Speech #720132131

For salaries. certainly. but let me state to the gentleman that in the State of Wisconsin there are only three immigration officers enforcing the immigration laws. and while there may be bootlegging of liquor from Canada and from foreign countries. I believe that the immigrant bootleggers are making about as much money as the liquor bootleggers. In these days of unemployment. when American citizens. whether they were born here or whether they legally came to our country from foreign shores and have become naturalized. and aliens who have legally entered are walking the streets out of employment. I. for one. want to take every alien who has been bootlegged into the country in violation of the immigration law and send him on his way rejoicing back to his native country. We have in the State of Wisconsin three immigration officers to enforce the immigration laws and to perform the additional duties placed upon them by enactments of Congress. When Congress enacted the law to provide that upon investigation a certificate in lieu of arrival could be issued you can imagine the additional work placed upon this undermanned immigration office with the three immigration officers in Wisconsin. who have been faithfully and effectually working 13. 14. and sometimes 20 hours a day. They now have to conduct these examinations and investigations and were unable to obtain even a stenographer to take the testimony on these immigration cases where it is practically a matter of life and death to the alien in some cases where the alien legally enters and the hearings are held by the immigration officer. Yet we find under this great Government of ours that the immigration inspectors. who are overburdened. have to write the testimony down in longhand. May I suggest to the gentleman from Illinois that if he really sympathizes with the unemployed of this country. and I know that he does. he ought not to make any of these veiled attacks upon the President of the United States and the Department of Labor who are trying their very best to relieve the serious unemployment situation by sending out of this country aliens who have entered illegally.