In an effort to eliminate the additional war-created bottleneck which has prevented maximum utilization of United States refugee aid possibilities, the State Department announced today that block allotments of quota numbers of Nazi-controlled nations had been distributed to United States consulates in Canada, Mexico and Cuba.
Quota numbers under the German and Polish immigration allotments have been distributed for issuance in February in the three countries, the Department said.
A number of Czechoslovak quota numbers for issuance in March have also been distributed in American consular offices in Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Czechoslovak numbers are available for issuance at Havana in the current month. The consular offices to which the numbers have been sent are Havana, Mexico City, Tia Juana, Mexicali, Ciudad Juarez, Nogales, Monterey, Nuevo Laredo, Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Windsor and Vancouver.
Block allotments under the Hungarian quota have been sent to Havana and Montreal and individual allotments to several other consular offices. The allotments made will exhaust the Hungarian quota for February.
It is anticipated that further block allotments under the German, Polish, Czechoslovak and Hungarian quotas will be distributed to consular offices in nearby countries from month to month. In this connection, it is pointed out that no more than 10 per cent of the annual immigration quotas may be issued in one calendar month.
Previously, the State Department had assigned parts of the quotas of Central European nations under Nazi control to the United States Consulate at Lisbon, which is thronged with refugees from the spreading Nazi terror.
Officials pointed out that those remaining in occupied territory are generally unable to travel or are prevented from leaving the country by lack of funds, the authorities or some other reason. On the other hand, the bulk of those ready and able to journey to America have already managed to escape at least as far as Lisbon.
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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.
