “seeks to preserve preferences based on race and place of birth in the admission of immigrants to the United States. This not only results in discrimination in our hospitality to different nationalities, but also reflects upon our own citizens. Our present immigration law seems to be based on the unacceptable and indefensible theory that some persons are better than others because of their ethnic origin.
“We have removed all elements of second-class citizenship from our statute books by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We must, similarly, remove all elements in our immigration law which suggest there are second-class people.”
Mr. Schwartz reviewed the proposed revision of the law which would change the provisions for admission to this country. “Our principal concern, in revising the immigration law,” he said, “is to bring it into line with the spirit of the Civil Rights Act by abolishing those provisions which now ask of a person ‘Where were you born?’ rather than ‘What can you do for America?'”
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