Speech #720181285

I want to take this opportunity to com- course. the general appropriations for that service had to mend the gentleman who is the chairman of the Immigra- be increased. It is generally recognized that this increase tion Committee for the splendid work which he did in secur- in the service resulted in a more thoroughgoing enforceing a vacation of the very harsh and severe order that had ment of immigration laws at the border and very effectively checked any spread of this dangerous smuggling of aliens into the United States. Another activity which the Immigration Service has to be largely concerned with at the present time is the task of investigating and deporting aliens who are either not entitled to remain in the United States or who have unlawfully entered the United States. This task is continually increasing and the latest report of the Commissioner General of Immigration shows that during the past 10 years a grand total of 105.782 cases of deportation have engaged the attention of our immigrant inspectors. I wish at this time to present a brief synopsis of appropriations and expenditures for the Immigration Service since 1907. which I believe will be of interest in our appraisal of conditions as they now exist. Immigration Service balance sheet Immigration year Receipts Erpendi- Deports1907 --------------------------------------------- $2.782.103 $1.645.373 (1) 1908 -------------------------------------------- 3.442.330 2.657.779 (I) low ------------------------------------------ -- 3. 237 669 1910 --------------------------------------------- 4.227.285 2.759.671 1911 -------------------------------------------- 3.759.174 2.841.330 (1) 1912 ------------------------------------------- 3.457.010 2.027.009 1 1913 -------------------------------------------- 4.818.505 2.898. 754 (1 1914 -------------------------------------------- 5.225.344 3.233.954 (I 1915 -------------------------------------------- 1.325.648 2.944.548 (1 1916 -------------------------------------------- 810.883 2.728.321 (I 1917 -------------------------------------------- 867. 534 3.012.169 ( 1918 -------------------------------------------- 1.010. 227 3.786.318 (0 1919 -------------------------------------------- 1.052.217 3.498.822 (I) 1920 -------------------------------------------- 3.062.665 3.097.312 (1) 1921 -------------------------------------------- 6.068.396 4.011.233 2.762 1922 -------------------------------------------- 2.977.702 .663.010 4.366 1923 -------------------------------------------- 4.651.180 3. 631.944 3.661 1924 -------------------------------------------- 6.320. 102 3.732.315 6.409 1925 ------------------------------------------- 4.189. 247 5.231.689 9.495 1926 -------------------------------------------- 4.229.499 5.685. 173 10. 900 1927 ------------------------------------------ 4.267.782 6.190.260 12. 05 928 -------------------------------- 3.959. 409 6.690.100 11.625 1929 -------------------------------- 3.518.103 7.706.842 12.900 1930 -------------------------------- 3.819.520 8.447.392 16.631 1931 -------------------------------- 2.657.391 9.489.079 18.142 Total --------------------------- 85 808. "- 324 105. 748. 066 I Averages less than 2.000 cases per annum. From the foregoing table It would appear that during the period of 25 years the American taxpayers were called upon to pay for the enforcement of the immigration laws a total of only $19.939.742. or an average per annum of less than $800.000. Results of some of the activities of the Immigration Service during the fiscal year 1931 as taken from the annual report of the Commissioner General of Immigration (Official statistical data for 1932 are not yet available for publication. but it is believed they will show progressive increases in the number of deportations. prosecutions. etc.) Aliens deported (expelled) in 1931 (includes 2.719 aliens of the criminal and immoral classes) -------- 18. 142 classes. Cases Investigated in connection with possible deportation proceedings ------------------------------------ 145. 770 Criminal and civil actions instituted ----------------- 6. 282 Convictions secured ----------------------------------- 5.927 Writs of habeas corpus defended ----------------------- 317 Aliens admitted ------------------------------------- 446.214 Aliens debarred -------------------------------------- 8.233 Aliens crossing Canadian and Mexican borders. examined -------------------------------------------- 26.481.279 United States citizens returning from Canada and Mexico. examined ---------------------------------- 26. 510. 486 Vessels boarded -------------------------------------- 36. 181 Alien seamen examined ------------------------------1. 171.690 American citizens arriving on vessels. examined ------- 389.908 Reentry permits issued (for which $358.386 was collected) --------------------------------------------- 107.850 Certificates of registry issued (for which $289.800 was collected) ------------------------------------------ 16.242 Certificates of registry denied ------------------------- 2. 493 Indigent aliens returned at their own request (during the last 4month period of statistical year) --------- 641 Personnel. Including commissioners and other supervisory officers. inspectors. clerks. guards. matrons. interpreters. etc.. stationed at over 200 offices in continental United States. Hawaii. Puerto Rico. Canada. and Europe ---------------------------------------- 2.555 Borderpatrol personnel. stationed all along the Canadian and Mexican borders (over 5.000 miles) and certain coast lines ----------------------------------- 807 Thus it will be seen that the annual expense to the Government for the Immigration Service during the past quarter of a century. after deducting funds collected for head taxes and other fees paid by the immigrants or by the steamship companies for the inspection of immigrants. is about $800.000 per annum. a most insignificant sum. compared with the vast and vital results to the country which this service brings about. The activities of the department and the Immigration Service with reference to the prevention of unlawful smuggling as well as deportations of aliens who have entered this country unlawfully or have become guilty of offenses which make their deportation necessary have been increasing from year to year. and I might almost say day by day. How the Government will be able to prevent unlawful activities by and on behalf of aliens if the immigration force is curtailed or furloughed for long periods of time is utterly impossible to say at present. This furloughing of inspectors for a period of six months is something that must be avoided by all means. Owing to the peculiar conditions of the Immigration Service a large proportion of immigrant inspectors are located at stations removed from their homes. I know of instances in my own district at Ellis Island of immigrant inspectors whose homes are in New England or in the West and who are stationed for longer or shorter periods at immigration stations away from their homes. Most of the men have families and dependents and some of them have definitely removed their families into the districts to which they were officially assigned. imagining that they would stay on permanently in the places to which the Government saw fit to remove them. A good many of them have bought homes and decided to establish themselves permanently either in New York or other places where they may now be working. If they had been furloughed for six months. as the Government contemplated doing. they surely would have been unable to find any employment in localities with which they have no other connection except the fact that they are officially attending to the business of the Government. Their ties with their home localities have in many instances been completely severed. and yet due to the fact that they have not really become a part of the life in the new communities to which they were sent. they would not be able to obtain work in those new communities and would have had to depend more or less on charity for their support and the support of their families. It is worth while to observe at this time. that due to official regulations of the Government. the employees in the Immigration Service have not only now been furloughed for one month as have other Government employees but that due to the establishment of the 5day week plan in the Department of Labor they have actually been furloughed for a period of almost two months in each year. The Members of this House may recall that in the bill which creates an official furlough for Government employees heads of departments were given the power to establish a 5day week whenever it was feasible in lieu of the 1month furlough. which means that instead of losing 30 working days in the year the employees of those departments which have adopted the 5day week are losing 52 days of service throughout the year. which makes it almost a two months furlough instead of a 1month furlough. as contemplated by the framers of our existing furlough plan. It is significant that of all departments of the Government only the Labor Department. ostensibly organized for the interest of the wage earner. saw fit to adopt the 5dayweek plan. which has such disastrous results for its employees.