The Jewish Trail of Tears The Evian Conference of ... - Haruth.com

information regarding its immigration policies and statutes as well as a “general
statement” detailing the “number and type” of aliens it would accept. In addition, a
mutually agreed upon “system of documentation” would be required for those migrants
who lacked the “requisite documents.” Finally, a permanent organization was to be
established “to formulate and to carry out, in cooperation with existing agencies, a long
range program” that would lead to the resolution or the “alleviation of the [refugee]
problem in the larger sense.” Success, however, of such a construction depended upon
fruitful negotiations with the German Government. 56 The convening of such a meeting
may have served an unspoken purpose, i.e., the expression of international sympathy for
the persecuted Jews of Germany but, as will be demonstrated, such consideration did not
translate into tangible and significant actions. The Committee ultimately defined the
forced émigrés as “political refugees,” devoid of any specific religious or ethnic identity,
who sought to leave or had already succeeded in departing the Reich.
Undersecretary of State Sumner Wells cautioned the President to remain
cognizant of domestic restrictionist opinion and to avoid any representation that implied
or overtly stated that the annual quota or immigration laws would be modified. 57
The
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 marked the first American legislation that limited
immigration into the United States and represented white opposition to the importation of
cheap labor. The closure of the American frontier in 1890, coupled with increasing
mechanization and industrialization, reduced the need and demand for foreign labor.
Congress in 1891 established the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration and
56 FRUS, 1938, vol. 1, 748.
57 Feingold, Politics of Rescue, 29.
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