AEMI

SUSANA SABÍN-FERNÁNDEZ
isting laws governing the admission of
aliens into the United States. Although
I am not in a position to give you any
assurance at this time as to the final action
which may be taken in regard to the
visa applications of these children when
made, I assure you their cases will have
the most sympathetic consideration.” 19
On June 16, the Spanish Republic’s
ambassador to the United States wrote
to the secretary of state with the Basque
government’s official request to send the
children to the United States:
With reference to the conversation
which I had the pleasure of having
yesterday with the under Secretary of
State, Mr. Summer Wells, with regard
to obtaining the necessary permission
so that Basque Societies, enterprises and
persons, domiciled in this country may
be able to bring here a certain number
of children from Bilbao and from the
Basque Country in order to perform
the humanitarian work which they
believe is incumbent upon them and
demonstrate their solidarity with the
philanthropic work which the Basque
colonies in other countries, such as
Mexico, France, United Kingdom, etc.
are doing. I take pleasure in advising
you that the Basque Government has
accepted the idea and proposal of the
living Basque elements in North America
and I therefore take the liberty of
requesting Your Excellency to inform
the Secretary of Labor or the competent
authorities, that the Basque Societies,
entities, and persons can, in my opinion,
furnish all the guarantee necessary
to safeguard the moral, material and
religious interests of the said children,
and therefore the Basque Government
and this Embassy would have the greatest
pleasure and satisfaction in seeing
permits issued for the entrance of the
said children into this country. 20
57
The petition had many other supporters,
including Florencio Laucirica, 21
president of the New York Basque
Center; the U.S. Committee for German-American
Relief for Spain; and the
Workers Fellowship of the Society for
Ethical Culture in New York. During
a meeting at the Basque center, a commission
of 27 members was formed to
execute the project. The first step was to
contact the State Department to determine
regulations for bringing children
into the United States and for families
who wished to adopt a child. The
State Department replied on May 25,
noting that visitor visas could only be
issued to aliens who were able to qualify
as non-immigrant temporary visitors
under Section 3 (2) of the Immigration
Act of 1924. Section 3 of the Immigration
Act of 1917 also stated that
“all children under sixteen years of age,
unaccompanied by or not coming to
one of both of their parents, except that
any such children may, in the discretion
of the Secretary of Labor, be admitted
if in his opinion they are not likely to
become a public charge and are otherwise
eligible.” 22 The 1917 Immigration
Act also defined as inadmissible “all persons
whose ticket or passage is paid for
by any corporation, association, society,
municipality or foreign government, either
directly or indirectly.” But because
Bowers was reportedly in favor of the
project, the final decision was in hands
of consular officers abroad.
After the media reported on the news,