Sen. Herbert H. Lehman today took issue with the recommendation made to President Eisenhower by Sen. Arthur V. Watkins, chairman of the joint Congressional Immigration Committee, urging the President not to seek any changes in the present immigration law for the next three years.
A bill seeking revision of the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act was introduced recently by Sen. Lehman and 31 other members of Congress. In his statement today, Sen. Lehman appealed to President Eisenhower “not to be swayed” by the recommendation of Sen. Watkins, who is head of a Congressional committee which undertook a study of the inequities of the McCarran-Walter Act at the President’s request.
“The stand taken by Senator Watkins against any amendment to the McCarran Act for the next three years flies in the face of the commitments made to the American people both by President Eisenhower and by Adlai Stevenson in the Presidential election,” Sen. Lehman said. “But this is not a political matter, despite Senator Watkins’ attempt – if the press reports are accurate – to make it so. Immigration and citizenship are vital American and non-political issues.
“I supported the President’s Emergency Immigration Bill and used whatever influence I had to get it through Congress. It was not a Republican achievement, but an American achievement. My bill to revise and replace the McCarran Act is not a Democratic Bill. It is an American Bill, in the best traditions of this country, and I expect and hope that it will be supported non-partisanly in the next Congress.
“I hope and trust that President Eisenhower will not be swayed by Sen. Watkins letter, but will instead give sympathetic consideration to my proposal to the President, conveyed in my letter of August 13th, to adopt the bill I introduced or any major part of it, as an Administration measure, for which he may expect to receive strong support from many members of Congress and millions of Americans without regard to political affiliation.
“Our friends and allies here would be strongly heartened by a show of leadership by President Eisenhower in this fight to prove that we mean what we say when we talk about brotherhood and the unity of the free world without discrimination or prejudice,” Sen. Lehman concluded.
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.
