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7 Immigration B. Bull. 1 (1954)

handle is hein.immigration/immigbbu0007 and id is 1 raw text is: F ~1 -~ IMMIGRATION BAR BULLETIN Published by THE ASSOCIATION OF IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY LAWYERS . Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ....... .I lift my lamp beside the golden door. Vol. VII January-March, 1954 No. 1 MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT LENA L. ORLOW We seem to find ourselves in a period of history when pro- gress appears to be made exclusively by trial and error methods. To this our Organization has not been an ex- ception. One of our experiments this year was a luncheon held by the Association in Washington. It was at the May- flower Hotel on Saturday, March 27th, and was attended by some 76 people, including representatives of the State De- partment; the Attorney General's Office; the Central Office of the Immigration Service; and the entire Board of Immigra- tion Appeals. We also had with us the officers in charge of the Washington and Baltimore Immigration Offices, respec- tively. In addition, there were in attendance a considerable number of members from the New York, Philadelphia, and Washington Chapters, and two members from Baltimore. The afternoon went a long way toward pointing up some of the major problems that beset us and, on the whole, some of the suggestions that came from the meeting will, I believe, be most constructive in getting at the root of our mutual problems and working towards some possible solution in conjunction with these various Governmental Agencies. For the success of this affair we are deeply indebted to Jack Rozinsky, Minerva Salzman, and Jack Wasserman. From the comments received we feel this affair was definitely on the progress side of the ledger. For the past seven or eight years we have been going through a stage of upheaval in the Immigration and Natural- ization Law itself, and from time to time we have had new Acts, each one of which was heralded, not necessarily for good, but certainly for dramatic change. Among these were the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 - the Internal Security Act of 1950 - The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 - the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 - the Act for Korean Veterans of 1953 - and while we are still feeling the strong impact, and trying to interpret the passages of the McCarran- Walter Act and the Refugee Relief Act, to which there are now pending proposed amendments. I think it is important that we participate as fully as pos- sible in community life and advise the laymen, of the pro- visions of all of the proposed amendments and changes in the law, so that they may be informed and articulate, to the end that, whatever changes may be made in legislation will be in the true spirit of our American tradition. Our Commit- tee on Legislative Trends will keep you advised of these pro- posals from time to time. Meanwhile if you have any sug- gestions as to our more successful functioning, I would welcome them. FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK GEORGE MOERMAN The seventh anniversary of the Immigration Bar bulletin also marks an innovation in the history of our Association and in the history of all bar associations. It is the first time that a nationally recognized bar association, as distinguished from women's bar associations, has ever had at it's helm a member of the gentler sex. That our choice was a wise one is best indicated by the report of past activities and proposed future events contained in the adjoining column. Your editor has been criticized for the continuous objec- tions he has been raising to the Immigration and Nationality Act. Perhaps we now take undeserved credit for believing that our objectives were somewhat instrumental in causing the introduction of the very recent legislation (S. 3292, H.R. 8802) amending that Act. Limitation of space prevents an analysis of the proposed amendments. However it is my considered opinion that should the amendments be adopted most of the oppresive, objectionable, inequitable and un- workable features of the present immigration and natural- ization policy would be eliminated. The Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Repre- sentatives has adopted new Rules of Procedure which to a great extent changes the modus operandi as to private bills affecting immigration. The stated purpose of the change is to do away with private bills introduced solely for the pur- pose of delaying the deportation of aliens with non-eritorious cases. With this purpose I have no quarrel. The new Rules are however so general in context that their ultimate effect would be the denial of the constitutional right to petition Congress. It prevents a duly elected member of the greatest legislative representative body in the world from performing a function inherent in his office. It is an attempt to secure by fiat something that has always been denied legislatively in the past. There is no question that more private. immigration bills have been introduced during the present Congress than ever before. The Association knew before the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act that it would cause the introduction of a tremendous amount of private legislation to ameliorate the countless tragedies that would ensue from attempts to enforce it's poorly prepared sections. In fact our representatives so testified when they appeared in op- position to it's enactment. The vast majority of the bills subsequently introduced were to overcome the grave in- equities which erased the right to administrative relief which was previously obtainable. It is my belief and sincere hope that should the pending amendments be adopted the flood of private bills would abate to a normal level.

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