Congressional Record Reprint, Extension of Remarks of Senator Herbert Lehman

(Not printed at Government expense) Congressional Record United States PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 82d CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION of America NEEDED: A NEW APPROACH TO IMMIGRATION POLICY EXTENSION OF REMARKS laws and our other laws guaranteeing certain ORGANIZATIONS ARE CONCERNED OF basic rights to the people of this country. The question of immigration is a pro- HON. HERBERT H. LEHMAN The question of immigration must be re- foundly controversial one. Many great re- lated to the question of our population, of ligious and nonreligious organizations are OF NEW YORK the manpower needs of our expanding econ- deeply concerned over the national, religious, IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES omy, and the impact of immigration upon and racial prejudices reflected in the Mc- Friday, July 4, 1952 our labor force and upon employment in Carran-Walter Act. They are greatly dis- general. Mr. LEHMAN. Mr. President, I ask tressed at the reaffirmation of the iniquitous This study must further include consid- unanimous consent to have printed in national origins quota system. I share this eration of the legal status of naturalized the Appendix of the RECORD a statement concern. I believe that the national origins citizens. It must deal with the distinctions system is wicked in implication and com- I have prepared on the subject of immi- established by recent law between natural- pletely outdated in operation. It reflects a gration, in specific regard to a joint reso- ized and native-born citizens. lution which I introduced on June 26, in The study must include a basic review of shameful discrimination and prejudice which should have no place in our Federal association with a number of other Sen- the relationship between immigration and laws or in our national life. national security. ators. The joint resolution calls for a The study must dwell on the nature and All these factors have entered, in one way broad-scale study and review of our im- or another, into the formulatcin of our im- operations of the Government Lachinery migration and naturalization policies. migration policies. But these factors have now in existence to handle immigrants and I ask that there be printed in connec- been injected not in the form of facts but in immigration problems. We must ascertain tion with this statement a copy of the whether there is not exclusive emphasis on form of prejudices, in the form of unsup- joint resolution. keeping aliens out and on deporting those ported assertions and appeals to fear and passion. The time has come for the Ameri- There being no objection, the state- already in, and insufficient emphasis on fa- cilitating the admission of qualified aliens can people to be given the real facts, based ment and joint resolution were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: and assisting them to become useful inhab- on a thorough-going study of this entire problem. itants and good citizens of America. THE McCARRAN-WALTER ACT This study must deal with the status of MODELED AFTER HOOVER COMMISSION The McCarran-Walter immigration bill has aliens resident in this country, their integra- Such a study must obviously be an impar- become law despite a Presidential veto and tion into the national life and their adapta- tial one. It must be carried out by indi- despite the opposition of a great many of tion to the culture and spirit of America. viduals without partisan bias and without us here in the Senate and of a great host We must study not only the admission of national or racial prejudice. The best model cf individuals and organizations in the Na- aliens into the United States but the re- I know is that of the Hoover Commission tion at large. The McCarran-Walter immi- settlement of aliens in the United States. with its mixed membership representing the gration bill, with all its harsh and inequita- We must review the powers that have been general public, the executive branch, and the ble provisions, is now the law of the land. given to consular officers and to immigra- legislative branch. I feel that a study of Therefore, it seems more important than tion officials, to ascertain whether these immigration policy and of naturalization ever, in my judgment, that we have at the powers are sufficiently guarded against abuse, policy should be carried on, if possible, under earliest possible time a broad and impartial against arbitrary decision, and against bu- similar auspices, by a commission represent- review of our immigration and naturaliza- reaucratic shortsightedness. ing the same broad cross-sections of the tion policies. Such a review must critically We must carefully reexamine our quota Nation as the Hoover Commission did. and impartially reexamine all the funda- system, the so-called national origins quota To this end I recently introduced a joint mental assumptions of our present policies. system, with all its built-in prejudice against resolution proposing authorization by Con- It must reexamine the McCarran-Walter Act. the peoples of southern and eastern Europe gress of such a study. My joint resolution I' must look into the future and into the and its unwarranted preference for immi- was completely bipartisan in sponsorship. I past and relate our immigration policies to grants from northern and western Europe. was joined in presenting this resolution by our economic policies and to our foreign We must reexamine all the racial bias in- Senator HUMPHREY, of Minnesota; Senator policies. herent in our immigration laws, the bias GREEN, of Rhode Island; Senator HENDRICK- There must be a study of the relationship against orientals and the intolerable dis- SON, of New Jersey; Senator KILGORE, of West between our immigration and naturalization crimination against Negroes. Virginia; Senator IVES, of New York; Senator 215048-43872