IMMIGRATION: New Chance in Life

Into New York harbor last week sailed the first entire shipload of refugees to enter the U.S. under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953. “We come with gratitude,” said Hans Freer, 34, one of 1,243 refugees aboard the chartered U.S. Navy transport General Langfitt. Freer’s arrival with his family amounted to a near miracle of deliverance : his wife had been a Soviet slave laborer, he was buffeted about Europe by Nazis and Communists for 15 years, and for a time it seemed unlikely that many refugees would ever reach the U.S. under the 1953 relief act. Last week, after a slow start, the program was rolling.

Built-in Booby Traps. The refugee program was disjointed originally by a Senate tug of war. At first the bill, called the Emergency Migration Act, was intended largely for people from Southern Europe barred by the low quotas of the McCarran-Walter Act, the basic U.S. immigration law. Nevada’s late Senator Pat McCarran managed to change much of the content, as well as the title. As passed, the act was an administrative monstrosity which Congress assigned to the State Department’s Security Chief, Scott McLeod. There was no staff, no office space, not even a desk for the program, but McLeod came under a barrage of criticism because of delays.

State’s ousted Immigration Consultant Edward Corsi called the program a “national scandal” (TIME, May 2). Cried Corsi: “Refugees are investigated to death” by McLeod’s “security gang.” Actually the security check has barred very few refugees. Out of 2,199 applicants in Germany and Austria, only 51 have been rejected on grounds of security.

Most of the program’s delays were built in by Congress, which booby-trapped the bill with unworkable provisions. Visas were arbitrarily allotted to various areas on the basis of pressure in Congress. Some of the quotas could be filled several times over; others cannot be met at all.

Help Wanted. One major problem is the act’s strict definition of refugees as people who lack “the essentials of life.” Most refugees in Europe have settled down —which automatically disqualifies them. In Germany, once jammed with nearly 10 million refugees, the camps now hold only 29,000 people.

Many waiting refugees are held back because each must be guaranteed a home and job by a U.S. resident. Group guarantees from charitable agencies would be much easier to obtain. In The Netherlands at least 6,000 assurances are needed, but only 466 have been given so far.

Italian and Greek relatives of U.S. residents are filling up the quotas from those countries —because Congress permitted the relatives of constituents to pre-empt the refugee quotas. But no action has yet been taken on the amendments proposed by President Eisenhower to liberalize the act.

Modest Success. The 30,000th person to land under the refugee act arrived last week aboard the General Langfitt. From now on the ship will ferry in 1,200 refugees every 26 days. Of the 214,000 visas authorized by the act, 38,583 have been granted. Administrator McLeod confidently predicts that a total of some 160,000 visas will be issued. In Germany and Austria, more than 3,000 visas are now being granted monthly. In Italy, U.S. consular officials are issuing 124 visas every working day, enough to fill Italy’s quota two months ahead of the act’s deadline: Dec. 31, 1956.

The U.S. refugee program is at least a modest success, despite its homemade ob stacles. It is, as President Eisenhower said when he signed the act, providing “a new chance in life” for human beings ill-treated in other lands.