In that report (Rept. No. 1353. House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. to accompany H. R. 12044. 72d Cong.. 1st sess.. dated May 17. 1932). which I shall be pleased to place in the RECORD. the gentleman from Texas pointed out that under the existing immigration laws membership in the Communist Party. as such. does not constitute grounds for exclusion or deportation of aliens. The law today remains the same as it was in 1932. yet the gentleman from Texas today asserts that the Secretary of Labor should order deportation of alien Communists merely because of .their membership in the Communist Party. If the Secretary of Labor had no statutory authority to exclude or deport alien Communists. as such. in 1932. what possible authority can there be for doing so today? Certainly no authority can be found in recent court decisions. for the most significant judicial development has been the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the Strecker case. confirming the position asserted by the gentleman from Texas in the 1932 report to the effect that mere membership in the Communist Party is not a deportable offense. In fact. the Secretary of Labor has gone further than the gentleman from Texas would have. because until the Strecker decision the Department of Labor. relying on earlier court decisions. took the position that Communist Party membership. as such. did constitute grounds for deportation. and accordingly ordered deportation of such aliens.
Keywords matched
Immigration deportable Naturalization immigration deportation