Speech #720165814

Mr. Speaker. under the heading of Immigration Drops to New Low Record." the newspapers all over the country published statements that American consuls have been refusing visas to prospective immigrants upon the ground that they are likely to become public charges. and due to such exclusion immigration has now dropped to the lowest figure since 1862. There was also a statement from the Department of State dealing with this subject. which shows that the decline of aliens entering this country Is continuous and that during the year less than 100.000 will be admitted. so that immigration this year will be 10.000 less than that of 1918. which was the lowest point within recent years. This total sum. however. includes not only immigrants entitled to preferences under our immigration laws. but all kinds of arrivals in the United States. both immigrants and nonimmigrants. quota and nonquota immigrants. transients. and aliens of all kinds. including those who come to this country for brief visits and who will have to return shortly to their countries of origin. so that the number of immigrants of quota classes. which I will discuss presently. will not exceed 10.000 in all. There is no question but that if this exclusion policy continues indefinitely no immigration of any kind will eventually be permitted into the United States. It is contended that under this policy consuls deny 99 out of every 100 applications on various grounds. The official statement on this point reads: A great number are being denied under the contract labor law. which means. In effect. that an alien who discloses previous arrangements for work here is denied admittance. On the other hand. as it usually works out. if the alien admits that he has no work in prospect his application may be denied on the ground that he might become a public charge. This statement requires a presentation of the true facts as they affect the wellbeing of American families and I therefore take the liberty of communicating to you what I believe to be the true situation. The act of the consuls in refusing admissions to hundreds and thousands of aliens is purely arbitrary and not in accordance with our immigration laws. The statement made that by doing so conditions of unemployment are helped along is fallacious. since in most of the cases the visas applied for are not for people who have no ties with American families but rather are for fathers and mothers of American citizens. usually between the ages of 60 and 70 years. who are too old to work. and wives and minor children of persons legally in the United States. the children being too young to work. The term "public charge" is in itself very vague and the manner in which it is applied by our consuls abroad makes it even more indefinite. It was usually understood and was taken -for granted. at least under the old immigration law. that where an ablebodied person applied for admission into the United States and there was nothing physically wrong with him and he had about $25 in his pocket he would be admitted into the United States without any question. At the present time we have relatives of American citizens seeking to gain admission to the United States able to show to the consuls family resources amounting to as much as $10.000 to $20.000. but who are nevertheless refused visas and classed as public charges. in spite of the fact that during the fiscal year ended June 30. 1931. the 97.139 aliens admitted for permanent residence brought an average of only $111 each. It is. therefore. merely a subterfuge of the law which our consuls abroad are invoking for an alleged good purposenamely. to curtail immigration which may come into competition with American laborbut in truth and in fact it Is not people of that type who are being kept out of the United States. No sensible person can be opposed to any policy which denies immigration to prospective competitors with our labor. Our labor must be protected at all costs. and it is the duty of Congress. as well as any other body of American officials. to see to it that no immigration from abroad interfere with the wellbeing of our own citizens who are entitled to live and work in this country and whose work should be protected. That. however. is not the effect of the present procedure. It is not labor that is being prevented from coming to the United States but the bulk of the prospective immigration which is curtailed by the action of the consuls abroad consists of parents of American citizens. husbands of American wives. and even wives and children of American citizens. and also wives and children of legally admitted aliens are being discriminated against and prohibited from joining their families in the United States. These persons can not under any circumstances compete with American labor. and by refusing visas to them all that is accomplished is that the union of families is destroyed and American citizens are discriminated against. and vast sums of money are sent abroad to support outside of the United States these near relatives who. in all common sense and for the perpetuation of the basic idea of our civilizationnamely. the economic entity of the family unitshould be assisted to join the family domicile prepared for them in the United States. The money thus sent out of the United States could better now be used in the United States. since the expenditure here would benefit United States industry rather than benefiting foreign industry when spent to support these near relatives abroad with money sent from the United States. Owing to the stringency of our immigration laws at the present time all of the persons who can come into the United States are. with few exceptions. related to American citizens or related to aliens residing in the United States after having been lawfully admitted into this country. In this class we find fathers and mothers. wives and husbands. and children of American citizens or residents. It is only these classes that can come in from most of the countries which furnish the bulk of presentday immigration to the United States. and unless one finds himself in the category mentioned one can not enter the United States under any circumstances. The practical effect of the acts of the consuls in refusing visas to prospective immigrants of the classes mentioned is to prevent the union of families. Thus a father and a mother of an American citizen may be separated from their children. a husband may be separated from his wife. and even children of American citizens are refused admission in many instances. The result of the situation is that families are driven apart from each other and there is grave danger that the separation of these families may ultimately mean their complete disruption and dissolution. The Republican and Democratic platforms of 1928 assured the people of this country that families separated by the immigration laws would become united. The fact of the matter is. instead of uniting families this arbitrary action of our consuls abroad upon advice or direction from the State Department under this Republican administration has rather resulted in separation of families and the consuls have gone as far as denying visas to children of American citizens because their American fathers could not show that they had as many thousands of dollars as the American consuls think sufficient to take a person out of the category of "public charges." The statement therefore made by our Department of Labor is based upon an incorrect assumption that the prospective immigrants are likely to enter into competition with* our American labor. I say that this is not a fact. and the official figures substantiate my contention. Both on the floor of Congress and in other public utterances I made it clear that I am in favor of immigration restrictions. particularly such restriction as will prevent the entrance of alien laborers. I do not wish to be considered as advocating any system by which such laborers can be admitted to the United States in competition with our own laborers. The fact of the matter is. however. that no relief has come to our American labor by keeping out these prospective immigrants. since. for the most part. these prospective immigrants are fathers and mothers of American citizens who are between the ages of 60 and 70 years. and are too old to work. or they are wives and minor children of American citizens or of persons legally in the United States. and the minor children. of course. are too young to work. Should these people be permitted to come in. their coming could have no effect whatever on our labor conditions. and not a single American as a result of it would lose his job. On the contrary. these persons would increase the number of consumers of American goods and would permit. more labor to be employed in the furnishing of their wants and the making of goods necessary for these people.