852.48/123
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Spanish Chargé d’Affaires called this morning to see me, ostensibly to present to me the First Secretary of the Embassy, Señor García Lahiguera. The real purpose of the visit of the Chargé d’Affaires, however, I assumed to be his inquiry as to the situation with regard to the request made of this Government for the admission of five hundred Basque children. Dr. de la Casa stated that he had just arrived from St. Louis, and that there was located in that city a large Mexican hat factory which was owned and operated by a group of Spanish Basques who are very anxious to take care of some of the Basque children should they be permitted to enter the United States. He also stated that there was in California a very large group of wealthy and influential Basque Spaniards who had also sent his Embassy word that they would be glad to provide for the maintenance of a further number of the Basque children. Dr. de la Casa said that it would be a grievous disappointment to these persons, many of whom were now American citizens, if they were not able to take part in providing for these children in distress.
[Page 515]I told Dr. de la Casa that the position of the Department of State I felt had been made clear in the letter which I had addressed to Dr. Bohn in reply to his inquiry in the matter; that the provisions of the immigration law were mandatory and vested no discretion in the Secretary of State, and that the matter was one which would have to be determined in the first instance by the American consular officials to whom applications for visas might be made and in the second place by the Secretary of Labor, who was vested with certain discretionary powers.
I repeated to him that the distressing situation of these children was one which had called forth a very sincere feeling of sympathy on the part of the members of this Government and on the part of public opinion in this country; and that I was sure that whatever determination was reached by the appropriate authorities of the United States Government would be reached, after full consideration of the existing requirements of the law and within the limits of possibility, with every regard for what was in the best interest of the children themselves.
Dr. de la Casa inquired whether the Department of State would not be willing to intervene with the Secretary of Labor in order to attempt to influence her towards a favorable decision. I replied that I was sure he would understand that, in the first place, it would hardly be possible for one executive department of the Government to attempt to influence another executive department in the reaching of decisions upon matters within the jurisdiction of such department, and that, in any event, I felt sure that he might be confident that whatever decision was reached by the Secretary of Labor would be reached only after very full and friendly consideration of all the facts involved in this question.
The Chargé d’Affaires, before leaving, left with me a formal note dated June 14,76 in which he communicated to this Government information which he had received from the Spanish Government with regard to alleged activities of German airplanes in the bombing of Bilbao.