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Presidential Paper Historical Series: 65 - Special Message To The Congress On Aid For Refugees And Displaced Persons[ title corrected - Ed. 11/10/03 ]by President Harry S Truman: 1945-1953
65 - Special
Message to the Congress on Aid for Refugees and Displaced
Persons To the Congress of the United States:
One of the gravest problems arising from the present world
crisis is created by the overpopulation in parts of Western
Europe, aggravated by the flight and expulsion of people from
the oppressed countries of Eastern Europe. This problem is of great practical importance to us because
it affects the peace and security of the free world. It is
also of great concern to us, because of our long-established
humanitarian traditions. The Congress has recognized the
importance of this problem and has already enacted some
legislation to help meet it. I ask the Congress to give early
and favorable consideration to additional legislation to make
more adequate provision for meeting this situation. Specifically, I ask the Congress to authorize a program
that will: (2) Continue our participation in the international effort
now being made to assist in the migration and resettlement
throughout the world of a substantial number of persons from
the overpopulated areas of Western Europe, and (3) Authorize additional immigration into this country, on
a limited basis, to aid in alleviating the problems created by
communist tyranny and overpopulation in Western Europe. The solution to these problems cannot, and should not, be
the responsibility of any one nation. It is an international
responsibility-an integral part of the world crisis which the
free nations must meet together. It demands the cooperative
efforts of all interested countries. But a real solution can
be found only if the United States does its part. We have done
our part in the past-we must not falter now. World War II left in its wake a tremendous upheaval of
populations in the countries of Europe. To meet the situation,
this country took the lead in establishing the International
Refugee Organization, which provided care and protection for
displaced persons and made possible the migration of more than
one million of them to 48 countries throughout the free
world. As our own contribution to the common effort, the Congress
in 1948 enacted the Displaced Persons Act and subsequently
amended and extended it. Both the Congress and the American
people have every right to be proud of the achievements made
under this farsighted humanitarian legislation. The Displaced Persons Act is now approaching the
termination date fixed by the Congress. When operations under
this law have been finished, almost 400,000 victims of tyranny
will have been resettled in the United States. The first major
phase of the program was completed with the issuance of
practically all of the 341,000 visas authorized to be issued
by midnight, December 31, 1951. In addition, the Congress
authorized the admission of 54,744 Germans who had fled or
been driven from areas cast of the Iron Curtain. There is
every likelihood that the remaining visas for these German
expellees will be issued ahead of the June 30, 1952, deadline
set by the Congress. The job has been well done by the Displaced Persons
Commission and other cooperating agencies of the Government.
Much of the success of the program is due to the vital work
accomplished by private voluntary agencies, representing our
major religious faiths and nationality groups, and by the
State Commissions appointed by the Governors of 34 States.
These organizations of citizens have contributed their efforts
and resources to resettling the greater part of the displaced
persons admitted to this country. Without them, and without
the goodwill and cooperative response of thousands of American
families and church groups, this great program could never
have been carried out. Thus, by doing our own share and by acting together with
the other countries of the free world, we have been dealing
successfully with the major dislocations caused by Hitler's
policies of brutality and aggression. But the movement of large masses of distressed people
across international boundaries is by no means over. Communist
tyranny has taken up where Hitler's brutality left off. We
are, therefore, now turning our attention to the innocent and
unhappy victims of communist oppression. Throughout the Soviet dominated area of central and eastern
Europe, the communist regimes are increasing their repressive
measures. Some of the enslaved people are managing to escape
to the West. Some fifteen to twenty thousand Germans are
slipping over the border from the Soviet Zone of Germany and
crossing into Western Germany every month. From the communist
countries to the south and east the movement to free Europe is
much smaller, but still they come, at the risk of their lives,
past border guards and through mine fields. There are about
18,000 of these people already West of the Iron Curtain, and
they are coming in at the rate of about 1,000 a month. The people in all these groups come into areas where, for
the most part, the local economy is unable to support the
population already there. Western Germany, for example, is
overcrowded with almost nine million people of German ethnic
origin who were driven there from Eastern Europe after the
war. Trieste, which is receiving many of those escaping from
the satellites, is badly overcrowded. Italy is struggling with
very serious problems of overpopulation and is urgently trying
to resettle large numbers of its people overseas. Greece faces
great difficulty in absorbing the refugees of Greek origin who
are being driven out of the Balkan satellites by the
communists. Thus, the brutal policies of Soviet tyranny are
aggravating overcrowded conditions which are already a danger
to the stability of these free nations.
This in general terms is the nature of the problem that now
confronts free Europe. The Congress is aware of the importance of this problem for
the free world and the security of the United States.
Congressional enactments and appropriations recently enabled
the United States to take the lead in establishing the
Provisional Inter-Governmental Committee for the Movement of
Migrants from Europe, which 17 governments have already
joined. This organization is already at work providing
overseas transportation for migrants from areas of
overpopulation to lands where more people are needed. We are taking part in the work of this organization and
have contributed ten million dollars to its operation. The
organization has taken over the fleet of ships formerly
operated by the International Refugee Organization. The legal authority to participate in this organization is
contained in the Mutual Security Act of 1951. This authority
should be extended, and the Congress should make provision for
continuing our financial contribution to this work for the
next fiscal year. This is of great importance, but much more needs to be
done.
In the first place, specific aid and assistance should be
provided for the people who are fleeing at the risk of their
lives from Southern and Eastern Europe. These people are
Baits, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Bulgarians,
Rumanians, Albanians, Ukrainians, and Russians. These people face a desperate situation. Not only do they
arrive destitute, with only what they can carry on their
backs, but they find themselves in totally strange lands among
strange peoples speaking strange languages. The local
authorities do not have adequate resources to care for them
properly. These people need better care when they first arrive
and they need assistance if they are to move on and resettle
elsewhere. The miserable conditions in which these fugitives from
communism find themselves, and their present inability to
emigrate to new homes and start new lives, lead inevitably to
despair. Their disillusionment is being effectively exploited
by communist propaganda. These men and women are friends of
freedom. They include able and courageous fighters against
communism. They ask only for an opportunity to play a useful
role in the fight for freedom. It is the responsibility of the
free world to afford them this opportunity. The need is well recognized, both in Europe and in this
country. Private welfare organizations of American citizens,
Protestant, Catholic and Jewish, have been working hard to
help these people. Last year, these organizations spent
substantial amounts for their care and resettlement. These
organizations will continue their efforts this year. But the
need is greater than they can handle. First of all, these fugitives from communism need
supplemental care and maintenance after they arrive in Western
Europe. Local governments and private relief organizations
give a minimum amount of this type of aid, but their resources
are inadequate. Additional food, better shelter, clothing,
medical care, legal advice and other kinds of material
assistance are needed. These people also need assistance in financing overseas
transportation. The new international migration organization
and the American private relief agencies can and do help with
this, but a concerted effort is needed to give these people an
equal opportunity to share in the migration program. At
present, because of inadequate resources, it is these
fugitives from communism who have the greatest difficulty in
arranging for overseas migration. If funds were provided, and
an adequate administrative organization set up, these people
would have a better chance to migrate. I am convinced that we must help these people. Therefore,
acting under the authority of the Mutual Security Act of 1951,
I am authorizing the Director for Mutual Security to go
forward with a limited program of assistance in this fiscal
year. Four million three hundred thousand dollars will be
allocated for this purpose. This program will help alleviate
the condition of these people in the countries to which they
escape and will enable many of them to move out of Europe. The
funds that are being made available will supplement but not in
any sense supersede--the efforts now being made both by the
governments of the countries where these people have sought
refuge and by private American organizations. Supplemental care and overseas migration do not, however,
constitute all that should be done for those who escape from
Eastern Europe. A substantial number of them want to stay in
Europe and should have the chance to do so. They should be
welcomed in Western Europe and given the opportunity to make
their individual contributions to the free world. Many of them
will need further education or training so they can prepare
themselves for useful and productive work in the North
Atlantic community. I urge the Congress, therefore, to provide clear and
adequate authority for the coming fiscal year--together with
the necessary funds--so that the program of assistance we are
now starting for the refugees from communism can be carried
forward and strengthened along the lines that I have mentioned
here. In addition to these types of aid, the opportunity for
military service may provide an answer to the problems of a
small number of these refugees. Some of these people will be
able to enlist in the United States armed forces overseas,
under Public Law 597, the so-called Lodge Act of 1950. So far,
however, only a handful have been allowed to do this. Security
screening requirements have necessarily been high, since each
person under the provisions of the Lodge Act is a potential
United States citizen. Another type of military service for
these people is authorized under section 101(A)(1) of the
Mutual Security Act of 1951, which provides that they can be
formed into elements of the military forces supporting the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The question of forming
such units presents great administrative and political
difficulties, but it has been receiving careful study. Even if
it proves possible, however, to create such units, military
service could utilize only a relatively small number of these
people, and would not eliminate the need for additional
measures to use their skills and energies in civilian
life. Such, in brief, are the measures that can help to alleviate
the problems of these fugitives from Soviet terror. But these
problems, important as they are, are overshadowed by the need
for increasing migration from the overcrowded areas of
Europe. Overpopulation is one of the major factors preventing the
fullest recovery of those countries where it exists. It is a
serious drag on the economies of nations belonging to the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A solution to this
problem, therefore, becomes vitally necessary to strengthen
the defense of the North Atlantic Community. Our common defense requires that we make the best possible
use not only of the material resources of the free world but
of our human resources as well. Men and women who cannot be
productively employed in the free countries of Europe because
of conditions there are a net loss to the strength of the free
world. In other countries, where they are needed, these same
people could add to the output and growing power of the free
nations. But left in idleness as they now are, wasted and
hopeless, they become an easy prey to the demagogues of
totalitarianism, both right and left. The bulk of the emigration needed will have to be taken
care of by countries other than the United States. Some of the
free nations, particularly those with large unsettled areas or
undeveloped resources, have a pressing need for large numbers
of immigrants to build up their countries and increase their
production. Canada and Australia, for example, have already
initiated substantial programs of immigration. The Australian
immigration program calls for an annual immigration of at
least 150,000 persons per year. Canadian absorption in the
last year was at the rate of 180,000. Additional opportunities
for migrants are opening up, although more slowly, in the
Republics of Central and South America. But the United States can and should take some of the
migrants now available in Europe. One of the reasons we lead
the free world today is that we are a nation of immigrants. We
have been made strong and vigorous by the diverse skills and
abilities of the different 'peoples who have migrated to this
country and become American citizens. Past immigration has
helped to build our tremendous industrial power. Today, our
growing economy can make effective use of additional manpower
in various areas and lines of work. The rapid expansion of our industry and the enlargement of
our defense forces, have increased the demands on our
available manpower reserves. Our industry can readily absorb a
limited number of skilled and trained personnel in the years
immediately ahead. In our agriculture particularly, we have a need for
additional people. Farm operators and farm workers are
essential in our defense effort. Since 1949, there has again
been a downward trend in the farm population of the United
States. With the resumption of the movement from the farms to
the cities, there is a real danger that in the years just
ahead our agricultural production may be seriously
hampered. A rich pool of surplus farmers and farm workers exists in
the overpopulated areas of Western Europe. Among the expellees
in Western Germany there are many agricultural families with
no opportunity for employment on the land. In Italy and the
Netherlands, too, there are large groups of agricultural
workers who cannot find productive employment on the limited
arable land available. Besides farm workers, our experience under the Displaced
Persons Act has demonstrated that we can obtain from Europe
some trained factory workers, engineers, scientific
technicians, and other kinds of specially qualified people
whose skills can be put to good use in our economy. I am convinced that we should welcome to this country a
number of those who now must emigrate from Europe. We should
do this, not only in our own self-interest, but also as a way
to reaffirm the great tradition of freedom and opportunity
which we have proved in our own experience to be the surest
path of progress and prosperity. In considering the steps to be taken, we should measure the
needs of the distressed people in Europe against our own
capacity to make good use of additional manpower, and the
extent of our international responsibilities. The problem we
face is in the nature of an emergency. This emergency can be
of limited duration, if we of the free world act wisely and
resolutely. The plight of the refugees in Europe and the
demands of our national defense are both related to the threat
of communist aggression. When that threat wanes, there will be
less need for extraordinary measures. But while it persists,
we should move promptly and effectively to meet it. The existing immigration laws are inadequate-both in
general and as regards this special problem. The Displaced
Persons Act will end this year, and we will be thrown back on
the quota system of immigration. So far as the people escaping
from communism are concerned, many of them will be completely
blocked from coming to this country because their quotas have
been "mortgaged" under the Displaced Persons Act, for many
years in the future. For example, half of the Latvian quota
has been mortgaged ahead three centuries to the year 2274, the
Estonian quota through the year 2146, the Lithuanian quota
through the year 2087, and the Polish quota through the year
2000. Furthermore, under present law we will be unable to make
any substantial contribution to meeting the problem of
overpopulation in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, or Greece.
In the latter countries, for example, where the need is
particularly acute, we can admit annually only 5,677 Italians
and 310 Greeks under the law as it now stands. To meet the present emergency, we should enlarge the
numbers of immigrants that can be taken in from all these
critical areas. I ask the Congress to authorize the admission
of some 300,000 additional persons over a three year period.
This would include, on an annual basis: (1) 7,000 religious and political refugees from communism
in eastern Europe; (2) 7,500 Greek nationals from Greece; (3)
7,500 Dutch from the Netherlands; (4) 39,000 Italians from Italy and Trieste; and
(5) 39,000 Germans and persons of German ethnic origin. Immigration in these amounts and from these sources could
readily be absorbed in this country, and together with a far
larger volume of immigration to other free countries, would go
a long way toward solving the emergency problem in Europe. While the admission of these particular groups should
constitute a temporary program of limited duration, it could
well be fitted into desirable permanent changes in our present
immigration quota system if the Congress finds itself able to
make such changes at this session. Our present quota system is not only inadequate to meet
'present emergency needs, it is also an obstacle to the
development of an enlightened and satisfactory immigration
policy for the long-run future. If our quotas were revised and
made more flexible, they could probably be utilized to take
care of most or all of the immigration required to meet the
present emergency situation. The balance, if any, could be
admitted without reference to quota numbers. These are
considerations that the Congress will wish to keep in mind
when it takes up the question of improving our overall
immigration laws. It is most important to remember, however, that action to
meet the emergency problem is needed this year. If the
Congress cannot agree at this session on desirable
improvements in our whole system of immigration that would
take care of the emergency problem, it should act to take care
of the emergency directly. In no event should this vital
emergency program be tied to or associated with restrictive
changes in our permanent immigration laws--changes which would
in themselves hamper or nullify the operation of the emergency
program. In addition to this emergency three-year program, I
recommend that steps be taken to alleviate an unfortunate
situation arising under the operation of the Displaced Persons
Act. Although all visas authorized for displaced persons were
issued, some 7,500 of them were lost because the persons to
whom they were granted did not actually come to the United
States. On the other hand, a number of persons who were
seeking admission under the Act, and whose applications were
under consideration, were unable to obtain visas prior to the
time the authority to issue such visas expired on December 31,
1951. A substantial portion of these applicants were
admissible under the standards of the Act, and would have made
as good immigrants as those already admitted. The voluntary
agencies or individual citizens have given the assurances
necessary for the admission of these persons. There is still
place for them in the United States. It seems unjust and
unwise to deprive them of the opportunity for which they are
qualified. Seven thousand five hundred visas should be ample
to take care of the displaced persons in this category. I
recommend that the Congress authorize up to that number of
visas for them. In carrying out this proposal, and the three-year emergency
program as well, we should follow the lessons of the
successful experience we have had under the Displaced Persons
Act. The same kind of provision should be made, for example,
for security safeguards with respect to those admitted to this
country, for means to effect their settlement here on a wide
geographic basis, and for safeguards against displacement of
United States citizens from housing or employment. And
similarly, as under the Displaced Persons Act, there should be
no religious, racial or other discrimination in the selection
of the immigrants. With respect to the financing of the emergency three-year
program, however, the situation is rather different from that
under the Displaced Persons Act, where transportation was
financed through Government funds. Except for the refugees from communism, the people from the
overpopulated areas, who constitute the bulk of the migrants
to be admitted, are in a better financial position than the
displaced persons of former years. They are not stateless, or
dependent wholly on charity. Their countries are interested in
seeing them migrate and can be called on to help with the
expense of getting them started. The migrants themselves can
be asked to repay the cost of their overseas transportation,
once they have resettled. Some of them have assets of their
own which can be used. While it may be advisable to provide a
source of funds to be loaned to these migrants to pay for
their passage, the net additional cost to this Government of
transporting the people from the overpopulated areas should be
small. The years through which we are passing are tragic years for
many people. We are faced with extraordinary problems which
demand extraordinary solutions. The problem of the refugees
from communist tyranny and that of overpopulation in Western
Europe are matters of practical concern to the entire free
world. To us in America, whose most basic belief is in the
inherent worth of the human individual, these problems present
a challenge as well as a responsibility. The programs I have here recommended are designed to meet
the challenge and accept the responsibility. I hope that the
Congress will give them prompt and favorable
consideration.
Reprinted with permission from John Wolley and Gerhard Peters of the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara at the American Presidency Project.
This is part of the presidential paper historical series featuring past presidential public papers related to immigration law. The papers of our past Presidents show the impact of immigration law in American history. We thank the efforts of the American Presidency Project who have gathered these important archival documents.
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