Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

Mr. TREVOR. Under those circumstances it is our contention that it is the duty of Congress to close that leak. Section 5 of S. 407 would close this one. A notorious Negro Communist was allowed to enter the United States, and he was met at the dock by a delegation of Harlem Negroes, and he went right from the dock and delivered an inflammatory harangue in Harlem, and went from there throughout the country. Probably the Commissioner is familiar with that. Mr. HOUGHTELING. I do not know that case. under the ninth proviso or did he get a visa? Mr. TREVOR. He got a visa from the State Department and he came in. As a matter of fact, Mr. Commissioner-I don't want to be unpleasant about this-it seems to me that the two departments fell down-the State Department, in granting the visa, and the immigration authorities in admitting him.

Mr. HOUGHTELING. On what basis?

Was he admitted

Mr. TREVOR. That he came within the scope of the act of 1918. Mr. HOUGHTELING. In what respect?

Mr. TREVOR. That he was a notorious member of an organization seeking to overthrow the Government of the United States.

I think this discussion has brought out the fact that there ought to be some clarification of the statutes, and the obvious intent of the Congress should be made so clear that no administrative officer could fail to understand it.

In regard to section 6 of this act, Mr. Shaughnessy said the act of 1929 was amended in 1932. We think the original act of Congress ought to be reenacted into law. That is really what section 6 of S. 407 would do. Moreover, the loopholes created by the act of 1932 should be closed.

With regard to these other bills, 409 and the restrictive sections in 407 should be combined. I do not want to take up much time on them. The first section of 409 should be the first section of 407, or similar phraseology.

Senator HOLMAN. Pardon the interruption, with the permission of the chairman. You have given years of study to this?

Mr. TREVOR. Oh, yes.

Senator HOLMAN. May I suggest, as a help to this committee, that you take these bills, rewrite them, and submit them to us as your suggestions?

Mr. TREVOR. I will be most happy to do so.

Senator HOLMAN. I am requesting that you do so.

(Later, Mr. Trevor submitted the following:)

Á BILL To temporarily suspend immigration and to further reduce permanent quota immigration into the United States, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That sixty days after passage of this Act immigration into the United States for permanent residence shall be suspended for a period of ten years, or until such time as the Department of Labor shall certify to Congress that unemployment in the United States does not exceed three million persons.

SEC. 2. That from and after the date on which temporary suspension of immigration shall cease, the quota in the case of any nationality, for which a quota has been determined and proclaimed under the Immigration Act of 1924, as amended, shall be 10 percentum of such quota, but the minimum quota of any nationality shall be one hundred.

SEC. 3. That from and after the date on which temporary suspension of immigration shall cease, no immigration visa shall be issued under subdivision (c) of section 4 of the Immigration Act of 1924, but all the provisions of the immigration

laws shall be applicable to immigrants born in any of the geographical areas specified in such subdivision as if each of such areas had at that time a quota equal to the number of immigrants admitted from such areas in the fiscal year of 1938, unless the number of United States citizens admitted for permanent residence into such areas shall be a greater number and in that event the quota for such areas shall be equal to the number of United States citizens admitted into such

areas.

SEC. 4. That no alien having a husband, wife or minor children under 18 years of age shall be admitted into the United States for permanent residence unless accompanied by his or her whole family.

SEC. 5. (a) From and after July 1, 1939, no alien shall be admitted to the United States for permanent residence who shall fail to pass an intelligence test equal or superior to the normal rating of equivalent age groups of the people of the United States.

(b) If any member of a family fails to meet the requirements of subsection (a) of this section, that fact shall exclude the whole family from admission to the United States.

SEC. 6. The Secretary of State may deny a visa to any alien seeking to enter the United States, when in the opinion of the Secretary the purpose of such entry is to promote a political system different from or hostile to the Government of the United States.

SEC. 7. The Secretary of State may withdraw a visa at any time after issue where it shall appear to his satisfaction that the visa was obtained by fraud, misrepresentation, or concealment of a material fact which if disclosed would bring the alien within the provisions of any laws excluding certain classes of aliens from the United States.

SEC. 8. That the ninth proviso of section 3 of the Immigration Act of February 5, 1917, be amended to read as follows: "Provided further, That the Commissioner of Immigration with the approval of the Secretary of Labor shall issue rules and prescribe conditions, including exaction of such bonds as may be necessary, to control and regulate the admission and return of otherwise inadmissible aliens applying for temporary admission solely for the purpose of receiving medical treatment."

SEC. 9. If any alien has been arrested and deported in pursuance of law, he shall be excluded from admission to the United States whether such deportation took place before or after the enactment of this Act; and if he enters or attempts to enter the United States after the enactment of this Act, he shall be guilty of a felony: Provided, That this Act shall not apply to any alien who has, prior to its enactment, obtained the lawful permission of the Secretary of Labor to reenter the United States and has reentered, or who arrives in the United States with such permission within sixty days after this Act, becomes effective. For the purposes of this section, any alien ordered deported (whether before or after the enactment of this Act), who has left the United States, shall be considered to have been deported in pursuance of law, irrespective of the source from which the expenses of his transportation were defrayed or of the place to which deported. Section 7 of the Act entitled "An Act to further amend the naturalization laws, and for other purposes," approved May 25, 1932, is hereby repealed.

SEC. 10. The Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization with the approval of the Secretary of Labor shall prescribe rules and regulations for the enforcement of this Act.

SEC. 11. Any person who knowingly aids or assists any alien or any person to evade or violate any provision of this Act or connives or conspires with an alien or any person to evade or violate this Act shall be deemed guilty of a felony and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.

SEC. 12. The provisions of this Act are in addition to and not in substitution for the provisions of the immigration laws and shall be enforced as part of those laws, and all the penal or other provisions of such laws not inapplicable shall apply to and be enforced in connection with the provisions of this Act.

Mr. TREVOR. Now, S. 410 is a bill which Senator Reynolds has drafted to cover the cases of aliens, subsequent to the enactment of this law, who should become the recipients of relief in this country. It provides that anybody who for 6 months is on public relief shall be deported. That is very reasonable. Persons who are not able to live in this country should be returned to their own countries.

Mr. HOLMAN. The law should be very specific as to that.

Mr. TREVOR. As a matter of fact, Senator, I think it should be made very clear that admission to any country under international law is merely a privilege and not a right, and is subject to withdrawal. That is universal law.

Senator HOLMAN. The theory was advanced by some one that we should require nothing more from immigrants than from our own people. We have our people, whatever they are, and it is our problem. The thought occurred to me, why take on this other problem? Why let aliens in here when we have our own serious problem to deal with? Mr. TREVOR. That expresses exactly our view of the situation. Mr. HOUGHTELING. May I ask a question?

Mr. TREVOR. Yes.

Mr. HOUGHTELING. What is your interpretation of the words "public relief"? Is that, in your opinion, relief at the expense of the State or relief at the expense of charitable organizations?

Mr. TREVOR. Senator Reynolds can state it better than I could do, but my interpretation would be any person who receives relief from the Federal Government or any public authority, State or municipal. Mr.HOUGHTELING. They are not eligible for the W. P. A. now. Mr. TREVOR. I understand that.

Mr. HOUGHTELING. They are not eligible in a good many States to public employment.

Mr. TREVOR. If they cannot live here they should be deported. They are the problem of the country from which they came.

Now, I will finish with S. 411. That provides:

That any alien or group of aliens whose presence in the United States is inimical to the public interest shall upon warrant of the Secretary of Labor be taken into custody and deported forthwith.

I have listened to the discussion in regard to that word "inimical." I cannot say what the Senator has in mind. I would suggest to this committee that the British system for admission of aliens would be worthy of your study, because there it is my understanding the Home Secretary may order the deportation of any person whose presence in Great Britain is not conducive to the public welfare.

Senator HOLMAN. At first I was opposed to that. I thought it left too much arbitrary power in the judgment of one person, regardless of whom that person might be. There is no provision for a hearing.

Mr. TREVOR. I do not believe there is any danger to anybody under this bill. I cannot conceive of the Secretary of Labor deporting anybody who has a real meritorious case.

Senator HOLMAN. It might depend upon who was Secretary of Labor.

Mr. TREVOR. The previous Commissioner stated in an official communication that made it impossible under existing law to get rid of 20,000 habitual criminals. I am rather inclined to believe that Senator Reynolds had in mind that the dictionary interpretation of "inimical" would allow the Secretary to deport any of those, particularly criminals

Senator HOLMAN. It looks to me as though they are throwing them out without a day in court.

Mr. TREVOR. That is what all foreign countries do.

Senator HERRING. We do not pattern after foreign countries in these things.

Mr. TREVOR. No; we do not. If you gentlemen would care to consider a draft of an amendment to this bill

Senator HOLMAN (interposing). I want to learn all I can on this subject.

Senator REYNOLDS. Mr. Chairman, in reference to the deportation of certain classes of people. Not expressing an opinion in regard to what the Department of Labor is doing, I would like to bring to your attention just one case.

Senator HERRING. Have you finished, Mr. Trevor?

Mr. TREVOR. Yes; unless you have some questions.

Senator REYNOLDS. Mr. Trevor referred to the so-called deportation hardship cases, that I am now about to refer to. The cases I discussed in the Senate on April 3 and 4, 1936, were selected at random out of the files by the representatives of the Department of Labor themselves. I did not do it, because I was afraid I might be charged with picking out cases to prove my cases.

I want to call your attention to the case of Rebecca Kabbaz, who came here as a visitor on January 11, 1932. This is 1939, and she is still here. When I made inquiry of the Bureau of Immigration, Department of Labor, the other day, the Department advised me as follows:

Rebecca Kabbaz: Recommendation has been made that action in her case be held in abeyance for 1 year from February 14, 1939.

She has been here since 1932, and the Department has not got rid of her yet. She came in "for a temporary purpose" 9 years ago.

Senator HOLMAN. How long are they supposed to stay here? Are these visas good for 90 days, 6 months, a year?

Senator REYNOLDS. In some instances more than that. The 1924 law reads: "An alien visiting the United States as a tourist or temporarily for business."

Mr. HOUGHTELING. There is no particular time limit at all.

Senator HOLMAN. No limit at all?

Senator REYNOLDS. They can stay here indefinitely then, apparently, although the law says "visiting" here "temporarily" and directs the Secretary of Labor to make all "necessary and appropriate rules and regulations" to see that visitors "visit temporarily.'

Senator HERRING. Possibly the Congress is to blame for that— not the Department.

Senator REYNOLDS. No; it is a question for the Department of Labor.

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. May I bring the file up here tomorrow?

Senator REYNOLDS. If you are going to do that, I would like to go into every one of these cases. I recall that in some instances a party was even allowed to leave the United States and to return later to the United States.

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Maybe we can clear up that issue in the morning.

Senator HERRING. Mr. Trevor wishes to comment on the registration bill.

Mr. TREVOR. The argument has been advanced against the registration bill that it would put the alien in a precarious position, and there would be no possibility of catching them, and that in many instances they would be subject to blackmail. As a matter of fact, at the present time, the Labor Department itself is unable-if I am

going too far they will correct me to establish the fact that an alien belongs to some particular country. That is one argument in favor of fingerprinting. The other is that everyone who is registered and fingerprinted is immune from the blackmailing tractics of the racketeer, because all he has to say when someone threatens him with deportation is, "No, fellow; I am registered. I have got a card. I will take you before the immigration officials and establish the fact that I am legally in the country." It is the greatest protection that could be given to anybody.

I have been fingerprinted. I understand that the President has been fingerprinted, as have the members of the White House staff. We are all registered every lawyer or professional man, automobile driver.

Senator HOLMAN. And voter.

Mr. TREVOR. That is correct. If we were all registered and fingerprinted, they would not be able to vote some of the dead people that have been voted.

I thank you.

Senator REYNOLDS. Before Mr. Trevor concludes, may I have your attention for a moment? It has been suggested by Senator Holman that some changes be made in the bill that I have presented to this committee for consideration. May I suggest that if Mr. Trevor will suggest to the committee the changes in the form of amendments, and let this committee, if it is going to report any of the bills, report them out as amended by me, it will simplify and expedite matters. If I were called upon to reintroduce the bills, it will cause delay. It will be the same thing over from year to year, and we will never get anything done.

Senator HERRING. Very well.

Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. I would like to clear up for the record the difference between a criminally deportable alien because of his record, and an alien who has committed a crime for which he is not deportable. There are three classes of aliens that are deportable because of their criminal records. One is the alien, without regard to how long he has been in the United States, who has been convicted or who admits the commission of a crime involving moral turpitude prior to entry. Another class is an alien who, within 5 years after entry, has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, for which he is sentenced to imprisonment for a year or more. A third class is the alien who, with regard to the time of entry, has on more than one occasion been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, and on each occasion sentenced to imprisonment for a year

or more.

Now, we have certain classes of aliens who may have long criminal records, but are not subject to deportation. An alien after 5 years' residence may commit a most heinous crime, for which he may be sentenced to 10 or 20 or 30 years' imprisonment. He may also have a long petty criminal record. But because the conviction did not occur within 5 years after his entry, he is not deportable as a criminal. That is what we attempted to get cured in the program we sponsored in the House, which passed the House last year. I just wanted to get that clear in the record.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »