Speech #690145666

The law as It now stands fully takes care of that. But. gentlemen. what do you say when I tell you that a resident of New York was sentenced to over a years Imprisonment for reading the Constituti.on of the United States on the steps of the city hall of a New Jersey city? Were he an alien. under this bill lie would be deported. No man ought to be imprisoned or deported for reading the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence at any time anywhere. That typifies. however. the attitude in some communities and it typifies the state of mind and the intolerance which predominates often at times of industrial disputes and conflict between employers and employees. Do you not see the temptation and the possibilities for grave abuses and miscarriage of Justice when a labor dispute is going on and workers simply exercising their constitutional rights of bettering their conditions and in the heat of the dispute a minor misdemeanor might be committed and the offender sent to jail for a year and then deported. That Is why I believe that deportation following conviction and a sentence of one year should be only for crimes specifically enumerated. Include the bootlegger. there is no serious objection to that. No man is compelled to bootleg hootch to buy bread for his children. But many men are compelled to go on strike in order to protect the bread of his children and the very life of his children. Do not classify this man with the dope peddler and include him in a blanket provision for deportation. As to the provision for the deportation of aliens who have become public charges. I believe that the bill should be amended to clarify those cases. and not to place the burden of proof on certain cases where the alien has become a public charge and is incapacitated for life by reasons wholly due to his work and occupation In this country. Will anyone kindly tell me how an alien who may become insane or become totally Incapacitated by the "bends" owing to his work in an underriver tunnel. working in chambers of highly compressed air. will be able to prove his case under the provisions of this law? IIe may be here without relatives. If he is Insane he surely can not prove his case. and on the certificate of the doctor that the insanity or physical disability is due "to causes existing prior to Immigration" lie would be deported. Surely that is not the intention of the committee. but that is what this bill will do. If this bill were discussed under the rules of the House a simple amendment that where lite public charge of the alien is the result of insanity or physical disability front Industrial causes. for industrial occupation. the burden of proof shall be on the Government to establish that the disability was due to causes existing prior to entry Into this country. Such an amendment would in no way change the policy of deporting public charge aliens. but would simply provide a fair. honest American way of giving such an unfortunate person a square deal. Now. gentlemen. In closing let me say that we have been in session for seven months. The Committee on Immigration has worked no doubt. but to date no bill has been reported which would in the slightest way humanize the present cruel act of 1924. Nothing has been done to heed the prayers of thousands of splendid men and women who literally on their bended knees have begged Congress to permit them to get their mothers and fathers or wives and children to join them in this land of ours. An appeal was made by the President of the United States in his message to Congress of December 3. 1925.