Speech #740090272

Speaker. under permission granted me to extend my remarks in the RECORD. I include the following radio address delivered by me last Friday evening: We are told that this Seventyfourth Congress receives more mail than any other Congress in the history of our country. and I am also told that New Yorks other Congressman at Large and I receive the second largest mail that comes to the House of Representatives. A surprisingly large number of the letters received pertain to alienstheir status. their entry. legal and illegal. and their deportation. and the research necessitated for the answering of these letters has brought to light some astonishing situations. The scrambled state of our present immigration and deportation laws is the answer to the oftrepeated question. "Why cannot we get rid of the alien criminal? " The Department of Labor. as all other departments of Government. must operate strictly within the law. and it Is powerless under the hodgepodge of contradictory amendments to the present law to operate effectively. There are at present certain mandatory laws requiring the deportation of alien criminals and of all those who have entered the country Illegally. At present violators of Federal narcotic acts are deportable. but violators of State narcotic acts are not. Under the present law the alien who is smuggled into the country is deportable. The alien who smuggles him in is not. An alien criminal can now be deported only if he has been convicted of a crime Involving moral turpitude committed within 5 years after his admission to the United States and sentenced to imprisonment for 1 year or longer. or if his record shows two such convictions and sentences subsequent to February 5. 1917. Under the present law any judge who sentences an alien criminal to a term of imprisonment calling for deportation may. by a simple recommendation to the Secretary of Labor within 30 days after the date of sentence. absolutely prevent deportation. The Secretary has no option in the matter. While any policecourt judge or magistrate who has authority to sentence a criminal for a year or more may in his uncontrolled discretion prevent the deportation of that criminal. there is no power in the United States. not even that of the President. to avert the deportation of an alien who is not a criminal. Here are the records. for example. of certain alien criminals who are not deportable under our present scrambled laws: W. L.: Thirty years old. in country 27 years. has been arrested 16 times for crimes. including burglary. abduction. felonious assault. robbery. homicide. grand larceny. bribery. etc.. has spent 5 years 6 months in prison. N.