Speech #760229242

Chairman. I am saddened and disappointed to think that with but an hours debate we should contemplate passing such a farreaching bill as this. particularly at a time like this. It has been said on this floor that more is at stake in this resolution than the deportation of Harry Bridges. With that I agree. I think there is a great deal at stake. I do not think it is necessary to preface my remarks by saying I am opposed to Communists and communism and to Nazis and naziism. I do not question the desirability of deporting Harry Bridges. From all that I have heard. from all that I have read. I believe that he is an undesirable alien. but if our laws are not adequate to protect us from undesirable aliens then it is certainly the duty of this Congress to stay in session and enact such legislation as will give us the protection that we are entitled to. and we should not be asked to pass on bills of this kind with an hours debate. I am not a lawyer. I cannot discuss the constitutional question involved. and I am inclined to be glad sometime that that ambition was never realized. It has been said that it is not punishment to deport an alien. Perhaps. legally. it is not. but if I happened to be an alien and I had a wife and two children here. and I was ordered deported. I would think that I was being punished by somebody. The substitute. or amendment. that we are asked to pass now even deprives this alien of whatever rights he may have had under our laws. such as the right to a writ of habeas corpus. It deprives him of any rights that he may have under the Constitution. If this bill is passed. I fear that we will have an epidemic of bills to deport this man or that man. this woman or that woman. and I fear. perhaps in a spirit of hysteria that may manifest itself if world conditions stay as they are. that some Member may even rise in the Well of this House and propose to deport his alien motherinlaw. or even suggest the deportation of aliens who happen to have red hair. if that color happens to become unpopular during the present war. The only evidence we have before us is in the report of the committee reporting out this bill that in the opinion of the sponsors Harry Bridges is a menace to the institutions of this country. and that he has had close association with known Communists. That is all the evidence we have. If a man can be deported without a hearing. without a trial. without the right of appeal because he has associated with Communists. and because the framer of a bill. regardless of whom he may be. thinks that he is a menace. then the Bill of Rights. the Constitution and all civil liberties have gone out of the window. I hope in the few minutes that now remain before we vote on this bill that we will consider its farreaching effect and govern ourselves accordingly.