Speech #710268860

If they are not in sympathy with our aims and purposes. if they do not come here for the purpose of founding homes and joining with us in all our national endeavors. if they do not come here to embrace our principles. then they should return to the place from whence they came. because we can get along pretty well without them. Nothing can be clearer than that our whole future structure as a great national commonwealth rests upon the uninterrupted continuation of all the standardssocial. economic. and politicalcoupled with Christian civilization. which have brought us forward from our first strike for independence and the determination to found a land of freedom. Thus we must cling to selfpreservation with sufficient zeal to see that our national customs. traditions. and progress are not injured by any immigrant group which by deed or thought does not subscribe heartily to all those standards. Because of the many physical difficulties that beset us by reason of our extensive boundaries and the number of our ports of entry. there are many aliens who are in this country illegally. Just how many of this class there may be it is hard to enumerate. Accurate information is so limited that any statement which essays to show the number of aliens who are now unlawfully resident here must necessarily be largely conjectural. Our first numerical restrictive immigration law was enacted in the year 1921. Prior to that year there were few incentives for European aliens to seek entry into the United States in violation of law. and. therefore. during this period those who deliberately entered the country in an unlawful manner were. for the most part. limited to the diseased. illiterate. and the criminal and immoral classes. who could not gain lawful admission. It is a known fact. of course. that many of these classes succeeded in entering the country during this period. and undoubtedly some are still here. A materially different situation existed with respect to the entry of residents of Canada and Mexico during this same period. Prior to the year 1907 the immigration regulations provided that no record should be made of Canadians and Mexicans entering the country. except in certain limited classes of cases. During the continuation of these regulations an unknown but very large number of immigrants entered from both of these countries. And even between the years 1907 and 1921 the land boundaries between the United States and Canada and Mexico were virtually unprotected. making it easy for aliens in these countries to cross our borders without inspection. Obviously. it is impossible even to estimate the number of such entries. or to determine how many of them are still in the United States. At the time the quota limit act of 1921 went Into effect it was a wellknown fact that there were several million prospective immigrants in European countries desiring to come to the United States. and very naturally the numerical restriction imposed by that law created a strong incentive to illegal entry. During the period between June. 1921. and July 1. 1924. while the first quota limit act was in effect. a large but unknown number gained surreptitious entry over the land borders and from Cuba by way of Florida and other States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. and as stowaways and deserting seamen at our seaports. Between the years 1907 and 1921 the total number of seamen recorded as deserting their ships in American ports was .145.492. an average of 9.699 per year.