[S. 2011, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend an act entitled "An act to limit the immigration of aliens into the United States, and for other purposes," approved May 26, 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That subdivision A, of section 4. of the act entitled "An act to limit the immigration of aliens into the United States, and for other purposes," approved May 26, 1924, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"(a) An immigrant who is the unmarried child under 18 years of age, or the wife or husband of a citizen of the United States who resides therein at the time of the filing of a petition under section 9;"

That subdivision C of said section 4 is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

"(c) An immigrant who was born in the United States, the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Republic of Mexico, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Canal Zone, or an independent country of Central or South America, and his wife, and his unmarried children under 18 years of age, if accompanying or following to join him;

[S. 2050, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

(f) An immigrant who continuously for at least one year immediately preceding the time of her application for admission to the United States has been employed, and who seeks to enter the United States for the purpose of obtaining employment as a domestic servant, and who shall have agreed to continue in domestic service for at least three years subsequent to her admission to the United States: Provided, That in order to maintain such exempt status the immigrant shall report to the Commissioner of Immigration at the port of her entry at the end of each year, for three years, and prove to his satisfaction that she has been employed as a domestic servant during such period: Provided further, That this subdivision shall be in effect for the period of one year after its enactment."

[S. 2051, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

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(h) An immigrant who is the wife or husband of a resident of the United States who before the appropriate court has declared his or her intention of becoming an American citizen."

[S. 2052, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

"(g) An immigrant who continuously for at least three years immediately preceding his application for admission to the United States has been employed as a farm laborer and who seeks to enter the United States for the purpose of obtaining employment as a farm laborer.”

[S. 2053, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

"(i) An immigrant, under twenty-one years of age, who is the child or stepchild of a resident of the United States who before the appropriate court has declared his intention of becoming an American citizen."

[S. 2054, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

"(j) An immigrant who is the fiancé of an American citizen."

[S. 2055, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to rea das follows:

"(k) An immigrant who is the parent or step-parent of an American citizen."

[S. 2056, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

"(1) Wives of rabbis who entered the United States prior to May 26, 1924:"

[S. 2057, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

"(m) Children and step-children, under twenty-one years of age, of rabbis who entered the Uinted States prior to May 26, 1924."

[S. 2260, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by striking out subdivision (a) and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

"(a) An immigrant who is the unmarried child under twenty-one years of age, or the wife, or the husband, of a citizen of the United States who resides therein at the time of the filing of a petition under section 9."

[S. 2280, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be, and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

"(m) Wives and unmarried children under twenty-one years of age of immigrants who entered the United States prior to July 1, 1924, solely for the purpose of carrying on the vocation of minister of any religous denomination, who did not accompany their said husband and father and who are following to join him."

[S. 2487, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be amended by adding thereto the following:

"(n) An immigrant who was an America citizen prior to her marriage to an alien and who lost her citizenship merely by reason of such marriage."

[S. 2649, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be amended by adding thereto the following:

"(o) An immigrant who is the unmarried brother or sister, under 21 years of age, of an American citizen whose parents are admitted to the United States when accompanying or following to join them."

[S. 3124, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4 of the immigration act of 1924 be amended by adding thereto the following:

"(r) An immigrant under twenty-one years of age who is the unmarried brother or sister of an American citizen."

[S. 3407, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session]

A BILL To amend section 4 of the immigration act of 1924

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section of the immigration act of 1924 is hereby amended by adding thereto a new paragraph to read as follows:

"(f) A woman born in the United States who, prior to the enactment of the act relative to the naturalization and citizenship of married women, approved September 22, 1922, married a noncitizen, and whose marriage status has not been legally terminated up to the time of her application for admission to this country in order to avail herself of the provisions of section 4 of said act of September 22, 1922.”

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Wadsworth, we will be very glad to proceed with the hearing now and to hear any statements that you wish to make in respect to this measure.

Senator WADSWORTH. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I appreciate the opportunity of being given this hearing on Senate bill 2245.

I will say at the outset that I have not had an opportunity to examine all the bills pending before your committee with respect to the immigration law, but whatever I shall say will be confined to a brief discussion of Senate bill 2245. I should like to assure that I shall be brief, because there are other witnesses here who are better informed than I as to the workings of the present statute.. First let me say that I am a thorough believer in the policy of restricted and regulated immigration. I have supported measures having that purpose whenever they have been presented to the Senate. Further, I believe that our present law, taken as a whole, is working with extraordinary success. I think that its influence is beneficial to the country. Especially do I think that its influence is beneficial to the immigrant himself. Already there have been some most gratifying results, indicating that the success will continue to be gratifying in an even greater degree in the future. So I would not propose under any set of circumstances any measure which I believed would tend to break down the law or destroy or alter the policy which, according to my best judgment, has become a national policy.

Enthusiastic as I am about the policy and the working of the law generally, I cannot escape the conclusion, however, that there are two or three rough spots, if I may use that expression, in the present statute, which it would be wise for us to smooth down, if such a thing is possible. I think it fair to say that those rough spots have made their appearance, in a sense, unexpectedly. At least I, and perhaps a good many other Members of the Congress who took part in the enactment of the present law, did not realize that in certain directions, very few in number comparatively, hardships would be imposed upon immigrants and their families. For example, I think very few of us realized the effect which the enactment of the present law of July 1, 1924, would have upon certain of our American veterans who fought in the war. Nor did I anticipate one effect which that enactment has. had upon the families of certain immigrants who arrived here immediately prior to July 1, 1924.

This bill has for its purpose the smoothing out of the those situations and the relieving of the law and the policy itself of as much as possible of the hostility on the part of the persons who may at the present time have a grievance against it and in general to establish the law firmly in the respect of the people, not only those immediately interested, such as the immigrants, but of the people as a whole. I am confident that this can be done without in any way injuring or altering the general policy; and I think it can be demonstrated during this discussion that the provisions of this bill will smooth down the rough spots and relieve the situation of certain cruelties which undoubtedly exist today and do it in such a fashion. as will bring about an entirely satisfactory result.

Briefly, these are the principal purposes or objectives of the bill. I am not reciting them in their order.

The first one of them is directed to this sort of situation: Where an alien residing, we will say, in this country prior to our entrance into the World War enlisted in the Army of the United States and served honorably and at the conclusion of the war was discharged honorably from the military service. Shortly following his dis

charge he received word from his own home in the old country-of course you understand the meaning of that expression-he receives word from the old country that his parents, who, of course, have resided there all through the horrors of the war, need his help in some way or other. He returns to the country of his origin-this American soldier. Upon arriving there he finds that he has to spend a considerable period of time in helping his parents get back on their feet. Having done that, he wants to return to the United States, to which country he had come prior to the war and for which country he had fought as a soldier. Through a combination of circumstances, which are easy to understand if you think about it, he has not become a citizen of the United States, although he has fought for the United States. He tries to return to this country, in which all along he had expected to make his home and had been making his home before the war broke out and which he had left before the law of July 1, 1924, had taken effect, and he finds that he can not return except as a quota immigrant. That means that in many cases he must wait from 8 to 20 years before he can return to the country for which he fought and whose uniform he wore. One of the purposes of this bill is to permit that soldier to come back.

Senator WILLIS. Have you any figures as to how many case of this kind there are?

Senator WADSWORTH. I did not intend to discuss this phase at length or to cite examples. There are other people here who will cite examples and give you the estimated number of persons affected by this bill.

Senator WILLIS. Did you particularly refer to soldiers in the case that you spoke of?

Senator WADSWORTH. Yes. Then, too, there is the former soldier who has gone back to the old country under circumstances similar to those I have been attempting to describe and who, while there, has married. He wants to come back to this country, the country of his real home. He finds that not only are difficulties placed in the path of his own return but that he can not bring his wife. I entertain the opinion very earnestly that the man who fought for the United States honorably and faithfully and who wants to come to this country and live should have his family with him.

Senator KING. By that you mean his wife and children?

Senator WADSWORTH. His wife and minor children. I think we owe it to a man in that position to smooth out the rough spot in his life. If we put ourselves in his place, I think we can understand his feelings.

There are two or three or four groups of veterans and soldiers that are affected by this bill. They fall into two or three or four categories. I shall not attempt to describe all the possible categories in which we will find former veterans of the United States Army and Navy. I merely sketched briefly one or two of the pictures which arose before our eyes, examples of which we know about. So much for the soldier, although much more could be said about him. The other group to which I want to call your attention is composed of those immigrants who came here, we will say, between the years 1921 or 1922 and July 1, 1924. During that period there was upon our statute books what was then our first immigration restriction law.

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