MCGRATH RELAXES ALIEN BAN AFTER BRIEFING IN HOUSE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00682R000300130063-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2000
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: February 3, 1951
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2001/08/21 : CIA-RDP91-00682R000300130063-9
McGrath Relaxes Alien, Ban
After Briefing in House
Reverses Self When Committee Tells Him
wApplies Only to Willing Subversives
By WILLA1ft,D EDW*AR,DS
'l o lsands of aliens; including a large number of GI
fax brzdes, barred from entry into the United States,
*111 be admittp-d undeir legislation agreed upon yesterday 1 .11 by Attorney General McGrath
d scgx)gressionaY_ leaders.
' 46 agreement marked an ab-
ject surrender by McGrath from,
legal position previously taken
Which was attacked in Congress
as deliberate misinterpretation
of the anti-Communist act passed'
by Congress last September over
~%9mmles Not ~fi:ectee~ ;
The
lesldent, 'lr'Xuman'sA, veto.
& orney general was accused of
dlst'orting the law in an attempti
to ridicule and sabotage its pro-
Vl;aions, thus helping in a cam-
paign to repeal it.
&elii; Distorted
` , 'trnder McGrath's rulings, entry
was "bar ,ed to re`sidents of Ger-
'ulany, Daly and Spain who, as
children, belonged to youth organ-
izations under totalitarian control
In those countries. Admission
was also refused to adults who'
were forced to join the Nazi, Fas-
cist or talangist, movements in'
order to obtain employment, food
ration cards or to avoid impris
o anent, or death.
Instead of excluding Commu-
nists axed subversive aliens intent
upon espionage, the Justice de-
p}~attm-en , according to framers of
tho law, concentrated upon bar
Ling the entry 'of involuntary
nybers of totalitarian govern-
men t groups. The resulting hard-
shiNs, publicized in a number of
War br'de cases, helped leftist or-
gahIzatlons to complain about the
"inequities of the new act.
t an exchange of letters be-
tween Chairman McCarran of
Nevada of the Senate judiciary
c nllttee, and McGrath, made
public by the former yesterday,
the attorney general completely'
Yielded his former stand. He as-
sented to , an amendment to the
interpal security act of 1950 which
directed him:
1. Not to exclude aliens whose
membership in totalitarian or-
gganizations was involuntary or un- i
dertaken for ,purposes of obtain-
ing employment, food rations or'
r se tills of living.
exclude aliens whose
ers 1Ii or of l1at on in sac
'garzati, however, wliet ier
the membership. was involuntary
or during childhood, will continue
to be excluded.
Rep. Walter (D) of Penxlsylva-
nia, ranking member of the House-
judiciary committee, who had
joined in the criticism of Mc.
Grath, indorsed the agreement,
swift passage of the legislation
was. assured.
The agreement resulted from a
campaign led by a bipartisan
group composed of McCarran,
Walter, Sens. Eastland (D) of
Mississippi; O' C o n o r (D) of
Maryland; Nixon (R) of Cali-
fornia; Wiley (R) of Wisconsin;
Ferguson (R) of Michigan, and
Reps. Wood (D) of Georgia; Har-
rison (D) of Virginia; McSweeney
(D) of Ohio, Velde (R) of Illinois,
and Kearney (R) of New York.
Hold Meaning Clear
In stinging letters to the Justic
department and floor speeches, j
this group had denounced Mc-
Grath's interpretation of the law
as clearly in violo~ion of court
precedents.
In the opinion of these legisla-
tors, the act, as drafted, clearly
excluded subversive aliens with-
out barring those who, as Rep.
Walter phrased it, "as children
had to wear fancy shirts of var-
ious colors or who as adults, un-
der the threat of imprisonment,
starvation, or of violent death, re-
luctantly joined the auxiliaries of
the Nazi or Fascist parties."
The amendment agreed upon
would not have been necessary un-
der a fair-minded interpretation
of the act, several congressman
said, but was necessary to end
government attempts to under-I
mine the law.