The Wagner-Rogers Child Refugee Bill

Actress Helen Hayes appealed to a senate immigration subcommittee to approve legislation to admit 20,000 German refugee children into the United States. She is pictured with Senator Robert F. Wagner, left, of New York, and Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers, right, of Massachusetts.

In the spring of 1939, New York Senator Robert Wagner and Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts introduced legislation calling for an extra quota admission of 20,000 Jewish children over a two-year period. Immigration opponents were successful in blocking the legislation despite support from both parties, humanitarian groups, organized labor, clergy, newspapers, and prominent civic leaders. Some opponents argued that child refugees would place a burden on the government and result in a reduction of services for American children. Others argued that the U.S. should not become a dumping ground for minorities who could never become loyal Americans. A year later, a proposal to allow British children to enter the United States was greeted with enthusiasm.