852.2221/1371
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Moffat)
[Washington,] December 17, 1938.
The Spanish Chargé d’Affaires called this morning to ask two questions on behalf of his government:
- (1)
- Would the United States Government be willing to pay the expenses of the American members of the International Brigade who have been returned to the United States, from the Spanish frontier to New York? I told him that this Government very definitely could not make this payment.
- (2)
- The second question the Chargé asked was whether members of the International Brigade who had been residents of America but had not acquired citizenship would be permitted reentry into the United States? I told him that each case was decided by the Department of Labor on its merits and that many factors were taken into account,—notably the length of residence, the conditions under which the resident had originally been admitted into the United States, et cetera. The Chargé asked if the same applied to Puerto Rico; to this I answered “yes”.
Piekrepont
Moffat