Three major Christian groups this week-end called for early revision of the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act to permit a greater number of refugees and DP’s to enter the United States.
The National Lutheran Council, representing 4,000,000 members of eight Lutheran denominations, at its 35th annual convention in Atlantic City, urged Congress to rewrite the law and provide a “just and workable” plan to replace the national origins quota system. It also called for a three-year “statutory priority” for the admission of 100,000 refugees a year, and asked changes in the present law to guard the rights of naturalized citizens.
The national board of the Young Women’s Christian Association, which met in this city, asked legislation to guarantee that U. S. immigration policy would be based on humanitarian considerations as well as on the special needs and responsibilities of the U.S. It advocated legislation to admit to this country its fair share of refugees and the remaining DP’s.
In Washington the National Council of Catholic Women, calling for revision of the act, said: “We have a real obligation to help relieve the problems of refugees escapees and prospective Immigrants, preferably through an immediate change in our basic immigration law, or if necessary, through immigration legislation. ” The NCCW added that the present law had resulted in a reduction of available quota numbers “to some of the very persons that need them most.”
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.
