While it would be much more convenient to American citizens who may travel in Europe to possess passports. there is no requirement under this 1ill which will force American citizens to procure passports. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee. there was evidence before the Committee on Foreign Affairs that succeeding the war nmny millions of aliens throughout Europe are awaiting the moment when they may emigrate to the United States. Necessarily a great horde of those immigrants will prove to be undesirable immigrants under our laws and according to the views of this Congress on the subject of immigration. In this period of worldwlde unrest. in this pefiod of confusion. in this period when it seems that the world is being made over again and shaken from center to circumference. I take it that the American Congress should place additional restrictions to those now provided by law upon the immigration to the United States of those aliens who seek to ehter the United States. and I for one. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee. trust that the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization will at a very early date report into this House some measure placing still further restrictions upon immigration to the United States. The Committee on Immigration informs me that testimony adduced before that committee discloses that there are thousands and perhaps millions of aliens residing in the United States who have made no effort to become citizens and who are ignorant of our form of government. our institutions. and our language. So I take it. with the great mass of aliens already residing in the United States. many of whom know nothing of our institutions. many of whom are ignorant of our laws and do not desire citizenship. and many of whom come here purely for the purpose of obtaining a competence and then returning to the land of their birth. it behooves the American Congress to give serious consideration to the question raised by foreign immigration. It is the duty of the Congress of the United States to see that those who come to the United States are of that timber and of that quality out of which American citizens can be made. and it is its duty to see that they do not bring with them the seeds of anarchy and Bolshevism. and to see to It that while they have their feet on American soil their hearts are not in a foreign land. I believe that no Member of this House who will study this measure can with reason oppose its provisions. It simply empowers the Secretary of State. through our consuls and our embassies in foreign countries. before visang passports to aliens allowing them to travel to the United States. to compel them to bring themselves within the immigration laws of the United States. and to convince the authorities that they are of that character and that type that when they reach America they can be assimilated into our civilization and can adjust themselves to our laws and our regulations. an d that they can breed within themselves an admiration for and an adherence to the institutions and laws of the United States of America. We should neither desire nor permit other kinds of immigration.
Identified stereotypes
A great horde of those immigrants will prove to be undesirable immigrants under our laws... many of whom know nothing of our institutions... many of whom come here purely for the purpose of obtaining a competence and then returning to the land of their birth... they do not bring with them the seeds of anarchy and Bolshevism... their hearts are not in a foreign land.