1950 February 21

Rep. FDR, Jr., Attacks State Department Over Visa Denials

 

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., son of the former president and a member of the House of Representatives from New York, criticized the State Department on this day for barring two aliens from entering the U.S. without a hearing.

Roosevelt called the practice a “departure from our civil liberties tradition.” One of the two was Ellen Knauff, who had fled Central Europe, served in both the British and American armed forces, and had married an American veteran.

Roosevelt indicated that he would propose a legislative amendment that would prevent exclusions without a hearing.

Learn more about ideological exclusion in visa policy: https://www.aclu.org/national-security/ideological-exclusion

Read about the history of the modern visa system here

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