A NEW CONGRESSIONAL WITCH HUNT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000600070014-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 18, 2004
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: July 21, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

DATE 2 1 JUL 197.
Approved For Release 2004/05/21 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000600070014-4
A New Congressional Witch Hunt
An especially injudicious piece of
legislation has just been approved by
the House Judiciary Committee. While
presented as a measure against Nazi
war criminals, the text of the amend-
ment to the immigration law spon-
sored by Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman re-
quires that any person "who ordered,
incited, assisted, or otherwise partici-
pated in the persecution of any person
because of race, religion, national ori-
gin or political opinion" shall be
barred from entering the U.S. and, if
in, shall be deported.
Whoever wrote that bill has a pecu-
liar idea of the state of politics around
the world. There are few countries,
friend or foe, where government offi-
cials are not "persecuting" someone
or another, especially the political op-
position. Vocal elements in the United
States claim that the U.K. is persecut-
ing the IRA, France is persecuting
Breton nationalists and Israel is per-
secuting Arabs. Furthermore,' since
the amendment specifies that the At-
torney General cannot waive the pro-
vision, the U.S. might have to deport.
KGB defectors, who have "partici-
pated in the persecution" of just about
everybody.
Similar laws in other countries
would have equally bizarre effects on
Americans. If foreign officials believe
Andrew Young's analysis, U.S. police,
prosecutors and prison officials would
be barred for persecuting blacks.
Also, Ramsey Clark could be expelled
for persecuting the Chicago 7 and Miss
Holtzman could be bounced for perse-
cuting Richard M. Nixon and his asso-
ciates.
Of course, the effects of such laws
depend on their administration. Who
is or is not a persecuter is a political
judgment, which is what makes the
Holtzman amendment so dangerous.
Similar language in the superseded
displaced persons legislation was
properly applied to Nazi war crimi-
nals, but matters are quite different
today. Alas, in a milieu where those
who marched under the Vietcong flag
hold high government office, where
the likes of Andrew Young represent
the views of the State Department,
and where the Department of Justice
prosecutes counterspies, the U.S. gov-
ernment can no longer be trusted with
discretionary powers in such sensitive
matters, and might knuckle under to
intense agitation.
Anti-Nazi war criminal legislation
would seem easy to write; indeed,
such a bill was rejected by the House
Judiciary Committee in favor of the
broader measure, for reasons that are
transparently obvious. In defending
the rationale for such sweeping pow-
ers for political exclusion, the exam-
ples offered by a staffer to Rep. Holtz-
man were Cambodia, Chile and Viet-
nam. Clearly, we are dealing here
with the kind of mind that considers
Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees
guilty of persecuting the nice Vietcong
and Khmer Rouge.
Our international situation is weak
enough without denying our friends
abroad the possibility of political asy-
lum if things go badly for them. And
why should our immigration policy be
dependent on the vagaries of domestic
political opinion about who are the
good guys and who are the bad guys?
The Holtzman amendment would open
the door to endless witch hunts.
Approved For Release 2004/05/21 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000600070014-4