Speech #670209460

Mr. Chairman and gentle. men. the bill presented for your consideration* by the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalizationunanimously presentedis short and to the point. It provides for the deportation. if the Secretary of Labor so orders by his warrant. after hearing. of those aliens in the United States who may be convicted of violations of the Federal liquor and narcotic acts. and for the violation and conviction after serving sentence of those convicted under State laws of violations of narcotic and liquor acts. We continually hear it said throughout the United States in regard to alien offenders. " Why not deport them? " The report presented to this bill has the deportation clause of the Burnett Immigration Act. which is the basic immigration law. The deportation clause is section 19 of thlat law. It provides thatexcept 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 entryAnd so forth. Those are the moral turpitude clauses. This bill presented to this committee is in the nature of an amendment to an act approved May 10. 1.920. which act. if the Members of the House will remember. was one which was passed to make certain the deportation of certain alien enemies and certain interned alien enemies. That act of May 10. 1920. provided eight classifications of those who might be deported in addition to the general provisions of the moral turpitude deportation clause wlich I have mentioned. That act beginsand I call your attention to thisThat aliens of the following classes. In addition to those for whose expulsion from the United States provision Is made in the existing law. shall. upon the warrant of the Secretary of Labor. be taken into his custody and deported in the manner provided in sections 19 and 20 of the act of February 5. 1917. entitled "An act to regulate the immigration of aliens to. and the residence of aliens in. the United States." it the Secretary of Labor. after hearing. finds that such aliens are undesirable residents of the United States. All this bill now before you does is to add three further classifications to the specially enumerated deportation clauses. to give the Secretary the opportunity. if he so desires and finds. to proceed on a warrant. against aliens convicted of violations of the acts mentioned here and the State acts on the same subject. The committee after hearings has come to the conclusion that the United States has gone far enough with violations of the narcotic act. for instance. by aliens in this country. who are filling up the jails in some places. and in other places paying fines and not being sentenced to imprisonment. but in the West. where there has been great trouble with alien narcotic violators the judges have finally come to giving them terms of imprisonnentone year. two years. five years. seven yearsfor violations of the narcotic act. By the enactment of legislation of this kind we want to make certain that at the conclusion of their sentences of imprisonment the Secretary of Labor may and probably will proceed against them and cause their deportation. It is not believed that the passage of this act will make it necessary to run deportations down to misdemeanor violations of the liquor act of the State. but if fin alien is arrested for violation of State liquor acts and convicted over and over again. and thereby proves himself to be an undesirable alien. and the Secretary. proceeds against him as an undesirable alien. and after hearing as provided by law orders him deported. you may be very certain that he will be an undesirable alien. That is the extent of this law. I reserve the remainder ol my time.