Speech #690103856

My friends. I have always been interested in the work of the Daughters of the American Revolution toward true Americanization of those upstanding aliens who are among us. You will be interested to know that we have in process of preparation a new naturalization act by which we hope to treat the wellmeaning alien better and with more sympathy and at the same time matce more sure that those aliens who come into the rights of citizenship in the United States. including the right to vote in the various States. shall read. write. and understand the English language. You have no doubt heard statements which were the result of hearings by our conmnittee that there are probably 1.000.000 aliens in the United States who can not prove that they are legally here. That statement immediately becomes exaggerated into a statement that there are 1.000.000 aliens in the United States who should be deported. My friends. that is not the case. Those aliens who have come in in the past. prior to the new immigration law of July 1. 1924. andl have been here three years in nearly all cases or five years in some cases. can not be deported on account of the statute of limitations. We have in the United States about 7.000.000 aliens. Of these. about 1.000.000 can not prove that they are legally here. and yet they are lawfully here owing to the limitations of the law. About 300.000 of that million came across the borders from Canada between the years 1906 and 1911. inclusive. at which time the law provided that they should have certificates of entry. The law did not provide the machinery for such certificates except for those who came from across the waters. So all of those Canadians who came between those dates who now try to be naturalized can not produce the very evidence that the Government requires to be produced. They should be relieved of that situation. It is my hope that we can pass an eulctmuent which will allow those aliens in the United Statesnearly all of them upstanding. upright aliens. who have taken their places In society and are married and have childrento pay a fine in lieu of the head tax which they did not pay. and hold the receipt therefor for three years. after which time they may apply for first papers toward the process of citizenship. which would take another five years. That would mean all such persons would have to have been in the United States a minimum time of 13 years before they could possibly become citizens. I think a plan like that will perfect the house cleaning and will do away with the feelings we sometimes see of intolerance. toward the alien and will do much for an era of good feeling and better understanding between all of the 117.000.000 people of the great United States.