Speech #740208305

With respect to the first question. I invite the Senators attention to the hearings and to the supplemental report submitted with the substitute bill. The report states that a survey of the principal cities by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. with the cooperation of chiefs of police and directors of public safety. indicates that there are at least 20.000 alien criminals who are not subject to deportation under the present laws. who would be rendered deportable under the provisions of this bill. An alien convicted of a violation of the narcotic laws in any State. Territory. insular possession. or the District of Columbia under existing law cannot be deported. There are many persons convicted of narcotic violations under State laws. the records show that there are approximately 2.000 such cases. The report shows that aliens who have had as many as 30 separate convictions. and others who have spent a great deal of their time in this country in prison. and aliens who have been guilty of serious offenses cannot. in many cases. be deported under the present law. By pleading guilty to a lesser offense. which will not call for imprisonment for 1 year. they are not subject to deportation. and. likewise. if given a suspended sentence or a sentence below the one required under present law for deportation. Persons who smuggle aliens into the United States are not deportable. The Immigration and Naturalization Service have a record of more than 500 cases in which aliens have been smuggled into the United States--ersons who will be subject to deportation under the bill before usbut the aliens who smuggled them in are not. and there are 500 such persons who would be subject to deportation if this bill becomes a law. Racketeers and gangsters convicted of carrying concealed weapons may not be deported. due to the requirement that deportation must depend upon conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude. A person stealing toys to give to a child may be deported because that is technically a crime involving moral turpitude. but under existing law one who is convicted for carrying concealed weapons cannot be deported because it is held that a conviction for such an act does not involve moral turpitude. Senators know that there are many aliens who have been convicted of carrying concealed weapons. but. as stated. they cannot be deported for that offense. Mr. President. further replying to a question submitted to me by the Senior Senator from Arkansas . a few moments ago I stated that after the most searching and thorough examination. made by hundreds of representatives of the Immigration Service and the Labor Department. they have been able to discover 20.000 persons who should be deported. but who. under existing law. may not be deported. They also discovered 2.862 persons whose position was such as to call for some clemencyfor the exercise of some humanitarianism. Let me give an illustration of one of the cases adverted to.