840.48 Refugees/2273
The Chargé in Haiti (Sparks) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 7.]
Sir: In connection with the Department’s telegram No. 157 of September 30, 7 p.m., 1940, directing that I discourage all projects for bringing additional refugees to Haiti, I have the honor to refer to my despatch No. 1016 of September 23, 1940,78 reporting a conversation with President Vincent relative to a scheme for the entry into Haiti of one hundred refugee families. It will be noted that I employed every argument to convince him that a scheme of the nature he described was not in the interest of Haiti or Hemisphere Defense, and that it could not be viewed with favor by the American Government. While I felt that I did convince him, it seemed desirable that I should be instructed to say that the plan, after being considered by the Department, had been disapproved, and I requested instructions in that sense.
[Page 242]The Department’s telegraphic instruction of September 30 provides the authority I requested and I conveyed the views expressed therein to President Vincent this morning. During the course of the conversation I made the following points: One, all refugees from Germany are at most only anti-Hitler; two, pressure can be exerted on those still having property in Germany to do the bidding of the German Government; three, further pressure can be brought to bear on them through acts or threats against their relatives still in Germany; four, German agents have been sent out in the guise of refugees; five, since few refugees succeeded in removing their capital from Germany, those well supplied with funds should be regarded with even greater suspicion; and, six, the means available to the Haitian Government for investigating their political and financial antecedents appear to be limited. Therefore, we regard these refugees as suspects and cannot view with approval their migration from place to place. I added that since my Government is spending in excess of twelve billion dollars for the defense of the United States, and the Western Hemisphere, it would be unreasonable to expect that we would view without concern the uncontrolled movement of alien suspects.
President Vincent appeared finally to be convinced, but he observed that he could not understand how the American Government permitted additional refugees to enter the United States where there are already so many. I explained that the large number of refugees already in the United States was due to our humanitarian approach to the refugee problem. However, during the past few months as a result of international developments and our knowledge of Fifth Column activities, our policy had changed and it is now incumbent upon American Consular officers to require every alien desiring to enter the United States to demonstrate that his presence there will not be contrary to the public interest. In addition, we have taken measures to insure completely the control of these aliens after their arrival in the United States.
President Vincent also exhibited a lack of comprehension of the statements contained in the letter that Mr. Pell addressed to Harry E. Pendleton of Chicago, Illinois, on August 23, 1940,80 to the effect that “this Government cannot intervene with any Government in respect of the admission into the territory of that Government of immigrants for settlement. Each Government, in its sovereign right, must determine what persons shall and what persons shall not be received under its immigration laws and practices”. As pointed out in my despatch No. 1016 of September 23, 1940, Mr. Salmon81 seized upon these statements of our policy and emphasized to President Vincent [Page 243] that the Department of State had expressed itself definitely as having no concern in the matter and, therefore, the only thing remaining to do was to insure that each individual refugee was not pro-Nazi, pro-Fascist or Communist. I explained that it was quite natural that the Department should thus limit itself in the statement made to Mr. Pendleton, since the American Government had already made known its views on this subject to the Haitian Legation in Washington and that it was now reiterating those views, through my intermediary, to the President of Haiti.
President Vincent may now desist from further action looking toward the entry of the one hundred refugee families, but it is feared that, because of the financial gains involved, this will be a recurring problem in one form or another.
Respectfully yours,