16 No. 77 JUSTICE his article examines how the United States Immigration Act of 1924 prevented many Jewish Europeans from fleeing to the United States between 1933 and 1941. The Immigration Act, known as the Johnson-Reed Act,1 was passed by a Republican dominated Congress, signed by Calvin Coolidge, a conservative, xenophobic Republican president, and implemented by his successor, Herbert Hoover, an equally xenophobic Republican. The law lacked any provisions for “refugee status” or emergency protocols to allow increased immigration before and during World War II. The 1924 law created immigration quotas based on the national origins of people living in the United States in 1890. The quotas favored the British Isles, Germany, northwest Europe, and the Nordic countries, and mandated extremely small quotas for Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe, where the overwhelming majority of Jewish Europeans lived, making it impossible for large numbers of Jews to move to the United States to escape Nazism. Had American immigration laws allowed the executive branch to waive or relax immigration quotas or allowed for temporary visas for refugees, it is likely that at least a few hundred thousand Jews from Germany (and some from Poland and other parts of Europe) could have reached safety in the United States before Germany exterminated them. Tragically, the 1924 law provided no flexibility for emergencies or for endangered refugees. When Congress wrote the 1924 Act, no one contemplated the need for a refugee exemption, and the xenophobic Congress had no interest in creating loopholes allowing for humanitarian exceptions. Congress wanted to reduce immigration overall, especially for countries outside of northwestern Europe. Jewish Immigration and Naturalization, 1763-1921 The creation of the United States led to a historically unprecedented regime for Jews, who were almost universally accepted as national citizens. As George Washington explained in 1790, in America: “All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights.” American religious liberty was not based on “toleration” for minorities, or an indulgence granted by the government to outsiders. Rather, the nation believed in equality for people of all faiths. Washington “happily” explained that “the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens” and “support” the government.2 During the next 140 years, under this regime of religious liberty, the Jewish population in the United States grew from a few thousand to more than four million.3 American Naturalization Law, Immigration Law, Refugee Law, and the Holocaust: A Short History* Paul Finkelman * The author thanks Maria Melssen of the University of Toledo Law Library for her help in gathering materials for this article. 1. An Act to limit the immigration of aliens into the United States, Act of May 10, 1921, Pub. L. No. 67-5, 42 Stat. 5; An Act to limit the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States, and for other purposes, Act of May 26, 1924, Pub. L. No. 68-139, 43 Stat. 153. 2. “George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 18 August 1790,” FOUNDERS ONLINE, available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135 3. Harry S. Linfield, THE JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1927: A STUDY OF THEIR NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION (1931), available at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b309247&seq=6 T
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