APRIL 1, 1948.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. FELLOWS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 4199] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4199) for the relief of George Haniotis, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. The amendment is as follows: On line 12 add the following: Upon the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall instruct the proper quota-control officer to deduct one number from the immigration quota for Greece for the year then current. PURPOSE OF THE BILL The purpose of the bill is to grant to Mr. George Haniotis, a native and citizen of Greece, former official of the Greek Government, the status of a permanent resident as of October 9, 1942, the date of his lawful entry into the United States. The amendment would provide for the usual quota deduction. GENERAL INFORMATION The pertinent facts in this case are set forth in a letter from the assistant to the Attorney General, dated March 12, 1948, to the chairman of the committee, which letter reads as follows: Hon. EARL C. MICHENER, MARCH 12, 1948. House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in response to your request for the views of this Department relative to the bill (H. R. 4199) for the relief of George Haniotis, an alien. The bill would authorize and direct the Attorney General to record the lawful admission for permanent residence of George Haniotis as of October 9, 1942, the date on which he was temporarily admitted to the United States, if he is found to be otherwise admissible under the provisions of the immigration laws. The files of the Immigration and Naturalization Service of this Department disclose that Mr. Haniotis was born in Smyrna, Turkey, on October 24, 1895, and that he is a citizen of Greece. He last entered the United States at Miami, Fla., on October 9, 1942, when he was admitted under section 3 (1) of the Immigration Act of 1924, as an attaché of the Greek Embassy and Director of the Greek Office of Information. It appears that he served the Greek Government in that capacity until February of 1946 and that he subsequently was employed by the Greek Supply Mission in Washington, D. C., until January of 1947. He is at present employed as the director of programs of the Transmuse System, in Washington, D. C., and has, therefore, concluded his services as an accredited official of the Greek Government. Due to the fact that the Turkish quota is oversubscribed, he is unable to adjust his immigration status. The files further show that the alien has stated that he first came to the United States in April or May of 1913 and remained until November of 1914 when he left to join the French Army, in which he served for about a year. He has stated that he served in the Greek Army from 1917 until 1922 and that he remained in Greece until the German invasion in 1941, when he went to Cairo, Egypt. While in Egypt he was engaged to organize the Greek section of the Egyptian state broadcasting facility. The alien's wife is in the United States with him. Also their son and daughter, both of whom married residents of the United States during 1947, are in this country. The daughter, having married a veteran of World War II, has adjusted her immigration status to that of a permanent resident. The son, likewise, intends to remain in this country if he can adjust his immigration status. Several persons who have known Mr. Haniotis for two or more years have stated that he is intelligent and dependable. The record indicates that he is a person of good moral character. There appear to be no circumstances in this case sufficiently impelling to warrant waiving the general provisions of the immigration laws in favor of the alien. He is only one of the many persons throughout the world who would like to come to and remain in the United States without first complying fully with our immigra tion laws. Accordingly, this Department is unable to recommend the enactment of the bill. Sincerely yours, PEYTON FORD, Mr. Patterson, the author of the bill, and Mr. George Haniotis, the beneficiary, appeared before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization and urged favorable consideration of the measure. It has been pointed out at the hearing that Mr. Haniotis' son, as well as his daughter, are married to United States citizens. The Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization also took Mr. Haniotis' record in both World Wars under consideration, his perfect command of the English language and his intellectual qualifications. Having considered all the circumstances involved in this case, the committee recommend that the bill, as amended, do pass. 80TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session THEODORE LOETSCH { No. 1652 REPORT APRIL 1, 1948.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House and ordered to be printed Mr. FELLOWS, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 4484] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 4484) for the relief of Theodore Loetsch, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass." PURPOSE OF THE BILL The purpose of the bill is to waive a cause of exclusion which prevents Theodore Loetsch, a native and citizen of Luxemburg, the husband of a native-born United States citizen, from joining his wife in the United States. GENERAL INFORMATION Mr. Byrne appeared before the Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization and submitted the following information: Mrs. Loetsch is an American citizen and resides at Albany, N. Y. She met her husband while she was engaged in USO work in that city, which is an inland port. Mr. Loetsch, a Luxemburg subject, was a seaman serving with the British merchant navy, having fled to England after Luxemburg was overrun by the Germans. He made five or six trips to the United States while a merchant seaman, and since he was always permitted the freedom of our ports, and was not restricted aboard ship, his future wife had no means of knowing that he would be inadmissable under our immigration laws if marriage was consumated. When Mr. Loetsch proposed marriage to my constituent, whose name was Esther Smith at that time, she wrote to the American Legation at Luxemburg and requested the consul to look up the background of her future husband, and also advise her how he could come to the Uuited States to reside with her. In August of 1945 Mrs. Loetsch received a letter from Mr. George P. Waller, the American consul at Luxemburg, in which he informed her that he had been in touch with the authorities in Differdange, Mr. Loetsch's residence; interviewed her future husband, and could find nothing which would cause him to doubt the integrity of Mr. Loetsch. He stated that the Legation could not advise her on such a serious problem as marriage, but that if the young man pleased her that was the important point. Mr. Waller advised her that if she could marry in either Luxemburg, England, or Canada, it would facilitate her husband's entry into the United States, and therefore, in June of 1946, Mrs. Loetsch went to Luxemburg and on August 2, 1946, was married to her husband in Differdange. Later in August of 1946 she filed a petition for a visa for her husband, which petition was approved by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and forwarded to the Department of State, which Department authorized the Legation at Luxemburg to grant preference status to Mr. Loetsch. When Mr. Loetsch appeared at the Legation he was sent to the American consul in Antwerp in December 1946, and again on January 16, 1947. Upon the presentation of his personal documents, which noted his past conviction of a crime, he was told of the exclusion provision of the Immigration Act. Mr. Loetsch had been convicted in a Luxemburg court in 1932 for petty lar ceny. According to the official court record of the applicant's trial for theft in 1932, which record he submitted to the American cousul on April 14, 1947, he was convicted of having carried away deceitfully, during the night from 6 to 7 November 1931, a piece of lead weighing approximately 100 pounds, and valued at 400 francs. Mr. Loetsch did not appear at the trial, but was convicted "through the usual process," and sentenced to 1 month in prison and fined 51 francs, plus costs. Mr. Loetsch made formal application for an immigration visa on April 25, 1947, at which time he admitted the above stated offense, and a board of consular officers decided, on the basis of the evidence, that he had committee a crime-even though it was of a minor nature-which was classed as involving moral turpitude, and that a visa would have to be refused him under provisions of section 3 of the Immigration Act of February 5, 1917. In support of H. R. 4484 Mr. Loetsch has furnished a statement from the minister of justice of Luxemburg, in which it is certified that Mr. Theodore Loetsch, born March 30, 1906, at Rodange, is a Luxemburg subject, and that while Luxem burg was overrun by the Germans in 1940, he had escaped to join the Allied forces. It was further stated that after a stay in France and in the Spanish concentration camp at Miranda, he succeeded in 1943 in getting to England, where he served as a gunner in the merchant navy until the end of the war. The minister of justice noted that his patriotic behavior was excellent. Mr. Loetsch is employed at the present time as an iron worker, and he intends to continue this type of employment in the United States if he is permitted to join his wife here for permanent residence. Mrs. Loetsch is a resident of the city of Albany, N. Y., and was born in the county of Albany, N. Y., on June 5, 1916, to Leonard C. Smith and Ida Long Smith. She is principal statistics clerk with the division of research, New York State Department of Education, Albany, and has an income of $2,880 per year. She is a graduate of the New York State College for Teachers, and comes from a family which is highly respected in the community. Mrs. Loetsch is a loyal citizen and deeply loves her husband. At the request of the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization, the Department of State has communicated with the American Consulate at Antwerp, Belgium, requesting that information concerning the case of Mr. Theodore Loetsch be forwarded to the Department's Visa Division. Subsequently, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization received the following communication: Hon. FRANK FELLOWS, JANUARY 29, 1948. Chairman, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. FELLOWS: Reference is made to the Department's letter of December 16, 1947, in reply to your letter of December 3, 1947, wherein you requested the views of this Department concerning the enactment of H. R. 4484, a bill for the relief of Theodore Loetsch. Upon the basis of the information available, the Department would interpose no objection to the enactment of this bill. Sincerely yours, H. J. L'HEUREUX, Chief, Visa Division, (For the Secretary of State). 80TH CONGRESS 2d Session } HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES { REPORT No. 1653 AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE OF INCOME FROM FEDERAL PRISON INDUSTRIES, INC., FOR TRAINING OF FEDERAL PRISONERS APRIL 1, 1948.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. CASE of New Jersey, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 1648] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1648) to authorize the expenditure of income from Federal Prison Industries, Inc., for training of Federal prisoners, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill, as amended, do pass. The amendment is as follows: Page 1, line 12, change the period to a comma and add thereafter "within the limits of amounts specifically authorized annually in the Government Corporations Appropriations Act." STATEMENT This measure authorizes the use of income from various revenueproducing activities of Federal Prison Industries, Inc., in the training of Federal prisoners whether or not they be employed by Federal Prison Industries, Inc. It would authorize the use of the prisonindustries fund established by section 4 of the act of June 23, 1934 (48 Stat. 1211; 18 U. S. C. 7441), in paying the expense of such training and schooling. This act is necessary because the Comptroller General believes that present statutes do not confer this authority for this use of the funds. The matter has been complained of several times in the course of audits performed by the Comptroller General. A contrary view is taken by the Justice Department, which believes that sufficient authority now exists. However, the passage of this bill will eliminate all doubt and make legal the use of these funds for training purposes. H. Repts., 80-2, vol. 299 |