reading "All aliens who have been lawfully admitted to the United States and who have resided therein continuously for five years and who return to the United States within six months from the date of their departure therefrom" be broadened so as to provide that aliens holding valid unexpired reentry permits shall not be excluded because of illiteracy, and that subdivision F of section 10 of the immigration act of 1924 be so amended as to harmonize with the amendment of section 3 of the act of 1917 as proposed. Second. That statutory grounds for both exclusion and deportation be broadened, and that the whole body of law dealing with immigration be codified in the manner and for the reasons set forth in the annual report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926. Third. That section 8 of the immigration act of 1917 be amended to provide a specific penalty for the offense of harboring and concealing smuggled aliens. This amendment is necessitated by decisions of certain courts that this clause of section 8 is inoperative because Congress did not in clear language provide a penalty for the offense. Fourth. That aliens deliberately entering the United States surreptitiously be made subject to criminal prosecution. Fifth. That if the Congress should not see fit to make it a criminal act for aliens generally surreptitiously to enter the United States, then that it make it a crime at least for the criminal, diseased, immoral, and anarchistic classes so to enter, and in any event to penalize by imprisonment the surreptitious reentry of any alien previously excluded or deported. Sixth. That natives of countries of the Western Hemisphere be brought within the quota provisions of existing law and that section 4 (c) thereof be repealed. Immigration from this source stands no less in need of limitation than the immigration from the Old World. The design of the present law obviously is to permit peoples of the stocks from which we are chiefly descendant to come to us in reasonable numbers. The unlimited flow of immigrants from the Western Hemisphere can not be reconciled with the sharp curtailment of immigration from Europe. Seventh. That omission from section 15 of the immigration act of 1924 of authority to require bond in appropriate cases in connection. with the admission of immigrant students be remedied. Liberality should be extended to those who seek to avail themselves of our educational institutions, but at the same time there should be authority, in the interest of good administration, where that course is desirable, to exact a bond of immigrant students admitted, conditioned for their departure from the United States. The present situation works to the disadvantage of the alien in obliging the port officials to exclude in a doubtful case, whereas, if bond were possible, doubts might be resolved in favor of the applicant in many instances without jeopardy to the accomplishment of the general purposes of the act. Eighth. That a nonquota status in the issuance of immigration visas be authorized in favor of the dependent parents over 60 years of age of citizens of the United States. The number who would benefit by this modification of existing law is not large and considerations of humanity fully support the recommendation. The Congress has recently extended a nonquota status to the husbands of American citizens, but with the proviso that marriage shall have occurred. prior to June 1, 1928. No such limitation, however, is imposed upon the alien wives of American citizens. Legislation is strongly recommended which will place American citizen wives and American citizen husbands on an absolute equality in the issuance of nonquota visas. That in the issuance of visas the wives and unmarried children under 21 years of age of alien residents of the United States who were lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence be given priority of preference over immigrants who are skilled in agriculture and the wives and dependent children under the age of 18 years of such immigrants skilled in agriculture, if accompanying or following to join them. Ninth. That legislation be enacted authorizing the seizure and forfeiture of vehicles and vessels used to import aliens into the United States in violation of the provisions of the immigration laws, or to transport them thereafter pursuant to such illegal importation; and to permit the Immigration Service to make use of such vehicles and vessels after they have been ordered forfeited by the courts. Tenth. That the law be amended so that refund of passage money be not made, as it now is, to an alien who by his own fraud and deceit has prevailed upon a steamship company to bring him, although inadmissible, to a United States port. Eleventh. That a general discretion with regard to the excluding provision of the immigration laws be vested in the Secretary of Labor to readmit expatriated native and naturalized citizens. Twelfth. That authority be granted the Commissioner General of Immigration to admit, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, stepchildren of American citizens." Thirteenth. That legislative authority be granted, to be exercised within the discretion of the Commissioner General of Immigration with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, to legalize the residence of aliens who arrived prior to July 1, 1924, in meritorious cases, by means of nunc pro tunc examinations to be held by immigrant inspectors coupled with a physical and mental examination by officers of the United States Public Health Service. The problem of the decent and law-abiding alien in our midst who has formed ties of various sorts (often including families) whose original entry was attended by irregularity-possibly a failure of the officers to inspect, or incompleteness of record, or perhaps unwitting and wholly innocent failure to submit himself for inspection at the proper time and placeis a real and difficult one. Many such aliens deserve some special consideration. Perhaps they desire to leave the country and return; but, in the absence of a proper record of legal permanent admission, no relief can be accorded them. If they depart from the country they must in returning thereto be subject to all the restrictions imposed upon initial entrants. They can not become United States citizens, and the presence in the United States of this unassimilated element is undesirable in the extreme. Fourteenth. That provision be made for the reimbursement of immigration officers and employees for the expenses incurred by them in the moving of their families and household and personal effects pursuant to official transfers in the line of duty to points within and without the United States. Ever-changing conditions in the Immigration Service render it imperative that personnel shall be shifted about with considerable frequency. For an officer or employee to be forced in the line of duty to move his family and household and personal effects, all at his own expense, is absolutely unjust and seriously curtails mobility. It also is recommended that legislation be enacted equitably to compensate immigrant inspectors required to perform overtime duty in connection with the examination of arriving aliens. Fifteenth. That adequate buildings be provided for the care of aliens detained in deportation proceedings. At present such aliens. are largely confined in jails. Sixteenth. That the Secretary of Labor be given broader powers to admit aliens in cases of hardship-political refugees, artists and intellectual geniuses, and wives of aliens admitted for permanent residence prior to July 1, 1924, who have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States. With wise limitations and restrictions this power can be safely conferred without danger of abuse. Seventeenth. That appropriate adaptability tests be authorized, with a view to determine whether an alien applying for admission to the United States is good citizen material and that authority be given to exclude from admission those failing in such tests. Eighteenth. That a more liberal provision than that afforded by the compensation act be provided for the widows and orphans of those in the border patrol killed in line of duty, and that the same safeguards be thrown about the members of the border patrol and the same immunities extended to them as are accorded any and all other Federal law-enforcement officers the performance of whose duties involves hazards to life, including the right of trial in Federal courts and defense at the hands of United States attorneys. Nineteenth. Statistics continue to show that a very substantial volume of alien visitors, or nonimmigrants, is admitted each year. These aliens are not presumed to stay here permanently, and with the careful scrutiny given their cases by the American consuls abroad, assisted by technical advisors and by administrative officers at the ports of entry, it is doubtful that any considerable proportion is abusing the privilege to evade the quota. However, the number is sufficiently large to warrant a more careful check-up on them than is possible at the present time with the force available. To do this work properly, to insure departure of those who should depart, an additional inspection and clerical staff is recommended. The efforts of such a staff undoubtedly would have a salutary effect as a deterrent and at the same time do much to educate the public in a feature of the law that is not clearly understood. A system of keeping check on overstayed visitors in this country would likewise enable the department more intelligently and satisfactorily to pass upon applications for extensions of temporary admission. Twentieth. That Congress sufficiently increase its appropriation to the bureau to make possible stricter enforcement of the immigration laws, inasmuch as in recent years the immigration question has become one of the Nation's greatest problems. The available force is doing wonderful work in the enforcement of the present law, but naturally a larger force would be in a better position to enforce this very popular law. CONCLUSION I wish to pay tribute to the intelligence, loyalty, and devotion to duty of the field and bureau personnel, which have made possible the discharge during the past year of the great responsibilities imposed upon the bureau by the immigration laws. I desire also to thank you and the other officials of the department for the sympathetic and helpful aid at all times extended. Respectfully submitted. HARRY E. HULL, |