Congress was urged today “to translate into legislation the stand of both major political parties and their presidential candidates in favor of liberalizing the basic immigration and nationality laws of the United States.”
This action was recommended in a resolution adopted at the 31st annual convention of the Council of Organizations of United Hias Service at the Commodore Hotel attended by more than 1,000 delegates representing fraternal, labor and religious organizations.
“The elimination of the national origins quota system from our basic immigration law and its replacement with a more equitable method of regulating immigration are called for in keeping with the democratic traditions of our nation,” the resolution stated.
The Workmen’s Circle, the fraternal organization with a membership of 70,000 in the United States and Canada, was awarded a scroll of honor at the convention, in celebration of its 60th anniversary and in recognition of its “humanitarian efforts to rescue our persecuted and uprooted co-religionists in all parts of the world.” Nathan Chanin, general secretary of the Workmen’s Circle, accepted the award on behalf of his organization, known as “the Red Cross of the labor movement.”
Louis Gallack, chairman of the Council of Organizations, stated that “our parent organization, United Hias Service, with its 76 years of service and experience in the field of migration and resettlement, has helped more than three million uprooted Jewish men, women and children to resettle in the free world.” At present, more than 11,000 persons are registered with United Hias Service for migration assistance to the United States, Australia, Latin America and Canada, he reported.
Murray I. Gurfein, president of United Hias Service, stated that with the inception of the worldwide migration agency, organized assisted migration came into being. Prior to that time, “when Jews had to uproot themselves in search of peace, security and opportunity, there was no one to receive them and help them. Even when they landed at the port of New York by the hundreds of thousands, more often than not, there was no one who took a personal interest in their welfare,” he said.
James P. Rice, executive director of United Hias Service, who had just returned yesterday from a trip to Europe and North Africa, reported on his meetings with officials of various countries and representatives of intergovernmental migration organizations. He said that these meetings were devoted to an examination of current possibilities for Jewish emigration from Western and Eastern Europe and Africa, in the light of recently-adopted U.S. immigration legislation and changing conditions in lands of migration, departure and reception.
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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.
