Mr. Chairman. the amendment offered by the gentleman from Washington. as pointed out by the gentleman from Illinois. seems to be innocent and innocuous. but you are really furnishing the means whereby the foreign government can control absolutely who shall emigrate. Can you not see that the mere presentation to the American consul that the alien is undesirable as to his political beliefand I refer to the local situationwill thereby exclude the possibility of that alien obtaining a vis6 prior to his application for admission into this country? Gentleman. if you will read the hearings before the committee. you will find that the representatives from the State Department admitted they were going beyond the law in ascertaining the political beliefs of the applicants asking for passport viscs. Under the act passed by the Congress as a war measure. prohibiting the entry into the United States of a certain class of immigrants of a defined political belief. the State Department is visaing passports. That act was extended. and the representatives from the State Department admit that they are going beyondthe authority of that act and that there is a grave question whether they are authorized at this time to continue their duties under the original act. and they complain that they should have the power to refuse a vis6. Gentlemen. instead of providing a wholesome amendment here for the physical inspection of aliens. you do not do that because the steamship companies do not want such inspection. a dangerous condition. and one detrimental to the best interest of this country.
Keywords matched
emigrate immigrants