Speech #680115730

It seems to me that in the last t vo weeks we have been rather rushing legislation through. discovering later that we had certain provisions incorporated in it that a good many Senators did not know had been placed in the legislation. The purpose of the bill is to limit tie number of certain kinds of alien hnmigrants and to prohibit the coming of others into the United States. Such alien persons as are ineligible to become citizens are excluded as immigrants. Certain persons who are not capable of becoming citizens are excluded. because they are subnormal. afflicted with certain diseases. hold certain opinions. or because they can not read. Legally admissible immigrants are limited to certain specifled nmnbers from each country. Beyond those legally perinitted to come as immigrants. none may come unless they are specficatly admitted as being outside of the immigration laws. Section 3 of the bill specifies who may come as not included in or subject to the immigration laws. Among the persons so listed. for the first time in our history. we have the seamen. Section 3 reads in part as follows: (5) A bona fide alien seaman serving as such on a vessel arriving at a port of the United States and seeking to enter temporarily ihe United States solely in the pursuit of his calling as a seammn. This section. it would seem. places the seanman outside of the immigration laws is long as he is a bona fide seaman. The presumption from the language would le that the bill will in some way distinguish between a bona fide seaman and a person who -pretends to bie a seaman in order to violate the immigration laws. but no such distinction is made as far as I can find. According to reports of the Commissioner of Inmigration. our ports last year were visited .by 1l018.000 alien seamen. Those men were employed In our commerce. The free flow of commerce is one of the necessities of existing civilization. and the less interference wth those men the better. but among them may be men who are suffering from contagious diseases and who In the interest of humanity ought to be segregated and sent to some hospital to be cured. as already provided by l..w. or there may be men who are seeking to violate our immigration laws. but more particularly our exclusion laws. and that is. of course. the reason for using the expression "bona fide seamen." A remarkable fact about this bill is that it makes no effort to distinguish between bona fide and mala fide seamen. It seettis to me that there call be but one reason for placing seamn en outside of the imsiigration laws. It is intended that they shll be permitted o1 sliore. To prevent them from coming on sliore would be ai inhunanity so gross that no nations prohibit shore leave except for the purpose of quarantine or in times of war. But aside from this consideration we could not hold them on board of the vessel. because they are in our hirborn . within our Jurisdiction. and it would be involuntary servitude and prohibited by the thirteenth amendment to our Conlstitutiol. While we might restrain those seamen In some safe place until they could be deported. it does not seem to me thatt we can convert those vessels into prisons in our harbors. Section 15 of this bill. which provides for the maintenance of exempt status. is as follows: The admission to the United States of an alien excepled from the class of immigrants by clause (2). (3) (4). (5). or (6) of section 3. or declared to be noniquota immigrants by subdivision (e) of section 4. alli be for such time as may be by regulation prescribed (including when deemed necessary for the classes mentioned il classes (2). (3). (4). or (6) of section 3. the giving of bonds with sulficient surety. ill such sums aad eon taliilg such conditions its may be by regulations prescribed) to insure that. at the expiration of sueh time or upon failure to maintain the status under which admited. he will depart fron the United States. Here we have bona fide and mala fide seainen treated alike. So far as the seamien are concerned. there tniy be regulations. but there are to be no bonds. The purpose of this distilition Ietween the seamen and others is evidently that tile regulations are not to be of such kind as to keep the seamen a lIisiqon1er on tit vessel. So far thesi provisions are hunlane and in the best interests of the United States except that it gives to the mltla fide seamam. the 11an who seeks to use the status of seanan to violate the inmigration laws. his opportunity to escape amid to thnus accomplish his purpose. The conferees must have felt that section 15 leaves an opeining for vessels and mahn fide seamen to violate tile innigration laws. because section 19 brings all seinil nder the complete domination of the immigration laws. I call the attentionl of the Senate to the fact that 1.asked the Senator from Pennsylvania if section 1") did not bring the seamen back under the immigration law. and he said that it did not. The Senator was correct. I nde a mistake !ii the number of tile section.