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novv makes possible the supervision and
deportation of literally thousands of aliens
Against whom final warrants of deportation
have heen issued hut who, for one reason
or another, were undeportable . , , because
't retains the national origins quota system
■ • , because all racial discrimination has
peen removed from our immigration laws
'n a very realistic manner.'
Daughters of the American Revolution are also aware of the threat posed
t° the country, and urge patriots to
°Ppose weakening amendments which
""gilt destroy the Immigration Act.4
The Walter-McCarran Act covers
f-0 pages, and has 307 separate sections. President Truman vetoed the
D1", but Congress passed it over his
Mo by 278 to 113 in the House, and
Dy 57 to 26 in the Senate. Parentheti-
?"'y, both authors of the Act were
"Wnocrats. And, since it was passed
over a Truman veto, it seems, general-
v> to have bipartisan favor.
't has been charged that the Act is
hysterica] legislation that was "rushed"
'"rough Congress." It cannot, in truth,
<Je charged as "hysterical," for almost
y'o years of hearings, of study, and of
"^ estimation and intense research
. er>t into the making of this basic
^migration law. Dealing with both
■"migration and naturalization, it repents a recodification of all the
~lmigration laws. The time spent on
His legislation is said to have been tbe
''n'srcst ever devoted to any single bit
p legislation in all the history of
""Kress.
'he Departments of State and Jus-
°e were the two agencies responsible
r administering the immigration and
turalization laws. Therefore, they
rrir'
ft
.. ade up committees to give help to
le Preparation of the Act. The Act
,,er>t through six entire revisions. All
6 hundreds of immigration enact-
^rifs were made into a single law.
, "°t onlv did the Departments of
j s"ce and State favor the bill in its
j ai form, but it was also viewed with
4v°r by the Central Intelligence
er)cy. It is a matter of record that
»0
government agency opposed it.
^"emios of the Act maintain that it
oth reactionary and Fascist. Propo-
,..n's of the Act say that it is the most
eral of laws.
lib,
—>«i ot laws. For instance, racial
s are removed. Countries of Asia
{ Riven quotas based on the same
n. "la as the one for European
Th*"'65'
L "e Act sets a limit of approximate-
'54,000 immigrants who can be
c°ngr<M<anai n,-i-or,l (1958), p. A2767.
"""Ci"1'1 "'"''' Changes Be Made in U. S. Immi-
t„ ' Policy?" „,,. cit.. p. 31.
'"""••■nt.itivf Francis E. Walter, op. ott., p- 2.
^s Forum News, August, 1956
admitted to this country in any one
year. This is divided into nationality
quotas, which are based on the census
of 1920. The Act is very hard on Communists, criminals, and subversives.
Granted, the existing law does require careful examination of those
persons' entering the country. Rut ask
those who uphold the Act — is it not
better to inconvenience the thousands
of aliens who enter than to endanger
the millions of citizens who reside
here? No foreigner has any inherent
right to come to this country. After
all, these same proponents ask, what
is the use of having laws if they are
not designed to protect the people of
America?
If enemies of the Walter-McCarran
Representative Francis E. Walter (D-Penn.l, coauthor of the Walter-McCarran Act, who stoted
that enemies of the Act didn't want to change
it; rather, they wished to destroy it.
Immigration Act have their way, the
doors vvill be thrown open to the
crowds of European Socialists and
worse, claim those favoring the Act.
They state that these people, drenched
by socialistic ideology, would add to
the already-mounting volume of Socialists' votes in the large industrial
centers of the country.
A provision of the Act, indicative of
its liberality, is that alien wives, husbands, and children of United States
citizens are now permitted to enter
the country quota-free. The "trickle"
of Immigrants has also been increased
to a somewhat larger flow because of
the provision for non-quota groups.
This has increased the annual immigration total to approximately 200,000.
The Act employs selectivity in the
choice of immigrants. Its aim is to
select those immigrants who most likely would be useful to the country and
be integrated most easily into the
American culture. The three categories
set up are: first, relatives of American
citizens; second, those of skilled or
exceptional training; and, third, all
others. Fifty per cent of each quota is
reserved for the category of tbe skilled
or exceptionally-trained. If less than
fifty per cent of the skilled category
apply, then the balance is absorbed
by other categories.
It has been charged that the Act
precludes an important psychological
weapon — namely, that of offering
refuge to those people escaping from
behind the Iron Curtain. However, it
must be remembered that in West
Germany alone there are ten million
refugees from communism. In other
countries of Europe there is probably
an equal number. For the United
States to attempt to absorb these people would be foolhardy. Not only
would it not solve their problem, but
it would create a problem at home.
And this country has long since passed
tbe point where it can observe unre-
tricted immigration, which many
opponents of the Walter-McCarran
Immigration Act seem to be seeking.
A complaint heard frequently is
that tbe Act makes it possible to deport large numbers of "worthy" people, and that denaturalization is easy
for naturalized citizens. These complaints are representative of the ammunition used by word-mongers when
attacking the Immigration Act.
There are good reasons for such
restrictions as the above. The Act
keeps out of tbe country aliens who
might endanger public safety. Also, it
makes it possible to deport aliens who
engage in activities which endanger
public safety.
There are between three and five
million aliens in the countrv illegally.
Due to loopholes in the old law, deportation orders could not be enforced. For this reason, before the
Walter-McCarran Act, hordes of foreign-born subversives and criminals
walked the streets in this nation.
A statistic unfamiliar to many is the
percentage of Communist Party members who were foreign born. The fact
is that 91.5 per cent were either foreign born, married to persons who
were foreign born, or were born of
foreign parents. Also, more than half
of them traced their origins to Russia
or to her satellites. That was one reason for creating the Act, to make it
harder for aliens with objectionable
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