Speech #650273115

Chairman. this bill is one more step on the part of the United States toward the cleaning up of its citizenship. I am hopeful that when the Members of tlhis House go to their districts this fall to meet their constituents all of the Members will undertake to show to their people the great steps taken by this Congress toward the perfecting of the citizenship of all loyal and wellmeaning persons withi our borders. and to show to their people the absolute fairness of the Government toward aliens in the United States. even to the persmitting of the taking of steps toward citizenship of certain persons now classified as alien enemies. In fact. the numerous bills brought out within the past few weeks by the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. of which I have the lionor to be a member. and enacted into law. have been more than fairthey have been generousand I am glad that this is so. But while holding out the promises of citizenship and of a .square deal to all alienls who have come among us. what are we to do with those aliens who come. stay with us. claim the protection of our laws. violate those laws. preach revolution. destruction of property. and overthrow of the Government? Our laws provide for the deportation of certain offenders. among others anarchists. but there is a provision In the law that they can only be deported prior to five years residence. If they are not deported within five years from their arrival. they are left with us. not as citizens but as aliens. free to poison the minds not only of citizens but newly arrived aliens. The present bill corrects that. Further. when the Government undertook to deport certain aliens under the new clausespreaching the overthrow of Government. destruction of property. and so onlit was found that these clauses were so placed in the bill they might be read as definitions of the word "anarchist." In a way this nullified the new clauses. The bill before us corrects that. The United States needs the full force of all of the deportation clauses In its immigration and naturalization laws. The new clauses were not placed in the statutes easily. Some years ago it was recognized that the United States had reached a size in population which made it necessary for it to take protective steps for itself. and in the immigration bill bearing the name of the distinguished gentleman from Alabama the deportation clauses were enlarged so as to permit time deporting of those who preached or advocated the overthrow of organized government. and who preached or advocated the destruction of property. I have always felt proud that I had something to do with placing those words in the immigration bill. having had experience before I came to Congress with the growth and development of the I. W. W* organization. which advocates those very things. And yet the clauses are not aimed especially at that organization. but at all who are conniving and scheming for the destruction of this Governmeit. When the bill had passed this House you will remember it was vetoed .by the President in a message dated January 28. 1915. in which the President said concerning the new deportation section: It seeks to all but close entirely the gates of asylum which have always been open to those who could find nowhere else the right and opportunity of constitutional agitation for what they conceived to be the. natural and inalienable rights of men. Rcstrictlons like these. adopted earlier in our history as a Nation. would very materially have altered the course and cooled the humane ardors of our politics. The right of political asylum has brought to this country many a man of noble character and elevated purpose who was marked as an outlaw in his own less fortunate land. and who .has yet become an ornament to our citizenship and to our public councils. Now. gentlemen. that was all very true when our population was much smaller than it is now. An amnendment was made to care for political refugees. But times change. Revolutionists of a new school have been coming to the United States for some time.