Speech #710259399

The laws passed by us mean absolutely nothing. The legislative policies which are established by our bills and resolutions are thrown overboard. We can pass a 3 per cent quota law or a 2 per cent quota law or a 1 per cent quota law. or any kind of a law we want. but along comes the State Department and passes its own rules as to what is good for us and what should be done in this matter. We may as well pass a resolution giving the State Department full control over immigration and go home. There is nothing else for us to do. Our Immigration Committee held extensive hearings before it passed the present immigration law. including a number of preferences for close relatives of American citizenshusbands. wives. fathers. mothers. and children. As I stated before. our political parties. in their platforms. expressed themselves in favor of the uniting of families and of doing away with useless and heartrending situations created by the peculiarities of our immigration laws. But all that means nothing to our State Department. It has pounced upon a provision in the law giving our immigration officials the power to refuse admission to aliens "likely to become public charges." and. presto. every alien is likely to i become a public charge. or. at least. it would seem so from reading the reports of the activities of our consuls abroad. In the supine indifference which our people have shown against the encroachments by administrative bodies of our powers of legislation. everybody seems to applaud the action of our State Department. and not a word is raised against this most dangerous assumption of power which the consuls have usurped pursuant to instructions from the State Department. which has control over them. Will our legislators likewise sit by and permit this usurpation of power to go on unchecked? For usurpation it actually is. No other term can describe it. If the State Department can willfully cut down immigration quotas by 90 per cent. then something is wrong somewhere. Why not be honest about it. Should Congress desire to curtail or abolish immigration altogether. it has the power to do so. and I. for one. believe that Congress should be the proper body to exercise that power if such power is to be exercised at all. But I dont want the State Department or any outside agency to assume powers of legislation. It is contrary to the scheme of our Government. contrary to all our traditions. contrary to the Constitution of the United States. and contrary to the spirit of our laws. and I shall protest against it with all the power which I can summon for that task and with all the energy I am capable of. Perhaps my remarks here will open the eyes of my colleagues at the danger we are in. in leaving the Government of our country in the hands of soulless bureaucrats. This must stop or we shall have abrogated our functions under the Constitution of the United States and have become unfaithful to the trust imposed on us by our constituents when they elected us to office. I do not wish to say that there are no prospective immigrants who would not likely become public charges. Of course there are some who would. and. of course. the consuls. are there for the purpose of weeding out this undesirable immigrant. I hold no brief for undesirable immigrants. I do not want them in this country. as I have stated a moment ago. and I have always advocated strict laws to deport from the United States all criminal aliens wherever they may be found. It is not this type of immigrant that appeals to me. and more power to our consuls if they are able to hold back this type of immigrant from entering our beloved country. But the line must be drawn somewhere. I can not believe that 93 per cent of immigrants within our quota who would otherwise be eligible for admission are likely to become public charges. I can not believe that this great drop in our immigration. which is due exclusively to the action of donsuls in curtailing the number of visas issued. is in every instance honest and on the level. The contrary is the fact. There are many prospective immigrants of wealth. of high standing in their own community. people who would be a credit to any country in which they wish to settle. who are denied admission for no good reason. It is against this futile and murderous attempt to kill the letter and spirit of our immigration laws that I have risen on this floor in protest. In this connection. let me quote from our United States Daily of December 6: By applying the "likely to become a public charge " provisions of the immigration act of 1917. American consular officers in foreign countries have brought about a considerable decrease in the number of aliens entering the United States. according to a statement December 5 by the Department of State. Only a small percentage of the total number of visas which might have been granted were issued in October by consular representatives in 21 foreign countries. and during that month the total number of visas reported issued by all officials was only 3.300. the statement discloses. In view of the unemployment situation. the policy of greater consideration in issuing visas for entrance of aliens into the United States was put into effect following its announcement September 8. 1930. by President Hoover. the department states.