Speech #760240178

It is for these reasons that I am going to accept this conference report. despite the fact that I have always resisted registration of aliens. and -I do hopeand I repeat this with all the vehemence within me and with all the strength within methat there may be registration of all persons within the confines of the United States. A provision has been added to the bill which softens considerably its severity. I refer to section 22. which provides that aliens shall not be deported on account of acts committed prior to the effective date of the act. Originally the act was retroactive. Any reprehensible act. interdicted by the act. like the use of narcotics. possession of firearms. and so forth. any time prior to. the effective date of the act. could cause deportation. This meant that the dereliction of duty covered by the act which occurred scores of years ago could come back to plague the unfortunate alien. regardless of the expiation of the wrong or the unassailable conduct of the alien in the interim. Such unjust provision has been eliminated from the act. However. the act is. nevertheless. retroactive in regard to aliens who are members of the anarchist or similar classes. I believe it would have been better to eliminate even such retroactive provsions. In the original act provision was made for the suspension of deportation in hardship cases. But that suspension could be effected only by a specific act of Congress in each specific case. It would have been impossible to get both Houses to act in that fashion. There are a number of alienbaiting Members in both Houses who never would vote to suspend deportation no matter how cruel and inexorably unjust. because of extenuating circumstances. such deportation would be. But the conferees have now seen the light and have provided that the Attorney General shall have the discretionary power to suspend deportation in these hardship cases. His action shall not be vetoed or gainsaid unless Congress specifically vetoes or cancels his waiver of deportation or suspension of deportation in each case. This is a great difference. It makes the act humane and reasonable.