• Login
  • Register
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Documents
  • Activities
  • Activity Tools
    • All Tools
    • Analyzing Documents
    • Discussion Topic
    • Compare and Contrast
    • Zoom/Crop
    • White Out / Black Out
    • Spotlight
    • Finding a Sequence
    • Making Connections
    • Mapping History
    • Seeing the Big Picture
    • Weighing the Evidence
    • Interpreting Data
  • Popular Topics
    • See All
    • National History Day
    • The Constitution
    • Labor History
    • Sports: All-American
    • Rights in America
    • American Indians
    • Women's Rights
    • American Revolution
    • The Civil War
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • The Vietnam War
    • 1970s America
    • Congress
    • Amending America
    • Elections
    • What Americans Eat
    • Signatures
    • Nixon and Ford Years
  • Resources
    • Getting Started
    • Document Analysis
    • Activity-Creation Guide
    • Manage Assignments
    • iPad App
    • Presentation Materials
    • Webinars
      • Recorded Webinars
      • Live Webinars
MENU
DocsTeachThe online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives National Archives Foundation National Archives

State Department Memo on Temporarily Halting Immigration

6/26/1940

Print
Add to Favorites:
Add
Saving document...
Your document has been saved.
Add all page(s) of this document to activity:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Add only page 1 to activity:
Add only page 2 to activity:
Add only page 3 to activity:
Add only page 4 to activity:
Add only page 5 to activity:
Add only page 6 to activity:
Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long sent this memo to Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle and Director of the Office of European Affairs James Clement Dunn. It shows Long's anti-immigration policy during the Holocaust. 

Long provides possible responses to an enclosed a memo from Avra M. Warren, chief of the State Department Visa Division, in which Warren states that "there is no authority of law to suspend the immigration quota for Germany."

Long suggests prohibiting the issuance of visas other than with State Department approval (transfering visa decisions from the U.S. consuls in Europe to the State Department), and temporarily stopping immigration by putting administrative obstacles in the way.

Show/Hide Transcript

Transcript

[top left corner, red stamp] 
Assistant Secretary of State 
Jun 27 1940
Mr. Long

[top right corner, red stamp]
Advisor on Political Relations
Mr. Dunn
Jun 27 1940
Department of State

[letterhead]
Department of State
Assistant Secretary

A-L

June 26, 1940.

A-B - Mr. Berle [red checkmark, in red: I agree. AB]
PA/D - Mr. Dunn [in blue: I think the 2 steps mentioned in the summary would be taken. JD]

Attached is a memorandum from Mr. Warren. I discussed the matter with him on the basis of this memorandum. There are two possibilities and I will discuss each category briefly.
 
Non-immigrants

Their entry into the United States can be made to depend upon prior authorization by the Department. This would mean that the consuls would be divested of discretion and that all requests for nonimmigrant visas (temporary visitor and transit visas) be passed upon here. It is quite feasible and can be done instantly. It will permit the Department to effectively control the immigration of persons in this category and private instructions can be given the Visa Division as to nationalities which should not be admitted as well as to individuals who are to be excluded.

This must be done for universal application and could not be done as regards Germany, for instance, or Russia, for instance, or any other one government because it would first, invite retaliation and second, would



probably be a violation of some of our treaty arrangements. The retaliation clause is [^material] in connection with Germany because it could mean the closing of our offices in almost all of Europe.
 
Immigrants

We can delay and effectively stop for a temporary period of indefinite length the number of immigrants [^coming] into the United States. We could do this by simply advising our consuls, to put every obstacle in the way and to require additional evidence and to resort to various administrative devices which would postpone and postpone and postpone the granting of the visas. However, this could only be temporary. In order to make it more definite It would have to be done by suspension of the rules under the law by the issuance of a proclamation of emergency--which I take it we are not yet ready to proclaim.
 
Summing Up

We can effectively control non-immigrants by prohibiting the issuance of visas unless the consent of the Department to obtained in advance for universal application.

We can temporarily prevent the number of immigrants from certain localities such as Cuba, Mexico and other places of origin of German intending immigrants by simply raising administrative obstacles. The



The Department will be prepared to take these two steps immediately upon the decision but emphasis must be placed on the fact that discrimination must not be practiced and with the additional thought that in case a suspension of the regulations should be proclaimed under the need of an emergency, it would be universally applicable and would affect refugees from England. 

The Canadian situation and travel across that border we can handle through an exception to the general rule and so advise our consuls in Canada.



Department of State
Visa Division
Memorandum

[top right corner, red stamp]
Adviser on Political Relations
Mr. Dunn
Jun 27 1940
Department of State

[stamp]
Visa Division
Jul 5 1940
Department of State

[stamp]
Assistant Secretary of State
Jun 26 1940
Mr. Long

June 26, 1940

To: A-L - Mr. Long
PA/D - Mr. Dunn

From: VD - Mr. Warren

Under existing instructions, no diplomatic visa or passport visa may be granted to members of the armed forces of a country engaged in the European War without prior authorization from the Department. In the case of civilian officials of a country engaged in the European War, a request, either written or oral, must be received from the Foreign Office of the government concerned or, in the absence of such a request, the Department's authorization must be obtained before a diplomatic visa or a passport visa as a foreign government official may be issued. In addition, the visa applications of all journalists, including newspaper representatives, freelance reporters, and writers must be referred to the Department for consideration. Persons coming to the United States temporarily must show a reasonable need or a



a legitimate purpose. In the case of immigrants, the grounds for refusing a visa are defined in the Immigration Act of 1924 and in that of February 5, 1917.

There is no authority of law to suspend the immigration quota for Germany or any other country. Such a suspension would require specific legislation and the desirability of denying the entry into the United States of German nationals, either as immigrants or as nonimmigrants, must be considered in light of possible retaliation which, under present conditions, might extend across all Europe.

As an administrative measure, the advance authorization of the Department could be required before granting a visa to a German national either as an immigrant or as a nonimmigrant. In most instances, however, the information available in the Department would not be adequate on which to base a satisfactory decision. As a precautionary measure our consular officers could require current police certificates for all German nationals but such a requirement would not disclose the activities of a person whose entry into the United States the German authorities might desire to facilitate. A suspension of immigration quotas would



would provide an effective means of reducing the channels of entry into the United States. An indefinite suspension would require legislation but a suspension for two months is possible by administrative means but would be discriminatory if it did not apply to all quotas, including the British. Following such a suspension our officers abroad would be more free to examine the applications of nonimmigrants with the care which present conditions justify.

[initials]
This primary source comes from the General Records of the Department of State.
Full Citation: Memo from Assistant Secretary of State to State Department Officials on Temporarily Halting Immigration into the United States; 6/26/1940; General Visa Correspondence, 1914 - 1949; General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/memo-temporary-halt-immigration, May 21, 2025]
Return to ResultsReturn

Activities that use this document

  • U.S. Policy and the Holocaust Refugee Crisis
    Created by the National Archives Education Team

Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.

  • Explore Primary Source Documents
  •  
  • Discover Activities You Can Teach With
  •  
  • Create Fun & Engaging Activities
Follow us on X:X
Follow us on Facebook:facebook
Please enter a valid email address

View our webinars:youtube

Get our iPad app:apple
New Documentsshare
New Activitiesshare

The National Archives

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper. We save documents and other materials created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government that are judged to have continuing value. We hold in trust for the public the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — but also the records of ordinary citizens — at our locations around the country.
  • All Education Programs
  • Student Visits
  • Distance Learning
  • Professional Development
  • National Archives Museum
  • Presidential Libraries
  • Archives.gov
  • National Archives Foundation




Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, DocsTeach is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Primary source documents included on this site generally come from the holdings of the National Archives and are in the public domain, except as noted. Teaching activities on this site have received the CC0 Public Domain Dedication; authors have waived all copyright and related rights to the extent possible under the law. See our legal and privacy page for full terms and conditions.