(Testimony of Abram Chayes Resumed)
Mr. Chayes.
was also issued a passport routinely. But I can supply for the record the information as to the others.
Representative Ford.
I think it would be helpful.
Mr. Chayes.
You would like to know the time from application to grant of passport in the Soviet Union for defectors or attempted defectors who were trying to get back then to the United States?
Representative Ford.
Yes; if we could have that for the record.
Mr. Chayes.
We will be very glad to submit it.
Mr. Coleman.
Mr. Chayes, turning your attention to the question of the admission of Marina Oswald to the United States as a nonquota immigrant, I take it that since she was the wife of an American citizen, she would be entitled to nonquota immigrant status unless she was disqualified because she was a member of a Communist organization, is that correct?
Mr. Chayes.
Yes; unless she was subject to one of those disqualifications in 212 (a) (28).
Mr. Coleman.
Now the first decision that was made by the Embassy was that her membership in the particular trade union was involuntary, and therefore she was not disqualified?
Mr. Chayes.
That is correct.
Mr. Coleman.
I take it you reviewed the record and you concur in that judgment?
Mr. Chayes.
That is correct. It would also be made, and be made automatically in the case of persons belonging to trade unions not in leadership positions in the trade union, and where there is no external evidence of active participation, because membership in the union is a condition of employment in those places in the Soviet Union, and our regulations cover the point precisely.
Mr. Coleman.
Now the other decision that was made was that the Department and the Immigration and NaturalizAtion Service would waive the provisions of section 243 (g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act which provision says that a visa could not be issued from Moscow because the Attorney General in 1953 had placed Russia among those countries that refused to accept Russian citizens that we wanted to send back to Russia.
Mr. Chayes.
Yes; 243 (g) is a sanction which the act provides against countries, not against people. It is not a disqualification for a person. If 243 (g) had not been waived, Mrs. Oswald would simply have gone to Rotterdam and gotten the same visa from our consulate in Rotterdam. It is a sanction against the country which is levied when, as you say, the Attorney General determines that the country refuses to accept people whom we deport who are their nationals. It gets back a little to the point you were making yesterday about what obligation one has to accept his own nationals back from another country.
Mr. Dulles.
That is a general rule of international law, isn't it, you are supposed to do it.
Mr. Chayes.
Yes; as a general rule of international law I suppose one should accept his own nationals, but people who have expatriated themselves wouldn't be nationals and therefore we wouldn't have to take them back.
In any event--that is a little digression--but this sanction is a sanction designed to penalize a country which has refused to receive back its own nationals. when they are deported from the United States. That sanction was brought into play by the determination of the Attorney General made on May 26, 1953.
Mr. Dulles.
I wonder whether in addition to the information that Mr. Ford has requested, you could give us information, oh, say covering the last 5 or 10 years----
Mr. Chayes.
I think we have already.
Mr. Dulles.
I haven't said what I want it on. With regard to the time that has elapsed between the application of a Soviet woman married to an American citizen, the time that is taken from her application to the time that that application has been favorably acted upon by the Soviet Union. In this case as far as I understand it, the Soviet Union gave permission for Mrs. Oswald to come either in December 1961 or January 1962, and that because of this particular
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