Speech #760103388

I am not quarreling with the author of the bill or with the Rules Committee that voted it out. I am quarreling because of a custom that has been inaugurated in this House to refer bills to socalled supercommittees of the House when they rightfully belong to the standing committee designated by the House for that very purpose. This bill properly belongs to the committee set up to consider bills dealing with immigration and naturalization. the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. I submit to the intelligence of the membership that this bill is purely and 100 percent a matter of immigration. The Committee on Immigration and Naturalization has among its membership. I believe. just as many capable men as there are in the Committee on the Judiciary. We are willing to go into this question. This question. Mr. Speaker. is a rather broad and comprehensive one that should be studied by men who are experts in this particular field. and we count among the members of the Committee on Immigration. Mr. Speaker. a number of distinguished men who have served on the committee for many years with great distinction. men who understand the situation. In view of the fact that matters dealing with immigration. naturalization. and deportation are highly technical. I shall now proceed to analyze the Smith bill. as I see it. for the benefit of the House. Sections 1. 2. 3. and 4 of title 1 make it unlawful for any person. including an alien. to advocate. orally or in writing. to any member of the Army or the Navy or the Coast Guard. that he should disobey the orders of a superior or the regulations governing military forces. Section 5 of the bill provides that any person who is convicted of violating any of the preceding sections shall be punished by the imposition of a fine or a term of imprisonment. or both. and in the case of an alien requires that he be deported from the United States upon his release from custody by the court in which he is tried. Section 6 of the bill adds a number of classes of deportable aliens: (1) Any alien who for gain smuggles or attempts to smuggle an alien into the United States. (2) An allen who engages in espionage after entry into the United States. (3) Any alien who after entry into the United States is convicted of violating a State narcotic law. (4) Any alien who at any time after entry possesses without a license a machine gun ot a firearm with a muffler or silencer. Inasmuch as the classes described in the paragraphs designated as (2) and (3) above have to a large extent been included in the Starnes bill. which passed the House on July 6. it is believed that those classes of deportable aliens should be deleted from the bill. This section also amends the existing provisions of law with respect to aliens who have committed crimes involving moral turpitude in this country and have been convicted thereof and have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 1 year or more therefor. Under existing law an alien who twice has committed offenses involving moral turpitude and has been convicted and sentenced for each for a term of more than 1 year may be deported. irrespective of the period the alien has resided in the United States. Under existing law. the alien who has committed but one offense involving moral turpitude and has been convicted and sentenced therefor for a term of 1 years imprisonment may be deported only if the crime was committed within 5 years after entry. The proposal in this section is to make any alien subject to deportation no matter how long he may be a resident of the United States if he commits one crime involving moral turpitude and is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 1 year or more. In other words. the purpose of the amendment is to remove from the statute books the socalled statute of limitations applicable to aliens when deportation is sought because of the criminality of the alien. Sight must not be lost of the fact that the enforcement of the proposed provision will result in considerable hardship to the members of the family of the alien. Section 6 also provides that when an alien is deportable because of crime. his deportation shall take place immediately upon his release from confinement. The purpose of this amendment is to clarify a provision of existing law which was intended to have the effect of permitting the immediate deportation of alien criminals when released from confinement. By another provision of this section. an alien may not be deported who is within the new deportable classes unless the act making him subject to deportation occurs after the enactment of the bill into law. That provision also directs that the amendments shall have no effect upon aliens subject to deportation under the law prior to amendment. Section 7. which comprises title 3 of the bill. amends the anarchist act of October 16. 1918. as amended. so as to make subject to exclusion and deportation any alien who has at any time. whether before or after entry into the United States. been a member of the classes excluded by the anarchist act of 1918. The amendment is an attempt to meet the objection made by the Supreme Court in the Strecker case as to past membership in a proscribed organization. Section 8. which is title 4 of the bill. provides that aliens of the immigrant class seeking an immigration visa for entry into the United States shall be fingerprinted. Presumably the thought which led to the proposal that aliens be fingerprinted prior to obtaining an immigration visa was that it would enable the consular officials to identify criminals. Considering the fact. however. that complete fingerprint records are not kept by all of the countries of the world from which immigrants come. it is questionable whether fingerprinting will be of any value. The Committee on the Judiciary has overlooked the fact that this bill conflicts with present law. The Committee on the Judiciary did not even take the trouble to find out that only 2 weeks ago this House passed the Starnes bill. which would take care of sections 2 and 3 of the Smith bill. as I have pointed out.