Chairman. my amendments simply write into the bill the present language of the law. with this exception. that the word "felony" is substituted for the word "crime." That is to take care of several imaginary hardship cases that the gentlemen from New York [Messrs. DICKSTEIN and CELLER1 referred to the other day. They seemed to fear that some little boys were going to be deported for stealing apples. or older aliens for violating traffic rules. There is nothing in the law or the bill which would permit deportation for any such trifling offenses as those. but nevertheless. so that there will be no ambiguity whatsoever. I suggest that we substitute the word "felony" for the word "crime." I think the present law is sufficiently drastic on the point we are considering. If we take the bill as proposed it means that an alien will be deportable. no matter how long after his admission to this country he may commit one of the crimes specified in this bill. It means that an old man. after being here 40 years. with his roots planted deep in this country. with children and grandchildren Americanborn. and with no ties at all in the old country. would be deportable. In fact. the deportation would be mandatory if he commits a crime involving moral turpitude and is sentenced to imprisonment for 1 year or more. I think we ought to be moderate about this. I think the present law is sufficiently severe and that the bill. as proposed. goes altogether too far.
Keywords matched
deported deportable deportation