Mr. Chairman. the bill as presented is an improvement over the bill in its original form. It so confines the power of deportation that it will apply only to those who have been actually convicted of offenses under the various war laws. In its original form- the bill admitted of the deportation of a man who had simply been sent to an internment camp. a proceeding which I regard as very dangerous and destructive of the rights of man. because if a man had been sent to a camp. without anything to support his internment. except the suspicion of somebody who did not like him. it might place him wholly in the hands of another man or of some autocratic power which wanted to get rid of him. without justice and without humanity. In war time people are very much excited. and suspicion runs riot. The nextdoor neighbor may be unduly accused. and a hubbub may arise. ending in his being sent to an internment camp. without justice or warrant. Therefore I think It would be dangerous for a lawmaking body to provide that because a man has been sent to an internment camp without a hearing or conviction he should be sent out of the United States as an enemy of the country. The phase of the bill to which I wish to refer. however. and which. I presume. will have further discussion later on with respect to other bills. is that which relates to the deportation of those aliens who have been seized during the war and whose property has been seized. A great many were seized during the war by -the Alien Property Custodian or by the officers of the Department of Justice. and their property was seized from them. and that property has been "Americanized." so to speakand I believe I am using a term that is familiar in the Alien Property Custodians office when I say "Americanized." We read in the newspapers that Americans expect to get back from Germany the property that was seized in Germany during the war. Hearings before the Ways and Means Committee indicated that we have large holdings in Germany. and that we propose. under the treaty and otherwise. that the Germans will in due course deliver back to the American owners that property which they have taken during the war.
Keywords matched
deportation