On Dec.25, 1945, an Executive Order was issued requiring that existing immigration quotas be designated for displaced persons. More displaced persons entered the US after the Executive Order; two-thirds of whom were Jews. In 1948, Congress passed legislation to admit 400,000 DPs to the United States. About 20 percent, were Jewish displaced persons. However, the entry requirements favored agricultural laborers to such an extent that President Truman called the law “flagrantly discriminatory against Jews.” Congress amended the law in 1950, but by that time most of the Jewish DPs in Europe had gone to the newly established state of Israel (founded on May 14, 1948). The amended 1948 law was a turning point in American immigration policy and established a precedent for later refugee crises.
Truman Directive allowed 17,000+ Jewish refugees to enter the US (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee)
Jewish Refugees leaving Germany for the US (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
