There is another amendment that should be offered to this section if this bill is going to stand up in court. in my judgment. There ought to be some limitation placed upon the period within which the Secretary of Labor is allowed to detain an alien. It should be a period long enough to permit the Secretary of Labor to devise means of ridding this country of these undesirable aliens. or long enough to permit the Secretary of State to negotiate with foreign nations and agree upon treaties which would take care of the problem. Under present law the Secretary of Labor in the case of the alien ordered to be deported must take that alien into custody and deport him. There is no limit fixed by law upon the time within which the alien must be deported.. but the courts have fixed it for us as a "reasonable period." I think we have the right to determine what constitutes a reasonable period. it is a legislative rather than a judicial function. It cannot be without limit. and it should not rest entirely on the judgment or the caprice of a single executive officer. the Secretary of Labor. I think 5 years is the longest that any court would sustain as being a reasonable period. and I propose to offer such an amendment if the pending amendment is agreed to.
Keywords matched
undesirable aliens deported