I have had one instance in my city where a person of excellent character came into this country but was given wrong information by an American consul in Europe. If the Department of Labor did not have the discretion of advising that man to go to Canada and make proper arrangements with him to go to Canada and be readmitted. the man would have had to spend five or six hundred dollars steamship fares to go back to Europe and reapply for admission again. It is a ridiculous proposition. unless you want to help the steamship companies enrich themselves from the pockets of decent immigrants who have the same burning desire for the benefits of democracy as our own ancestors. Mr. Chairman. if we do not want to give the Department of Labor discretion. then it is the duty of the Congress to write a law that it shall have no discretion. but when that Department is given discretion in the law it may be expected that somewhere somebody may abuse the discretion. If 34 criminals have been sent to countries nearby in order to get visas to come back in here. then the man in the Department of Labor who gave those instructions should be fired. We should not try to cure the carbuncle by cutting off the patients head. Discretionary power is absolutely essential if decent treatment is to be given the honest and good immigrants. If it is abused the gentlemen who know of its abuse ought to impeach the Secretary of Labor and have her removed for misfeasance. or else these gentlemen should demand the removal of the Labor Department employees who have aided criminals. and put their demands in the REcoRD.
Keywords matched
immigrants visas