Fighting For Free Immigration
by Mitchell Bard
The American commitment to justice is reflected in the campaign
to insure freedom of emigration. The plight of Jews in the Soviet
Union and other countries where they were persecuted was not just
a "Jewish," "American," or "Western"
issue. Freedom of emigration is a matter of fundamental human
rights.
At least 10 American Presidents, going as far back as Ulysses
S. Grant, have intervened on behalf of Russian Jewry. In 1869,
Grant interceded with Czarist authorities to prevent the expulsion
of 20,000 Jews from Bessarabia in southern Russia. A decade later,
in 1879, and then again in 1883, the House adopted resolutions
criticizing Russian discrimination against Jews and called upon
the Administration to use its influence to halt the oppression.
In 1892, the House refused to appropriate funds to transport food
to Russia because the persecution of Russian Jewry "shocked
the moral sensibilities of the Christian world."
Technically, the fight in 1911 was over the issue of passport
discrimination against American Jews trying to visit Russia, but
it was also an effort to ameliorate the plight of Russian Jews.
In March, President William Howard Taft reduced tariff rates to
Russia over the objections of the U.S. Tariff Board. Congress
threatened to abrogate the U.S.-Russian commercial treaty of 1832,
but Secretary of State Philander Knox argued that "quiet
and persistent endeavor" would be a more effective means
of altering the policy of the Czarist regime. Congress ultimately
abrogated the treaty.
The Russian Revolution and rise of Stalin caused a deterioration
in the position of Soviet Jews. The persecution of Jews and Communist
efforts to wipe out traces of Judaism led to increasing demands
to allow Jews to emigrate. In 1972, Congress appropriated funds
to help resettle Soviet Jews in Israel. When pressed to explain
why the United States should pay for such resettlement, Sen. Edmund
Muskie gave three reasons:
1) We have never forgotten that we were founded and populated
by the refugees of an earlier world. Our commitment to that cause
is inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty.
2) There is the long history of our concern with persecution on
the account of religion and, in the last half century, particularly
with the persecution of Jews. Beginning in the early 1900s, our
national leaders have fought for the freedom and dignity of the
world's Jewish community. We played a major role in the creation
of Israel; we have been its firm defender ever since.
3) Beyond humanitarian concerns, there is our clear self-interest
in the health and well-being of Israel. War is not the only danger
to a healthy Israel. Economic disaster can accomplish what war
could not, if we let it. A country the size of Israel, with its
heavy defense burdens, cannot afford the several hundred million
dollars that will be required for the anticipated influx of Soviet
Jews over and above Israel's normal budget for immigrants.
The same year, Congress passed a resolution calling on the Soviet
Union to permit the free expression of ideas, the exercise of
religion, and the right of emigration.
But the most significant act taken by Congress was provoked by
the Soviets' decision to impose a "diploma tax" on all
emigrants who had received a higher education. The fees were so
high that people holding advanced degrees could not afford to
pay. In response, a campaign began to tie freedom of emigration
to the Nixon Administration's efforts to provide the Soviet Union
Most-Favored-Nation trade status. That effort culminated in the
adoption of the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the Trade Reform Act
signed by President Ford in 1975.
Subsequently, members of Congress, as well as Presidents Carter,
Reagan, and Bush, pressed the Soviet Union to fulfill its obligations
to allow its citizens freedom to emigrate.
The United States has also been involved in working to secure
the freedom of other imperilled Jewish communities, notably those
in Syria, Yemen and Ethiopia. In 1985, the United States and Israel
cooperated in "Operation Joshua," the heroic airlift
that followed "Operation Moses" and resulted in the
rescue of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews.
Mikhail Gorbachev's decision to allow Jews to leave, coupled with
the later collapse of the Soviet Union, shifted America's emphasis
from opening the doors of the Soviet Union to finding ways to
help Israel absorb newcomers. Since 1989, more than 800,000 Jews
who have immigrated to Israel (roughly 80% from the former Soviet
Union). To help Israel with the challenge of integrating this
tremendous influx, the United States has provided Israel with
nearly $11 billion in loan guarantees and refugee resettlement
funds.
Mitchell Bard is the Executive Director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. |