HEARING

BEFORE

COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION
UNITED STATES SENATE

SIXTY-SIXTH CONGRESS

THIRD SESSION

ON

H. R. 14461

A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES BY THE TEMPORARY

SUSPENSION OF IMMIGRATION, AND

FOR OTHER PURPOSES

COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION.

LEBARON B. COLT, Rhode Island, Chairman.

HENRY M. BARRY, Clerk.

EMERGENCY IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION.

MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 1921.

UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION, Washington, D. C.

The committee met at 10.30 a. m., pursuant to call, in room 235, Senate Office Building, Senator LeBaron B. Colt presiding. Present: Senators Colt (chairman), Dillingham, Keyes, Edge, Nugent, Harris, Harrison, and Phelan, members of the committee. The committee had under consideration the following bill:

[H. R. 14461, Sixty-sixth Congress, third session.]

AN ACT To provide for the protection of the citizens of the United States by the temporary suspension of immigration, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That as used in this act

The term "United States" means the United States and any waters, territory, or other place subject to the jurisdiction thereof except the Isthmian Canal Zone and the Philippine Islands; but if any alien, or any alien seaman, leaves the Canal Zone or any insular possession of the United States and attempts to enter any other place under the jurisdiction of the United States nothing contained in this act shall be construed as permitting him to enter under any other conditions than those applicable to all aliens, or to all alien seamen, respectively;

The term "immigration act" means the act of February 5, 1917, entitled "An act to regulate the immigration of aliens to, and the residence of aliens in, the United States"; and the term "immigration laws" includes such act and all laws, conventions, and treaties of the United States relating to the immigration, exclusion, or expulsion of aliens; and

The word "alien" includes any person not a native-born or naturalized citizen of the United States, but this definition shall not be held to include Indians of the United States not taxed nor citizens of the islands under the jurisdiction of the United States.

SEC. 2. Except as otherwise provided in this act, from sixty days after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of fourteen months next after its passage, the immigration of aliens to the United States is prohibited, and during such time it shall not be lawful for any alien to enter the United States from any foreign port or place, or, having so entered, to remain within the United States.

SEC. 3. (a) Section 2 shall not apply to otherwise admissible aliens lawfully resident in the United States, nor to otherwise admissible aliens of the following status or occupations, when complying with the requirements of this section and with all other provisions of the immigration laws:

(1) Government officials, their families, attendants, servants, and employees; (2) Travelers or temporary sojourners for pleasure or business who may enter the United States during the time of suspension of immigration for a period not exceeding six months each, which period may be extended in individual cases by the Secretary of State;

(3) Bona fide students who may enter the United States solely for the purpose of study at educational institutions particularly designated by them; and

upon graduation, completion, or discontinuance of studies they shall not be entitled to remain in the United States;

(4) Ministers of any religious denomination.

(b) An alien belonging to one of the classes or persons enumerated in subdivision (a) shall be permitted to enter the United States only upon presentation of a valid passport or other official document in the nature of a passport (hereinafter referred to as a passport) satisfactorily establishing his identity, nationality, and to which of the classes so enumerated he belongs, together with a signed and certified photograph of the bearer attached. A wife, or a female child under twenty-one years of age, or a male child under sixteen years of age, may be included in the passport of a husband or parent, but a photograph of each must be attached to the passport. Each male child sixteen years of age or over must carry a separate passport.

(c) Each such passport must be viséed by an American consulate, or a diplomatic mission if specially authorized, in the country from which the holder starts on his trip to the United States, and if such country is not the country to which he owes allegiance the passport must also be viséed by a diplomatic or consular officer therein of his own country. In all cases the passport must also be viséed by an American consulate, or the diplomatic mission if specially authorized, in the country from which the alien embarks for the United States, or if he comes by land, the country by which he enters the United States.

(d) Each alien coming within the provisions of this section, except a duly accredited government official, must furnish to the American diplomatic or consular officer who visées the passport in the foreign country from which he starts on his trip to the United States, and to the American authorities at the port of entry or elsewhere in the United States, a written declaration setting forth: (1) The date and place of the bearer's birth; (2) the nationality and race of his father and mother; (3) the place of the bearer's last foreign residence and the other places, if any, where he has resided within the past five years, and what has been his occupation during that period; (4) if he has ever been in this country, the dates and objects of his visits and the places and addresses where he resided or sojourned; (5) the date set for his departure for the United States, the port of embarkation, and the name of the ship on which he is to sail, if he goes by water; (6) names and addresses of persons acquainted with the applicant in the country from which he starts and in the United States, if any; (7) the expected duration and object of his proposed visit to this country, the documentary or other proofs of such objects submitted, and the place or places in the United States where he expects to sojourn or reside; (8) that the bearer knows and understands the provisions of the immigration laws, excluding certain classes of aliens from the United States, and is certain that he does not fall within any of such classes; (9) that the bearer understands that if, on arrival at a port of the United States, he is found to be a member of a class excluded by the immigration laws, he will be deported if practicable, or, if for any reason deportation should be found to be impracticable, will be held in detention in an immigration station or other place of confinement, and that he is, with full understanding thereof, assuming all risks involved in a possible return trip in consequence of being rejected under such law.

(e) A wife or minor child who does not expect to reside with the husband or father in the United States must carry a separate declaration.

(f) Each declaration must be affirmed or sworn to before a consular officer, or a diplomatic officer of the United States if specially authorized, and signed in triplicate, and a photograph of the declarant must be attached to each copy with an impression of the official seal. The declaration must be made at least two weeks before the date of intended departure, except in cases of extraordinary emergency. One copy of the declaration must be filed in the embassy, legation, or consulate by which the passport is first viséed, one copy forwarded immediately to the commissioner of immigration or inspector in charge at the port of entry by which the declarant expects to enter the United States and one copy fastened to the passport of the declarant in such a way that it may be removed upon his departure from the United States. The copy last mentioned must be presented with the passport to the official at the port of entry into this country who examines passports, and to the immigration official who inspects the holder, and to such other officials in the United States as may be authorized to inspect such documents.

SEC. 4. (a) A citizen of the United States twenty-one years of age or over, who is a resident of the United States, may, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Labor, apply to him for permission to bring into the United