Moves to Deport Nazi War Criminals and Prevent Them from Entering U.S.

After an inexplicable lapse of a quarter of a century, the United States government is on the verge of acquiring authority to deport Nazi war criminals and prevent them from entering this country to live in freedom. The Congress completed Friday final action on a bill that authorizes the government to take such actions and thereby close a loophole that has existed in the emigration law since 1952.

The 50-word law, authored by Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D.NY), was passed by the House of Representatives Sept. 26, and in the Senate, where it was presented by Sen. Richard Stone (D.Fla.), Oct. 10. However, a technicality in the Senate. where the bill’s title was amended by introduction of non-germane legislation dealing with Indochinese refugees, held it up until last Thursday.

The bill serves “to exclude from admission into, and to deport from, the United States all aliens who persecuted any person on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or political opinion, under the direction of the Nazi government of Germany, and for other purposes.” Nazi war criminals, when convicted, can be stripped of U.S. citizenship and can be deported under the prospective new law.

VOTE SEEN AS MAJOR STEP

“Today’s vote is a major step in putting our government squarely on record against providing sanctuary in this country to Nazi war criminals, ” Holtzman said. Holtzman, whose previous attempt three years ago to put through the law failed in committee, said that as a result of the new law “a number of persons against whom the Immigration and Naturalization Service has solid evidence of war crimes committed under the Nazis, can now be deported. Other suspected war criminals can now be barred from entering the U.S. to visit or conduct business.”

Holtzman observed that “the sorry record of our government over the past 30 years in allowing known Nazi war criminals to live undisturbed in this country has been amply documented. The vote today confirms my belief that it is not too late to make our stand against war crimes clear and unequivocal.”

Congressional action, she added, “is especially appropriate at this time: a time of increased awareness of the horrors of the Holocaust; a time when the past role of our government in affording a haven to war criminals has become a matter of public record; and a time of resurgence of Nazism and anti-Semitism worldwide–in the Soviet Union, in South America and in Skokie.”