Draft of the President's Press Release, "On Our Participation in the Handling of Displaced Persons in Europe"

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Drfina displaced persons $ 175 per head THE PRESIDENT'S PRESS RELEASE ON OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE HANDLING OF DISPLACED PERSONS 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 arising in connection with this dislocation of hundreds of thousands of persons. Every effort is being made to return the refugees in the various countries of Europe to their former homes. The great difficulty is that so many persons have no homes to which they may return. The immensity of the refugee problem is almost beyond comprehension. A number of countries in Europe, including Switzerland, Sweden, France and England, aresworking 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 into the United States. Most of these persons are from Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The annual immigration quotas for these countries total approximately 39,000, 149. two thirds of which are allotted to Germany. American GOVERNMENT Very few persons from Europe have migrated to the United States during the war years. In the fiscal year 1942, 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 ten per cent of the quotas for the European countries has been used.

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