White House Press Release, Statement by President Harry S. Truman

390 426 426 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE DECEMBER 22, 1945 CONFIDENTIAL The following statement by the President is for release in all newspapers appearing on the street not earlier than 6:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time, today, Saturday, DECEMBER 22, 1945. NOTE: The same release applies to radio commentators and news broadcasters. Please use caution to avoid premature publication. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President TRUMAN NARA STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES OF CERTAIN DISPLACED PERSONS AND REFUGEES IN EUROPE The war has brought in its wake an appalling dislocation of populations in Europe. Many humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, are doing their utmost to solve the multitude of problems ising in connection with this dislocation of hundreds of thousands of persons. Every effort is being made to return the displaced persons and refugees in the various countries of Europe to their former homes. The great difficulty is that so many of these persons have no homes to which they may return. The immensity of the problem of displaced persons and refugees is almost beyond comprehension. A number of countries in Europe, including Switzerland, Sweden, France, and England, are working toward its solution. The United States shares the responsibility to relieve the suffering. To the extent that our present immigration laws permit, everything possible should be done at once to facilitate the entrance of some of these displaced persons and refugees into the United States. In this way we may do something to relieve human misery, and set an example to the other countries of the world which are able to receive some of these war sufferers. I foel that it is essential that we do this ourselves' to show our good faith in requesting other nations to open their doors for this purpose. Most of these persons are nativas of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The immigration quotas for all these countries for one year total approximately 39,000, two-thirds of which are allotted to Gormany. Under in any single month the number of visas issued cannot exceed ten per cent of the annual quota. This means that from now on only about 3900 visas can be issued each month to persons who are natives of these countries. Very fow persons from Europe have migrated to the United States during the war years. In the fiscal year 242, only ten per cent of the immigration quotas was used; in 1943, five per cent; in 1944, six per cent; and in 1945, seven per cent. As of November 30, 1945, the end of the fifth month of the present fiscal year, only about ton per cont of the quotas for the European countries has been used. Those unused quotas however do not accumulate through the years, and I do not intend to ask the Congress to change this rule. (OVER)