But I am constrained to pull the curtain back a little. We had before our committee H. R. 2076applicable. in reality. only to Chinasent out over my vote and passed this House without it. providing that seamen deserting any Allied ship in our ccuntry could be immediately arrested and deported to the country from which they enlisted as seamen. This bill was due to a decision of a Federal district court. which ruled such seamen had to be deported to their homeland. Over 1.000 Chinese seamen were then at Ellis Island. detained as prisoners. because they refused to return on British ships to British ports. on account of low wages. brutal treatment. and sending them to the most dangerous war zones. We wanted to make them serve our ally so we passed this bill to amend the judgment of the court. It did not look right to me. But national interest must come first. In the Senate it passed. but later when attention was called to the injustice done to an ally by an ally for an ally. the Senate recalled and amended the bill July 6. 1943. by attaching a provision "deporting might be to a country proximate to the country of which alien was a citizen or subject. or to any other country with the consent of the aliens country." This was agreed to by this House July 7. 1943. This House bill brought a vigorous protest from the Chinese Government. resulting in the amendment. which was accepted by China. We had an ax to grind and we were willing to make China turn the grindstone.
Keywords matched
deported deporting