Speech #710021530

Of course. at that time that was properly a cause for deferred classification. Going just a step farther and quoting from the same report. at page 462 we find that the report shows the number of desertions. by citizenship. from the American Army: Desertions of nativeborn Americans. 3.23 per cent. desertions of foreignborn. 10.87 per cent. That Is. more than three times as many foreign born deserted from the American Army as did nativeborn Americans. Going a step farther in the report of the provost marshal general. I find this statement: It Is not too much to say that the spectacle of American boys. the finest In the community. going forth to fight for the liberty of the world. while sturdy allens--many of them born in the very countries which have been Invaded by the enemystay at home and make money has been the one notable cause of dissatisfaction with the scheme of military service embodied In the selectiveservice act. So. Mr. President. while I admit without question there are now. many good men who have come to this country from foreign lands. and there have been many immigrants in the past who have become good citizens. yet I take the position that today what this country needs is not more immigrants but a less concentration of the wealth which the Senator from Massachusetts mentioned on yesterday. and that can not be obtained unless there can be found paying employmeat for our citizens. With millions of our people out of work. what possible excuse can there be for failing to adopt every means at our hand to remove from our land the aliens who have unlawfully intruded themselves. in our country? With cities advertising that there are inexhaustible supplies of unorganizable Mexican labor in our country. What excuse can we offer for a failure to adopt every possible means to discover aliens illegally here. that we may later remove this unfair competition with American labor? I acknowledge the statement of the Senator from Massachusetts that there are many aliens who have entered America who can and who have made real contributions to our citizenship. but it is my belief that what America needs today is not more immigrants but a fair opportunity for our present population. It needs positions for those who are now within our midst. We need to shut the door and close the gates against foreign immigration from any land until those here have absorbed our principles and become merged in the social. political. and economic life of the Nation. There is nothing unfair about this for prospective immigrants and it is certainly just to our present citizenship. With fourteen and onehalf million immigrants in our midst. why should we not spend a little money for the purpose of placing our hands on the aliens who have come here illegally? Why should we dispute as to whether the method is perfect and whether the results would be 100 per cent accurate? After all. Mr. President. the question comes down to this: Those who are in favor of restricted immigration are in favor of using all possible means to register the aliens and thereafter to deport those who are not lawfully here. Those who are opposed. and are honestly opposed. to the. restriction of immigration. fight every means and every measure which has a tendency to further restrict immigration. I submit that this amendment is fair and just to America. If Senators believe in a restriction of foreign immigration. if they believe il the principles of nationalism. which would make this a land of Americans. if they believe in keeping the country true to the oldfashioned principles and ideals of American liberty and democracy. then they do not want immigrants in this country who are here illegally. The amendment merely provides a method by which we may use the best means at our command to determine what immigrants are here legally and what immigrants are here illegally.