Speech #710081811

Mr. Chairman. the failure to appoint committees. and particularly the failure to appoint the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. is not the fault of the Committee on Appropriations. The Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. it is true. has not been organized. There is a big field for that committee to work on. I have one matter that I hope will be taken up for consideration before that committee when it is organized at this session. Heretofore the Immigration Service. aided by the eloquence of the gentleman from Washington. have come to our committee for large appropriations to deport undesirable aliens. Recently the arm of the law went into an interior county in Michigan and grabbed a young man from Canada. subject to no quota restrictions whatsoever. who had come across at Port Huron while still a minor and thought he became a citizen of Michigan when he became of age. He inmrried and settled on a farm. They have discovered that he had never complied with the teehnicalities and formalities of the law when he crossed the river. He did cross the river without making a formal entry. There was some question about whether he could read and write when he came in. but now he call. The Immigration Service reached up there and took him away from his farm. and brought him back to Port Huron. or to Detroit. and held him as a prisoner for three weeks. sitting on his case. They took him away from his home. his farm. and his family. without noticewithout opportunity to arrange with anyone to take care of his farm or even to milk the cows. The Departmelnt of Labor talk about his "becoming a public charge" and take him away from his Americanborn wife and Aniericanborn children having them liable to become public charges because of his absence.