Speech #680190798

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. there is an urgent need for the passage of a fair. just. and comprehensive deportation act at this session of the Congress. Such an act. to supplement the restrictive immigration act passed at the last session. is a vital need and would be a progressive step toward facilitating and assisting the immigration Authorities in carrying out more successfully the provisions of that law. H. R. 11796. known as the deportation bill. reported from the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. of which I am a member. in my humble judgment meets that need and meets It well. It is not directed against the alien or the Immigrant. it is directed against the criminal. The restrictive immigration act at the last session of the Congress was passed by an overwhelming majority. The pure poses of that law all of you know. Many of its provisions were aimed at preventing the entry of undesirable and dangerous aliens and directed to the selection at the source. as far as possible. of the best of those who offer themselves as immigrants to this country. One of the results of that legislation has been the Increasing attempts of undesirable aliens. who could not meet the tests that were set up. to smuggle themselves into our land by land and sea. This deportation bill is not merely a natural and logical but a vitally necessary supplement to this restrictive immigration act of 1924. The deportation of undesirable and criminal aliens is not a new question. Provisions covering it have been part of our laws for some time. However. it Is admitted and emphasized that the deportation laws now on our statute books can not and do not protect citizens or aliens as they should. and that in many ways they place unjust burdens on our Government. Sections 18. 19. and 20 of the immigration act of Febuary 5. 1917. which practically contain all of our present deportation laws. were designed. at the time they were enacted. to cover fully the question of the deportation of those aliens who are inimical to our best interests. Since that time changes have been made In our Immigration laws. changed conditions have arisen and changes have now become necessary in our present deportation laws which will remedy the many glaring defects with relation to the deportation problem that have developed before and since the administration of the restrictive immigration act. A recodification and revision of the deportation laws is most urgently needed in the interest of citizen and alien alike. And. too. it is needed in the interest of simplicity of enforcement. The present deportation laws are in many respects grossly insufficient. For example. they do not provide for the deportation of an alien who has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude when he has been in this country longer than five years. They do not adequately reach the growing evil of the smuggling of aliens. They are inadequate in handling the case of the alien who Illegally harbors an alien not entitled to remain here. or who assists in smuggling other aliens across our borders.