in the United States who must be sponsors, who must give assurances, write to the Bureau and say, "We would like to sponsor the immigra tion of a refugee or escapee in a foreign country," or is the whole origination over there in the form of an application on the part of somebody who wants to come in? Mr. MCLEOD. It is all kinds of ways, Senator. We have a total of 10 forms that you can use for sponsoring. It is broken down into the possibilities. The individual American sponsors an alien. Senator DIRKSEN. We are not talking quite about sponsorship yet. Before you actually get the sponsorship, suppose I did not know anybody over there but I knew about this act and said, "I would see that somebody is taken care of, he would have housing if he came over here." Not knowing anything about it, I write you a letter and ask what can I do about this. Mr. MCLEOD. I send you our form for an individual American to sponsor an unnamed client. If you know somebody over there I can send you the form and you can name the person. We have forms where you can sponsor housing, somebody else can sponsor employment for an unnamed alien, or named alien. Then we have the Graham amendment certificates which, of course, we don't handle. Senator DIRKSEN. The point I make is this: If I were interested in the assurance section of the act and wanted to sponsor somebody and did not know who, had no relatives of any kind there, I could send you a note and get a form and then you could indicate to somebody over there that I would be their sponsor? Mr. MCLEOD. That is right. Senator DIRKSEN. That is part of the practice now? ENDORSEMENTS FROM VOLUNTARY AGENCIES Mr. MCLEOD. It is possible. Now about half the assurances so far have come from individuals, about half have come from the voluntary agencies. Now we have another form which the voluntary agencies are permitted to endorse. Senator DIRKSEN. But not sponsor? Mr. McLEOD. Not sponsor. The sponsor signs it, forwards it through the voluntary agency to us. We put our endorsement on it. Our requirements for verification of that assurance are somewhat less stringent than those where the individual has no backing, because we figure the realities are such that if the sponsor should die or the house he has in mind burns down, or the business fails or some contingency arises, the Government is in a much better position if there is an agency standing ready to pick up the sponsorship when the alien arrives and to substitute for the original assurer. So we have that form as well. If you don't know the name of the alien, you can delegate that authority to name him to an agency or you can delegate it to the labor people. If what you require is a skill, and that is your primary interest, they will match the skill up with your assurance overseas. Senator KILGORE. In your statement here you say: This new procedure still requires an individual American citizen to give an assurance that the alien will receive employment without displacing someone else. His assurance is then endorsed by the voluntary agency. Mr. MCLEOD. Yes, sir. VOLUNTARY AGENCIES Senator KILGORE. How many voluntary agencies are there that can authentically endorse this? Mr. MCLEOD. They apply to us for recognition, and we have recognized 28. Senator KILGORE. Can you put the list of 28 in the record at this point. Mr. MCLEOD. Yes, sir. (The information referred to follows:) RECOGNIZED VOLUNTARY AGENCIES 1. Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals, Inc., 1790 Broadway, New York 19, N. Y. 2. American Aid for Expellees and Immigration.1 Attention: Mr. Otto B. Durholz, secretary, 21 Martin Street, Paterson, N. J. 3. The American Branch of the International Social Service, Inc., 345 East 46th Street, New York 17, N. Y. 4. American Committee for Resettlement of Polish D. P.'s,1 1520 West Division Street, Chicago 22, Ill. 5. American Federation of International Institutes, Inc.,1 11 West 42d Street, New York 36, N. Y. 6. The American Fund for Czechoslovak Refugees, Inc., 1775 Broadway, room 812, New York 19, N. Y. 7. American Latvian Association in the United States, Inc., 1727 Kenyon Street NW., Washington 10, D. C. 8. American National Committee to Aid Homeless Armenians, 207 Powell Street, San Francisco 2, Calif. 9. (Canceled.) 10. Baptist World Alliance Relief Committee,' Displaced Persons Resettlement Program, 1628 16th Street NW., Washington 9, D. C. 11. Calvinist Resettlement Service of the Christian Reformed Church,1 816 Sigsbee Street SE., Grand Rapids 6, Mich. 12. Catholic Committee for Refugees, 265 West 14th Street, New York 11, N. Y. 13. Chinese-American Civic Council,i 109 North Dearborn Street, Chicago 2, Ill. 14. Church World Service, 215 Fourth Avenue, New York 3, N. Y. 15. Federation of Russian Charitable Organizations of the United States,1 376 20th Avenue, San Francisco 21, Calif. 16. Greek American Progressive Association,1 39 Broadway, New York, N. Y. 17. International Rescue Committee, Inc.,1 62 West 45th Street, New York 36, N. Y. 18. National Lutheran Council,1 21 East 26th Street, New York 10, N. Y. 19. Order of AHEPA, Refugee Relief Committee,1 205 Poledor Building, South Bend 1, Ind. 20. Romanian Welfare, Inc.,1 18 East 60th Street, New York 22, N. Y. 21. Tolstoy Foundation, Inc.,1 300 West 58th Street, New York 19, N. Y. 22. United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit, 51 Warren Avenue, Detroit 1, Mich. (Michigan cases only). 23. United Friends of Needy and Displaced People of Yugoslavia, Inc.,1 487 Onderdonk Avenue, Brooklyn 37, N. Y. 24. United HIAS Service, 15 Park Row, New York 38, N. Y. 25. United Ukrainian American Relief Committee,1 Post Office Box 1661, Philadelphia 5, Pa. 26. War Relief Services, National Catholic Welfare Conference, 149 Madison Avenue, New York 16, N. Y. 27. The Mutual Aid Association of New Polish Immigration,1 1507 West Division Street, Chicago 22, Ill. 28. United Lithuanian Relief Fund of America, Inc., 105 Grand Street, Brook lyn 11, N. Y. 1 Nonorphan cases. OPERATION UNDER DISPLACED PERSONS ACT Senator KILGORE. The reason I am asking this is that under the operation of the Displaced Persons Act we had a tremendous number of voluntary agencies and they went out and secured the sponsors themselves and then certified them. Are any of those in the present list? Mr. MCLEOD. Yes, the voluntary agencies are in this field. Senator KILGORE. What I am getting at is this: In the preference list that is the reason I think Italy sort of predominates in there, and Greece, that is relatives, they are in this country and they want to get a relative in from abroad-so it is a very simple matter for a relative to sponsor. But when you get into the refugee class and particularly, as I say, Italy and Greece and Germany, you have people over there who have relatives in this country who are very responsible business people and can sponsor them. But on your straight-out refugee, which includes the escapee and also the expellee and the expellee was thrown out of his home and run over into Germany and Austria without his own volition in order to get control of his land, and the escapee, of course, had to escape, those people it seems to me are in a sort of very bad shape, are they not? Mr. MCLEOD. That is right. Senator KILGORE. Unless the voluntary agencies do function it is very hard to make the program work; is that right? Mr. MCLEOD. I think it is impossible if we don't have their cooperation. INTEREST OF CHURCHES IN PROGRAM Senator KILGORE. You know under the Displaced Persons Act, you take the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Hebrew organization, and various other Protestant churches, they did some very wonderful work there in locating these people. Incidentally, your State, Senator Ellender, Mississippi, kept representative abroad to hunt up people for specific jobs within your State. I remember a number of States did that. Is any of that going on? Mr. MCLEOD. Yes, sir; and the people you described are clients of these voluntary agencies overseas. They endeavor to assist them. Senator KILGORE. Here the tailoring industry has come to me, they say, listen, we need 5,000 tailors, skilled tailors, we can't get them in the United States. Why can't we get them abroad? I refer them down to your office. Well, apparently they don't go down there. They need the skills. They should have an agent abroad it seems to me to pick out the really skilled tailors they need who come within this class. It seems to me we ought to get some of these industries who are constantly howling for these skills. Mr. MCLEOD. I heard testimony yesterday that indicated they probably did come to our office and that they did undertake some arrangement whereby they would get tailors. Unfortunately, we don't have any record of it now. Due to change in personnel down there, we don't really know what transpired. Senator KILGORE. I know a number of big tailoring companies came to me. Mr. MCLEOD. We are very anxious to exploit that in behalf of this act, because if there is a wanted skill here it seems to me much more preferable to bring a wanted skill. LIMITATION ON QUANTITY OF ASSURANCES Senator DIRKSEN. Referring to the question that Senator Saltonstall asked, under the act, for instance, the limit is 15,000 of ethnic Dutch origin who are actually residing in The Netherlands. Mr. MCLEOD. Yes. Senator KILGORE. It would be conceivable that you might get 30,000 or 40,000 assurances, or that many people might be interested, but your limit in any case would be 15,000? Mr. MCLEOD. It would be the ceiling in that category. Senator KILGORE. So that the number of assurances really bears no relation to the extent to which you can go under the maximum ceiling? Mr. MCLEOD. That is right. Senator KILGORE. Has that actually happened in the case of any of these countries, like Greece and Italy and Trieste, Germany? Mr. MCLEOD. It has not actually happened in any country yet, because we still have about 311 to go in Italy, but I would assumethis was last Friday, I assume by this Friday they have these people in the pipeline now. We know there is going to be fallout on the basis of experience, but we have to be very careful now in Italy and in Greece, that we do not raise peoples' hopes by saying they are now eligible to come forward and then find that our numbers are exhausted when they do. So that the number of assurances that we can accept for Italy and for Greece is somewhat limited. (Discussion off the record.) Senator DIRKSEN. Referring to your sheet in category No. 1, applicants notified of documents required, the total is 109,605. (The following information was submitted:) Refugee relief program status of visa applications, Apr. 15, 1955 NOTE. All figures cumulative; items 6 and 7 reflect principal aliens only. Mr. MCLEOD. Yes, sir. Senator DIRKSEN. Those are actually applications from people who might be eligible under the act? Mr. MCLEOD. Yes. May I point out that this is a bona fide number because in each category we have not put people in in excess of the numbers that may be used. So that Senator Saltonstall's extension of this current receipt rate would not be valid. This is valid. VISA APPLICATIONS IN HOLLAND Senator DIRKSEN. I have only one question to ask about that. At the time they had that terrific storm in Holland and there was a tendency to believe we were going to have to get some of those people out of there over here because of the impregnation of salt water in the tillable soil. I see you have 1,027. Has there been no great interest in Holland in making applications for visas? You would only know generally, I suppose. Mr. MCLEOD. No, I know pretty specifically about Holland. My wife is Dutch and I take an interest in it, I guess no greater than any other country. But Holland is a peculiar case. They have the highest birthrate in Europe. It is the policy of the Dutch Government to export 60,000 people a year for the next 10 years in order to keep their economy in balance. They are very anxious to exploit the full 17,000 numbers in this act. I have repeatedly requested the consuls in the Netherlands to qualify these people who are flood stricken victims. I do not mean to be critical, but our people have been in the habit, it seems to me, of being very literal minded. When the act says you have to be out of your usual place of abode it is very hard for them to interpret that a man who moves out of a flood and moves back is out of his usual place of abode. My information is that as long as the character of soil is changed and he cannot use it, it is a proper construction of the meaning of the act to say he is in fact out of his place of abode, even though he may have been born in the house in which he is living and the house is in the same place. That is one thing I hope to do in the next couple of weeks while I am over there, is to get this viewpoint across and get these Dutchmen qualified, because it does not seem to me to be an illegal interpretation of the act to take that viewpoint. Senator DIRKSEN. Now, the second category here, visas issued, as of April 1955, the total is 25,279. Mr. MCLEOD. Yes, sir. REASONS FOR REFUSAL OF VISAS Senator DIRKSEN. Then your third category, visas refused, 5,182. Basically and briefly, what was the principal reason for refusal of the visas? Mr. MCLEOD. Health was the major reason. Senator DIRKSEN. That is mainly tuberculosis? Mr. MCLEOD. Most of the health people are tubercular, yes. Mr. MCLEOD. Yes. Senator DIRKSEN. Does subversion enter into that, or the case history of the individual? Mr. MCLEOD. We ran a study on this about 3 months ago. We broke it doen into six categories. My recollection is that the subver 59824-55-8 |