Speech #720097655

The restrictiveimmigration policy to protect workers of this Nation is threatened. There is great danger of a breakdown in the effectiveness of our laws. Conspiracies to violate our immigration measures extend not only into Canada and Mexico but also into the countries of Europe and Asia. Barred by the 1921 quota act. bootlegging of immigrants into the United States started on a great scale. Wholesale racketeering sprang up. Smuggling aliens into this country and blackmailing them after their unlawful entry has rapidly increased from year to year. Investigations by the Department of Labor have disclosed that aliens have been hidden away on incoming ships. packed and crated as ordinary freight. hidden in the coal. or concealed in empty ship tanks. they also were brought in by automobile and by airplane. They have been coming on passports. reentry permits. identification cards. birth and other certificates. all of which are forged. and such documents for use in unlawful entry are sold at high prices by racketeers. Even offices and agencies have been established. so that unsuspecting persons are led to believe that they are dealing with officials of the Immigration Service. The bootleggingofaliens racket has gone so far that price lists for illegal entry have been published. and these prices run into the hundreds of dollars. .Illegal entry. however. is by no means the only danger. Thousands of alien seamen enter the United States lawfully. subject only to the requirement that they reship to a foreign port within 60 days from the date of entry.