Speech #750060876

These amendments. in my opinion. will greatly strengthen this bill and the adoption of these amendments is strongly urged by a great many of the patriotic organizations of our country. For instance. I do not think we should limit the deportation of criminal aliens to those who have been convicted within 5 years before deportation proceedings are instituted. We have many thousands of aliens who have been convicted in the courts of the United States for kidnaping. murder. robbery. rape. and other infamous crimes more than 5 years ago. and they should have been deported. Many of these are now in prison. and when their terms expire they should be promptly deported. I am afraid that this bill would prevent their deportation. Subsection 4 of section 1 provides that an alien can be deported who knowingly and for gain encourages. induces. assists. or aids another alien to enter the United States in violation of the law. It seems to me the words "for gain" should be eliminated. It might be an easy matter to prove that one alien aided another alien to enter the United States illegally. but it would be a difficult matter to prove what gain. pay. or reward the alien received for this service. Section 2 as a whole should be stricken out and perfecting amendments should be offered. and. I understand. will be offered. I am unwilling to give the Secretary of Labor the wide discretion of permitting aliens who. under the law. should be deported to remain in this country. Congress should lay down the rules governing the deportation of aliens. It is up to Congress to fix the deportation policies of this country. and it is the duty of the Department of Labor to carry out the policies and the laws passed by Congress on this matter. This is especially true at this time. because it is generally agreed that the present Secretary of Labor is not in harmony with the attitude of Congress and the American people on the question of deportation of criminal aliens. Several thousands of aliens have been apprehended and are subject to deportation. and the Secretary of Labor has held up these deportations for 1 or more years. and unless section 2 is stricken out or modified it will enable the Secretary of Labor to keep these aliens in this country.