recruit its corps of immigrant inspectors. A most significant thing about the activity of the patrol force the past year has been the enthusiasm with which these young officers have gone about their difficult duties. A considerably larger force could be used to advantage, and with further additions to the existing nucleus of personnel and with proportionately increased provision for administrative expenses, even more striking results may be obtained in suppressing alien smuggling activities. The reports emphasize the need of adequate equipment and transportation, and even if the present force is to operate to its best advantage further thought and expenditure should be devoted to these ends. An energetic and capable personnel already has been developed. Could this force be adequately increased and furnished with the best type of equipment-especially facilities for rapid transportation-with which to fight the methods of the smugglers, such effectiveness would be reached as would render unprofitable any extensive induction of aliens across the boundaries or along the Just as soon as law violators, both smugglers and aliens subjects, are convinced of the hazards attaching to surreptitious entry, alien applicants will patronize the regular ports of entry and submit to the necessary inspection as the best means of gaining admission. The deterrent effect now exercised by the patrol force has been a most important factor in keeping alien smuggling efforts and other illegal activities along the borders within bounds. The continuance of this force and a further increased provision for its maintenance and expansion is recommended. No account of the activities of the border patrol would be complete if it did not make mention of the cooperation furnished by the officials of the Canadian and Mexican Governments along the international frontiers. Much of the success achieved by the border patrol has been made possible by the good will and assistance which its officers have met with from officials along the international boundaries in their efforts to protect this country against the illegal entry of aliens. ALIEN SEAMEN The seamen route is also being resorted to by aliens seeking to gain unlawful entry to this country. The number of desertions among alien seamen, however, is no exact criterion of the number of aliens who, arriving as seamen, remain here unlawfully. So far as the laws are concerned alien seamen are at liberty to obtain their discharge in United States ports when they declare it to be their intention to reship foreign, and, since no check is kept upon their subsequent movements, it is manifestly impossible to determine what percentage of such seamen actually remain in the country. Investigations which have been conducted from time to time indicate that the number is considerable. True it is that the immigration act of 1924 provides that alien seamen employed on vessels arriving from foreign ports must be detained on board until they have undergone examination by an immigration officer and a medical officer of the United States Public Health Service. The act also requires the master to deny shore leave to such seamen as may be designated by the immigration officer. However, it is only when an officer has reason to suspect that an alien signed on as a sea man is not such, or that a desertion is intended, that notice to detain on board is served upon the master. The seaman's act vests seamen with certain rights, among which are the privilege of being discharged and of freely enjoying shore leave, which are not abridged by the immigration laws. To some extent, therefore, an officer must be guided by intuition in determining whether an alien signed on as a seaman is what he represents himself to be or whether he has adopted the calling of seaman as an easy means of gaining unlawful entry. In the report of my predecessor for the fiscal year 1924, the hope was expressed that the new provision of law heretofore referred to would serve to check the unlawful entry of aliens in the guise of seamen. While the provision in question has proved decidedly helpful, reports received from seaport stations indicate that the door through which aliens are unlawfully entering in the guise of seamen swings altogether too widely open for the welfare of the country. During the year officers of the Immigration Service boarded 32,194 vessels on which were examined 1,004,226 alien seamen. Out of this number 1,720 seamen were certified for loathsome or dangerous contagious diseases and 1,595 removed to hospitals for treatment. The number of deserting seamen for the year was 19,710, which makes a total of 77,917 for the past three years-a number greater than the total desertion of alien seamen for the 10 years from 1911 to 1920, inclusive. The number of such desertions for the previous fiscal year (1924) was 35,013, which, as compared with the number for the period covered by this report, 19,710, indicates that a more favorable situation now obtains as regards the number of such cases. ADMISSION OF ALIENS "INELIGIBLE TO CITIZENSHIP" Re There were admitted to the United States 1,721 immigrant alien Chinese and 688 were denied admission during the fiscal year 1925, as against 4,670 admitted and 1,031 excluded in 1924. This decrease in Chinese immigration is due to the immigration act of 1924, which necessarily tends to lessen the number of Chinese coming to the United States, as the alien Chinese wives and alien Chinese minor children of American citizens are thereby made inadmissible. strictions are placed upon the admission of certain other classes. It has had a greater effect this past year, however, than it can possibly have hereafter, as very few wives and minor children of alien Chinese merchants have applied for admission; but now that the Supreme Court has decided that such persons are admissible, they may be expected to come to the United States in much greater numbers. Something of the extent to which fraud is being perpetrated in Chinese cases may be seen from the result of an investigation made by the San Francisco immigration office. The commissioner of immigra tion there reports that during the months of April, May, and June, 1925, 256 Chinese men who are American citizens and held return certificates as such, and who claimed to be married, returned to the United States through that port. Three of these stated that their wives were in the United States. The other 253 claimed wives in China, and 19 of them stated that their wives were pregnant. The 256 Chinese American citizens referred to claimed a total of 719 children, 670 of these being males and only 49 females. One hundred and fifty-one of the alleged sons are now in the United States and 519 in China. All the girls are in China. While individual families may have boys and no girls, it is, of course, absurd to suppose that such a proportion of boys to girls could exist among the children of men of any race who entered the United States during any specified period of three months. Moreover, the commissioner of immigration at San Francisco says: "This ratio runs throughout the records, and it is a mild statement to assert that the foundation has been laid in the records for the coming of thousands of foreign-born alleged children of citizens of the Chinese race." This situation is not peculiar to San Francisco, as the Chinese entering the United States at the other ports of entry for Chinese are, as a rule, claiming about all the children they could possibly have in China and most of them deny having any girls. It is undoubtedly true that, on account of this fact and after careful coaching given prospective applicants, many Chinese secured admission as foreignborn citizens-that is, as sons of natives who have no right to admission under any status, it being impossible in many instances to break down the testimony of either the applicant or his witnesses or to discover such discrepancies therein as would cause the weight of evidence to be against the claims of the applicant. Prior to the immigration act of 1924, the Immigration Service had for many years issued return certificates free to Chinese of the exempt classes who desired to go abroad temporarily and insure their prompt readmission to the United States so far as the Chinese exclusion act was concerned. During the fiscal year 1925, however, such return certificates have not been issued to Chinese of the exempt classes permanently domiciled in the United States, for the reason that section 10 of the immigration act of 1924 provides that, upon payment of a fee of $3, the Commissioner General of Immigration, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, shall issue a return permit to any alien (without regard to race) who applies in good faith therefor and who has been legally admitted to the United States. It has been held, however, by the bureau and department that a Chinese laborer can not apply in good faith for such a return permit, for the reason that it would be of no value to him, because the Chinese exclusion act specifies that he must obtain a return certificate as a laborer and that the same shall be issued to him free of charge. The Immigration Service is, therefore, requiring each Chinese applicant for a return permit to show not only that he has been lawfully admitted to the United States but also that he has exclusively followed an exempt occupation for the full period of one year prior to making his application, this being the requirement for readmission as an exempt under the Chinese exclusion acts. In this connection it should be stated that for a number of years before the act of 1924 became effective the Immigration Service had found it impracticable to deny return certificates to Chinese of the exempt classes who were unable to prove their lawful domicile, unless the evidence against the legality of their residence in this country was such as to warrant the institution of deportation proceedings by the department or before a United States commissioner; the Supreme Court having decided in the case of Chin Fong (253 U. S., 420) that such persons were entitled to a judicial determination of their status and could not be prevented from entering the United States by purely administrative proceedings. In some instances, also, persons claiming American birth and citizenship have in years past been permitted to qualify for and obtain the return certificates provided for aliens under the claim that they were to be regarded in every way as aliens until they proved that they were citizens. However, during the past year and for some time prior thereto, it has been held that a person claiming American birth or citizenship is entitled to all the rights of a citizen provided he presents reasonable proof of his citizenship; but that failure to do this does not entitle him to the privileges granted by law and treaty to aliens only. During the fiscal year 1925, 424 return permits were issued, 25 applications for such return permits were withdrawn, and 67 were denied, many of the denials being because the applicants failed to prove their exempt status, some because they failed to show previous lawful entry, and a few because they claimed to be citizens of the United States. During the fiscal year 1924, 1,159 return certificates had been issued to Chinese of the exempt classes and 54 applications for such return certificates denied. During the fiscal year 1925, 2,709 return certificates were issued to Chinese American citizens and 136 were denied, as against 2,572 granted and 93 denied in 1924. During the fiscal year 1924, 1,007 laborers' return certificates were granted and 24 denied, while during the fiscal year just closed 1,288 laborers' return certificates were issued and 58 denied. The following table shows the number of aliens "ineligible to citizenship" admitted during the year, and the classes within which comprehended: Aliens of the classes ineligible to citizenship admitted under the immigration act of 1924 during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1925. A considerable decrease is found in the number of immigrant aliens of the Chinese race admitted during the year, the total being 1,721, compared to 4,670 in the previous fiscal year, 1924. The number of Chinese emigrant aliens leaving the country also decreased, 3,263 having departed in 1925 and 3,736 in 1924. The figures for these two classes for the last five years are shown in the following table: 1921 1922 1923. Chinese immigration and emigration for fiscal years 1921 to 1925. During the fiscal year 682 Japanese immigrant aliens were admitted to the United States as against an emigration of 1,170. The figures for the fiscal years 1921 to 1925 are as follows: Japanese immigration and emigration for fiscal years 1921 to 1925. An appropriation of $5,276,705 was made by Congress for the conduct of the Immigration Service and the administration of the various laws pertaining to immigration for the fiscal year 1925. The following statement shows the appropriations for each object: For the enforcement of laws regulating immigration into the United States... For additional land border patrol.. For fiscal maintenance and upkeep of immigration stations-- Total.. $4,084, 865 1, 000, 000 100, 000 91, 840 $5, 276, 705 The net operating cost of the Immigration Service for the fiscal year 1925, including maintenance and repair of immigration stations, salaries, and other expenses of administration was $5,231,689. The revenue to the Government for the year through the enforcement of the immigration laws was $4,189,247.50. The following table shows the various sources of income and the amounts collected under each head:" Head tax (through customs districts). Head tax (through naturalization for nunc pro tunc inspections) – Head tax voluntarily paid, the statutory period for payment having expired....... Immigration fines (through customs districts). Collections for immigration permits to reenter the United States Forfeiture of bonds.. Sale of exclusive privileges. Sale of Government property. Miscellaneous collections.L. Care and treatment of aliens, Ellis Island Hospital, Public Total.. |