Speech #770057805

President. before closing I desire to make another observation. I am reminded of this since the distinguished Senator from Oregon mentioned the name of the Secretary of Labor. Madam Perkins. who at one time had supervision and direction of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. but. as we all know. it was removed by Executive order from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice. I very well recall that several years agoperhaps 4 or 5the United States Government. through the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Labor. had brought about the apprehension and detention by bond or prison of approximately 3.000 alien criminals. some of whom had entered the country legally and remained here illegally. some of whom had entered here illegally and had remained here illegally. but every single one of whom was an alien criminal. At that time I visited the rooms containing the fll~s of the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Labor. and asked the clerk in charge thereof to hand me 100 of those cases. I told him I did not want to select the cases myself. because it might be charged that I had picked out the cases of the worst criminals in the lot of 3.000. so he handed me 100 cases. I brought them to the floor of this body. and brought to the attention of the Members of this body innumerable of those 100 cases. making particular reference to the crimes that the various aliens had committed. evidencing the fact that they were alien criminals. At that time I asked for action upon the deportation of those 3.000 alien criminals in the United States whom we were housing and feeding and clothing and maintaining at the end of the American taxpayer. and the officials of the Department of Labor said. "We have not deported these poor fellows because we are sympathetic with them. If we deport them. we shall separate them from their families." That brings me back to the thought that when It comes to dealing with aliens. even alien criminals. they always get the sympathy of the American people. in contrast to the American people providing sympathy to the homegrown native American criminal. No one would ever say. "No. let us not send him to prison. it would separate him from his family. and that would not be right." However. we hear that very argument made in regard to the alien criminal whom we are maintaining. and. as a result.