Speech #660052230

There is no doubt about that. It has been repeatedly so held by the courts. Now there has been some mistaken impressions expressed here about some things in regard to these deportation cases which I will try to explain. Under section 19 of the immigration law. the Secretary of Labor had the absolute power to deport any alien under the following conditions. That section is as follows: SEc. 19. That at any time within five years after entry any alien who at the time of entry was a member of one or more of the classes excluded by law . any alien who shall have entered or who shall be found in the United States in violation of this act. or in violation of any other law of the United States. any alien who at any time after entry shall be found advocating or teaching the unlaw ul destruction of property. or advocating or teaching anarchy. or the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States. or of all forms of law or the assassination of public officials . any alien who within five years after entry becomes a public charge from causes not affirmatively shown to have arisen subsequent to landing. except as hereinafter provided . any alien who Is hereafter sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one year or more -because of conviction in this country of a crime involving moral turpitude. committed within five years after the entry of the alien to the United States. or who is hereafter sentenced more than once to such a term of imprisonment because of conviction in this country of any crime involving moral turpitude. committed at any time after entry. any alien who shall be found an inmate of or connected with the management of a house of prostitution or practicing prostitution after such alien shall have entered the United States. or who shall receive. share In. or derive benefit from any part of the earnings of any prostitute. any alien who manages or is employed by. in. or in connection with any house of prostitution or music or dance hall or other place of ausement or resort habitually frequented by prostitutes. or where prostitutes gather. or who in any way assists any .prostitute or protects or promises to protect from arrest any prostitute. any alien who shall import or attempt to import any person for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purposeany alien who. after being excluded and deported or arrested and deported as a prostitute. or as a procurer. or as having been connected with the business of prostitution or importation for prostitution or other immoral purposes in any of the ways hereinbefore specified. shall return to and enter the United States. any alien convicted and imprisoned for a violation of any of the provisions of section 4 hereof. any alien who was convicted. or who admits the commission. prior to entry. of a felony or other crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. at any time within three years after entry. any alien who shall have entered the United States by water at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officials. or by land at any place other than one designated as a port of entry for aliens by the Commissioner General of Immigration. or at any time not designated by immigration officials. or who enters without inspection. shall. upon the warrant of t -e Secretary of Labor. c taken into custody and deported : Provided. That the marriage to an American citizen of a female of the sexually immoral classes the exclusion or deportation of which is prescribed by this act shall not invest such female with United States citizenship if the mrriage of such alien female shall be solemnized after her arrest or after the commission of acts which make her liable to deportation under this act: Provided fa rthr. That the provision of this section respecting the leportation of aliens convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude shall not apply to one who has been pardoned. nor shall such (eportation be made or directed if the court. or Judge thereof. sentencing such alien for such crinm shall. at the time of imposing Judgment or passing sentence or within 30 days thereafter. due notice having first been given to representatives of the State. make a recommendation to tie Secretary of lAbor that such alien shall not be deported in pursuance of this act . nor shall any alien convicted as aforesaid be deported until after the termination of his imprisonment: Provded further. That the provisions.of this section. with the exceptions hereinbefore noted. shall be applicable to the classes of aliens therein mentioned. irrespective of the time of their entry into the United States : Proided further. That tme provisions of this section shall also apply to the cases of aliens who come to the mainland of the United States from the insular possessions thereof: Provided rfher. That any person who shall he arrested under the provisions of this section. on the ground that he has entered or been found In the United States in violation of any other law thereof wvhich imposes on such person the burden of p roving his right to enter or remain and who shall fail to establish the existence of the right claimed. shall he (cported to the place specified in such other law. In every case where any person is ordered deported from the United States under the provisions of this act. or of any Ia" or treaty. the decision of the Secretary of Labor shall be final. The cases which we ted to reach in this bill are cases hitting at our Government. wir e ti e corts have occasionally decided and held. are not those involving moral turpitude. In regard to tile question of hearings before the Secretary of Labor. that question thas been decided by the United States Supreme Court Reporter 189. page S6. wherein the court held as follods. at page 100 : but this court has never held. nor must we now be understood as holding. that administrative officers. when executing the provisions of a statute involving the liberty of persons. may disregard the fundamental principles that inhere in " due proeess of law as understood at the time of the adoption of the Constitution. One of these principles is that no person shall be deprived of his liberty without opportunity. at some tie. to be heard. before such officers. in respect of the matters upon wrich that liberty depends. not necessarily an opportunity upon a regular. set occasion and according to the forms of Judicial procedure. but one that will secure the prompt. vigorous action contemplated by Congress and at the samte te be appropriate to the nature of time case upon which such officers are required to act. Therefore. it is not competent for the Secretary of the Treasury or any executive officer. at any time within the year limited by the statute. arbitrarily to cause an alien. who has entered the country. and has become subject in all respects to is jurisdiction. and a part of its population. although alleged to be illegally here. to be taken into custody and deported without giving him all opportunity to be heard upon the questions involving his right to be and remain in the United States. No such arbitrary power can exist ohere the principles involved in due process of law are recognized. There was some question raised this afternoon by the gentleman fro m South Carolinl to the effect that an order of deportation is a punishment for crime. The United States Supreme Conrt has passed on till qestion in the case of Fong Yue Ting v. United States. page 730. wherein the court says : The order of deportation is not a punishment for crime. It is not a banishment. in the sense in which that word is often applied to the expulsion of a citizen from his country by way of punishment. it is but a method of enforcing the return to his own country ofn alien who has not complied with the conditions upon the performance of which the Government of the Nation. acting within its constitutional authority and through the proper department. has determined that his continuing to reside here shall depend. He has not. therefore. been deprived of life. liberty. or property without due process of law . and the provisions of the Constitution. securing the right of trial by jury. and prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures. and cruel and unusual punishments. have no application.