Speech #760138724

Mr. President. such procedure would be brutal and inhuman. The reports of our circuit courts of appeal are full of decisions in habeas corpus actions brought pursuant to attempts to deport under existing law. and time and again the courts have relieved against the hardships which would be involved if the head of a family were deported for a crime which we define in the United States to be a crime involving moral turpitude. Under subsection 2 we would make automatically deportable anyone who violates the narcotics laws of the United States. or of any State. In the District of Columbia. highschool students have been prosecuted for smoking or possessing marijuana weed. It is perfectly ridiculous to think that such persons. having once been convicted. could be automatically deported. It seems to me that the objections voiced by the Senator from Colorado amply dispose of subsection 3. I dare say there are known to Members of the Senate persons who unfortunately have become addicted to the use of narcotics. and who have. thereafter. been committed to institutions. Under the terms of the bill. such persons. if aliens. would automatically become deportable. Mr. President. the bill has a number of very vicious provisions. notwithstanding the fact that the declared objective with reference to those who might be properly convicted is highly laudable. If the bill were limited to deporting after conviction those who actually commit acts of sabotage or espionage as defined by our laws. I still have sufficient faith in our institutions to feel that the rights of all accused would be protected. I believe that after conviction such persons ought to be deported. The report of the committee saysWhile almost inconceivable. the present law does not require deportation of an alien after conviction on espionage or sabotage. I am willing to correct that defect. I am willing to deport aliens so convicted.: However. we know what happens to aliens in time of war or threatened war. or in time of hysteria.