I think it is impossible to take this question as it stands and throw it into one group of the committee. It had to be split up into immigration, deportation, naturalization and citizenship, the prisonersof-war problem, the matter of the Japanese war relocation camps, and alien enemies of Japanese nationality; there is the question of the treatment of alien enemies, and there is the Oswego camp matter. Now, if there are any objections or any changes Mr. DOLLIVER. Would you care to develop the idea of what these explain a little further what these subcommittees will consider? The CHAIRMAN. Well, there are petitions and mail coming in every day dealing with these questions of naturalization. That takes in the whole sphere of naturalization, both derivative and the citizenship process, and the operation of the courts, and so forth. As I get these files I will turn them over to the chairman of that subcommittee, and then you can call on your various agencies, the departments, for such help as you deem advisable. Mr. GOSSETT. Mr. Chairman, will you read those titles again. The CHAIRMAN. Immigration and deportation; naturalization and citizenship; prisoners of war; Japanese WRA; that is, war relocation camps; alien enemies, No. V. Mr. GOSSETT. Well now, on the alien enemies—— The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. GOSSETT. There is just one thing I had in my mind that we have not gotten covered by those committees and I think it should be added on alien enemies. Alien enemies, and what would you call the person who is in here who is not an alien enemy, who is not supposed to be here? Mr. ALLEN. That is the same thing. Mr. GOSSETT. No. These Mexicans that are in Texas without authority, they are not enemy aliens. The CHAIRMAN. I am glad you mentioned it because you have a lot of them in Texas, you have had them there for years, and you would have a tough time getting them out. Mr. GOSSETT. We have thousands of them. The CHAIRMAN. I think that would go under immigration and deportation. Mr. GOSSETT. I think it should. The CHAIRMAN. Now, Mr. Shaughnessy, you can clear that up. You can give the benefit of your wisdom. STATEMENT BY EDWARD J. SHAUGHNESSY, SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE COMMISSIONER, IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. That should be under deportation, Committee I. The CHAIRMAN. Now, I understand that if any member wants to come in at any particular sitting of these committees Mr. GOSSETT. We ought to understand where our jurisdiction lies. The CHAIRMAN. Right. Mr. Shaughnessy, will you just step up and explain what these committees would take in and how far they would go. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Well, it would seem to me that on your Committee No. I all matters relating to immigration and deportation, as the title indicates, should be included. That would include your study of quotas and any adjustment under quotas that the committee decides on. Your deportation policy, is it too rigid-is it rigid enough-should there be more classes-less classes, and so forth. And your Committee No. II, naturalization and citizenship, the central office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service is in the process of drafting a memorandum of suggestions whereby we think we can improve the naturalization and citizenship laws. We suggest that Mr. Rees serve on this committee because he was so kind to us 4 years ago, acting almost as a subcommittee of one-I think he met with us 26 times when we worked on the law that became the Nationality Code of 1940. For example, in the naturalization process there are four periods of residence for spouses of citizens, depending on when the marriage occurred and what was the law at the time. It runs for 1, 2, and 3 years, and in some instances no residence at all. It does not make sense, and we could smooth out a lot of problems. such as this in the naturalization law. On the prisoners of war The CHAIRMAN. Wait a minute. That also takes in derivative citizenship. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. And the soldiers' wives. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. It takes in the whole subject. As you know there are two bills in the House and one in the Senate to give citizenship to the spouses, as a wartime measure, of our boys and girls in the service who are marrying abroad. One bill would make them citizens at once, and another bill requires that before they take the citizenship they must take the oath of allegiance. That was the law prior to 1922 as far as the wives of American citizens were concerned. This is a wartime measure and it is an important subject. We have information now from the State Department that there are between 60,000 and 70,000 war brides and fiancees of our soldiers. It is quite an item in itself. And yet that is just one factor that will come under consideration of Committee No. II. It is a big, important committee. Mr. FARRINGTON. Mr. Chairman? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. FARRINGTON. Before he leaves that committee, may I ask a question? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. FARRINGTON. And that is whether the problem of dual citizenship would be covered in that. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Every factor of citizenship would be covered in that. Mr. FARRINGTON. There is a problem where there is Japanese. ancestry. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. That is true. It will be considered under this subject. The CHAIRMAN. We have to get to some permanent policy. We have just been zigzagging. Mr. FARRINGTON. I would like to point out there is a very considerable number of American citizens serving in the American Army who have Jap ancestors who are also citizens of that country, and some steps ought to be The CHAIRMAN. I agree with you, but you gentlemen of the committee can call on the various departments and, in event that you have some adverse witnesses, you have the power of subpena. Mr. FARRINGTON. If that is so, that is fine. That covers that problem. The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. FARRINGTON. I would also like to know if it proposes to extend full citizenship to the citizens of Samoa. The CHAIRMAN. That would be entirely in the province of that committee and the chairman who calls this committee together. You can make your recommendations after study. You may have to go out to different places, and all you have to do is advise the Chair and I will furnish the transportation. We are trying to be economical but we think we can do a good job at that. Mr. FARRINGTON. All right, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Now, you take the next committee, prisoners of war. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Of course, these are subjects that we discussed briefly at your first organizational meeting, and some concern was expressed about the prisoners of war and the undoubted desire of some of them to remain here. A lot of these prisoners of war have relatives in the United States. The CHAIRMAN. That is right. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. It is true that the Geneva Convention is supposed to handle this matter. It seems to me that this committee would have to work in close conjunction with the War Department which is in charge of the prisoners of war, and would have to advise and discuss with them as to how they interpret article 75 of the Geneva Convention, whether exceptions will or should be made, and arrangements to permit them to remain here. The CHAIRMAN. Have you a copy of that? Mr. GOSSETT. Mr. Chairman, I think each member should have a copy of that. The CHAIRMAN. I have copies here. Distribute these around. Now, for instance, I have some matters on the prisoners of war in my files now. I will turn them over to Subcommittee No. III. I will turn over any documents I have, and from that point you can carry on. Now, you can use this room here, and when you think you have to make a study outside of the District, do not hesitate, just go on. Mr. ALLEN. Let me make this suggestion, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. ALLEN. In having meetings of the subcommittees it strikes me that it would be a good idea for the chairmen of the subcommittees to consult with each other. The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. ALLEN. As to the time of having meetings. Because the different subcommittees may need Mr. Shaughnessy and other gentlemen from the Justice and State Departments present and, unfortunately, these gentlemen cannot be at more than one place at one time. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Well, Mr. Allen, I am sure my Service will have available to all of the committees any number of experts. For example, we have Mr. Shoemaker this morning to talk on derivative citizenship. Mr. ALLEN. But the point is this: When one of the subcommittees is to meet my subcommittee might want every one of you gentlemen present. We might want the wisdom of all of you. And what I am suggesting is we can consult with each other and not let our meetings overlap. The CHAIRMAN. That is up to you. I appreciate the thought and I think that would be the fair thing to do. Mr. MILLER. There are some subjects where the dividing line is very fine. Mr. FISHER. For instance, prisoners or alien enemies. The CHAIRMAN. I think the subcommittees ought to get the fundamentals of their own subject and then collaborate with the other subcommittees which are closely related to the question. Now, I have also in my possession some documentary evidence on prisoners of war. There is a group of so-called Germans in this country trying to raise money and making collections to educate the prisoners of war in democracy. Now, I think I will turn these documents over to the chairman and I think he ought to subpena these people. Mr. GOSSETT. Of course, the Military Affairs Committee is looking into this too. The CHAIRMAN. I do not know from what angle they are looking at it. But the idea on the program, Mr. Gossett, on prisoners of war is the attempt made on the part of certain groups in this country who have a program of their own to collect probably millions of dollars for the purpose of trying to educate the half-million prisoners of war with the idea of letting them stay here, and that is the very thing on which the responsibility of this subcommittee is very important. Mr. ALLEN. Off the record, Mr. Chairman. (Discussion off the record.) The CHAIRMAN. I think the chairman of that committee ought to ask the clerk to get the necessary subpenas to bring these people right over here and quiz them, because I think the money could be used for better purposes in this country. Mr. MILLER. May I ask a question? The CHAIRMAN. Yes, sir. Mr. MILLER. After the last war during the period of the American Army's occupation of Germany there were a number of American boys married German girls at that time. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. That was before 1922 and those girls became citizens immediately and they came to the United States as citizens without regard to the laws that deal with immigration. The CHAIRMAN. But the present girls who marry soldiers in war do not become citizens automatically? Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Not automatically. They must comply with certain legal requirements after they get here. The CHAIRMAN. Now, take No. IV, Japanese, war relocation. Mr. Ennis is at your disposal to discuss the program under the socalled Citizenship Renunciation Act that you passed last year. Mr. Ennis, I am just briefly referring to these activities-the Attorney General discussed them here a month or so ago. That is a factor you may wish to go into. Mr. Ennis will bring statistics on the number of Japanese that have taken advantage of this bill and renounced their citizenship. I think the committee will want to go into some discussion as to what disposition should be made of these people, and I am sure Mr. Ennis and his assistants will be glad to cooperate with the committee. The CHAIRMAN. Now then, Committee No. V deals with alien enemies. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Alien enemies. The CHAIRMAN. Now, we discussed part of that program last week. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. And Mr. Ennis is here to take up where the other gentleman left off. The CHAIRMAN. That is right. Now then, we have, as I understand it, about 8,000 of them now, have we not? Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Around 7,290 we have in detention as I recall, but Mr. Ennis has all these facts. The CHAIRMAN. Then the next would be the Oswego refugee shelter. Mr. SHAUGHNESSY. Yes. That is more or less designed to take care of a specific situation. You have 983 aliens at Oswego and eventually of course, there will be the question of what to do with them. The CHAIRMAN. And the next question is that one committee does not have to conflict with the other, as Mr. Allen pointed out. We can easily check with each other. Any questions? Now, Mr. Ennis, will you come forward. STATEMENT BY EDWARD J. ENNIS, DIRECTOR, ALIEN ENEMY CONTROL UNIT, WAR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Mr. ENNIS. I would like to say at the beginning, Mr. Chairman, that Mr. Wechsler, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the War Division, is in charge of the Alien Enemy Control Unit as part of the War Division. I believe it has been explained to the chairman that he is unable to be here today. The CHAIRMAN. So I understand. Mr. ENNIS. And I will try to carry on for him. As I recall, Mr. Chairman, what you wished was a statement as to the disposition of the interned alien enemies that the Department of Justice is proposing to make. The CHAIRMAN. That is right. Or any other thing that will enlighten the committee on the question of alien enemies. And I asked Mr. Wechsler to get me the figures on what we do with alien enemies or what we did in World War I to get rid of them. Mr. ENNIS. Yes. I think the problem will be clearest to the committee if I first explain what we did in World War I and what we propose to do on the basis of that experience. |