Speech #760003247

No alien who is in this country legally. can be deported. If an alien enters properly. does nothing which the immigration laws prohibit after his entry. he cannot be deported. Deportation must be grounded on some provision of the immigration laws as they exist today. so I could not have possibly told you that these people. because they were Nazis. could be deported. For many years I called attention to the fact that the Quota Act of 1924 discriminates against American families. Because of the fact that quotas are so small for countries of eastern and southern Europe. American citizens Whose family ties are with those countries are being discriminated against. while American families whose relatives come from England or northern Europe are in a better position to unite with their families. The fact that the quota law is so arranged that twothirds of it goes to northern and western Europe and onethird of it goes to southern and eastern Europe is an unjust discrimination against our people. I therefore suggest that there should not be any increase in the number of immigration quotas. but there should be a redistribution of the unused numbers for the current or next fiscal year to relieve the pressure on the smallquota countries. which are discriminated against. This should not be a permanent policy but only for the current fiscal year. for humanitarian reasons. as stated. Let not American families be discriminated against. and where an American family wishes to accomplish union with one residing on the other side. and there are quota numbers available. let them be distributed so that they may do good to those who need them. This. I am sure. will go a long way in the solution of our immigration problem. Earnest study and attention will be required by this Congress in order to solve the immigration problem of the United States. I am sure my committee will be glad to entertain any intelligent proposal. and any interested citizen who wishes to be heard will be given an opportunity to appear before the committee and state his facts. A real problem that has been making itself felt in recent years arises out of the enforcement of the deportation laws with respect to aliens who entered the United States since the enactment of the quota laws. It must be remembered that prior to the time when the principle of numerical restriction was put into effect aliens were subject to deportation only. with a very few exceptions. if found to be of the criminal. immoral. radical. or physically and mentally unsound classes. While in some instances deportation then resulted in a hardship to the individual alien and his family. it was felt that the greater good to the country which was derived by the deportation of an undesirable outweighed the harm done to the individual alien and to the members of his family. However. since the quota laws have been enacted. that no longer holds true. A person may now be deportable because of entry without inspection. residence without permission. or flaw in the record of admission. Inevitably. as the years passed. aliens of good character and good repute. in many instances through error on the part of the Government. found themselves enmeshed in deportation proceedings from which there was no escape. The technical violator of the quota laws is as much deportable as the basest alien criminal. Let me give you an illustration of what I am speaking about by citing one or two cases which have been presented to the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House of Representatives by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. A young Irishman first entered the United States in December 1923 at the port of New York and was admitted for a period of 6 months. He stated. when examined in deportation proceedings later started. that he intended to make this country his permanent home when he first arrived in the United States. He remained here until 1928 when. desiring to go abroad to visit. he applied for a reentry permit. Through error on the part of one of the clerks at Ellis Island. the record of his entry in 1923 was recorded as one for permanent residence and he was issued a permit. He departed and after his reentry into the United States he married a legally admitted Irish girl in 1929. Desiring to complete an application for citizenship. he appeared at the naturalization office in New York in 1933 and then learned that he was in the United States illegally. He promptly and voluntarily sought advice as to his immigration status at Ellis Island. Notwithstanding his apparent desirability. notwithstanding the unfortunate predicament in which he finds himself. through an error on the part of the Government. notwithstanding that he is now established here with a family. he is subject to deportation under existing law. The case I have cited is typical of many others involving hardships brought about by our deportation laws. The aliens concerned are not criminals. they are not of the immoral type. they are not mentally or physically unsound. they are not public charges.. Illegal entry is the sole basis for their deportation. But present law requires that they be deported. It is because of this unyielding technical aspect of the immigration laws that an attempt has been made in the recent past to enact legislation which would alleviate to some extent the harshness and cruelty of deportation when that deportation is based solely upon the technical ground of illegal entry. That attempt in the last session of Congress culminated in the passage by the House of Representatives of a bill to alleviate this situation. A similar bill will be introduced in the present House. I shall dwell briefly on the measure. First. it allows the Secretary of Labor. during a period of 4 years. to permit to remain in this country as permanent residents. a maximum number of 8.000 aliensI wish to emphasize that number8.000 aliens who are now subject to deportation because of technical illegal entry into the United States. If they are of good character and if they have resided in this country more than 10 years or have close family ties herehusbands. wives. or children of citizens or legal residents of the country. Second. it permits aliens who entered the United States before July 1. 1924. who are not now subject to deportation. but for whom there is no record of their admission for permanent residence. to legalize their status so that they may become citizens. provided. of course. that they are.in all other respects able to meet the qualifications of the naturalization law. Third. because of what has been deemed to be an inadequacy of our present deportation laws with respect to alien criminals. it proposes new classes of deportable aliens removable because of criminal misconduct. Intolerant of any contrary view on the subject of aliens. extremists have proclaimed their dissatisfaction with the bill that passed the House last year. The proalien groups cry out that you are infringing upon the freedom of aliens. you are adding to the deportable classes and thereby making more hardships. you are not giving to the Secretary of Labor enough discretion to make justice in aliens cases possible. The antialien groups quite as vociferously state: You are attempting to destroy the principle of numerical restriction. you are nullifying the existing provisions of the immigration laws with respect to alien criminals. Let us not be intolerant or unreasonable in our views on a subject relating to aliens. Let us not be sentimentalists. so that any hardship to an individual undeserving alien appalls us.