398.18 ICEM/8–1854
The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee (Bridges)1
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Department is greatly concerned about the Senate amendment to the Mutual Security Appropriation bill (H.R. 10051) regarding the security screening of migrants going to Western Hemisphere countries under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Committee for European Migration.
Under the Senate amendment, the United States could not contribute directly to the payment of transportation for any person to the Western Hemisphere who has not had “a security clearance based on standards comparable to those in the United States Immigration and Nationality Act.”
The administration thoroughly supports the objective of excluding subversives from admission to the Western Hemisphere but believes that this objective can be achieved more readily by the inclusion in the Report of the House–Senate Conferees of pertinent language directing the United States representatives to the sessions of the Migration Committee to make appropriate representations to the Committee on the subject and to insist that ICEM intensify its activities in the screening of migrants. Direct negotiations with other governments of the Western Hemisphere to bring their screening standards closer into line with United States standards could also be undertaken in response to the House–Senate Conferees’ report.
Apart from the political problems which the amendment poses, particularly the possibility of offense to our friendly Canadian and Latin American neighbors, the amendment creates serious difficulties of administration in determining that screening standards applied by Canada, the Latin American countries, or by ICEM are comparable to those of the United States. The amendment will affect 50 percent of the estimated 155,000 to be moved by the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration in 1955.
I hope it will be possible for the conferees to consider the deletion of the language of the Senate amendment concerning security clearance and to consider the inclusion in the report of the conferees of pertinent language directing the United States representative to the Migration Committee to insist that ICEM intensify its activities in the screening of migrants. Such language would also [Page 1642] provide a base for negotiations through diplomatic channels with the other concerned governments in the Western Hemisphere.
Sincerely yours,
Assistant Secretary
- Drafted by Warren and Gray on Aug. 18, 1954, and cleared with McLeod. Addressed to Styles Bridges (R.–N.H.).↩