I come now to the other question involved. and that is relief for a certain number of foreignborn people who are now in this country. Some of them have been here 5. some 10. some 15. and some 20 years or even longer. They are not. able to meet the requirements of the present naturalization law in that they can not show lawful entry. We must remember that previous to 1921 our restrictive immigration laws were very lax. A great many people entered this country unlawfully from a technical standpoint in that they crossed the Canadian border without the formality of going to a port of entry. They no doubt could have entered in a legal way if they had gone down the border line a few miles and entered in the regular way. Then we have a considerable number who entered legally but. through lack of Government records. they are not able to prove that legal entry. That grows out of the fact that for some 5 or 6 years. around 1905. the immigration authorities did not keep the proper records at some of our Canadian ports. There are also some whose records perhaps were destroyed in the fire of Castle Garden. New York. in 1890. and then there are certain persons who entered illegally but have been here for a considerable length of time10. 15. or 20 years--who have been successful in business. are rearing families. their children are being educated in the public schools. They are not undesirable residents of the community. but on account of illegal entry they are not able to comply with the present naturalization laws. The committee has given much thought to some relief legislation for the people that I have just mentioned. At the present time any bill that the committee might bring to this House would immediately be met with the question: How many people will this measure admit. how many people will it affect?
Keywords matched
naturalization immigration