Speech #810153377

On the Mexican border alone apprehensions during the past 6 months of the 1949 fiscal year were at a rate of 25.000 a month and 193.852 illegal entrants were apprehended on the Mexican border in 1948. On the Canadian border no record of entries is even made at the check points of the identity of persons who allege that they are Canadian citizens and who are admitted for periods presumably of less than 30 days. Reliable estimates by our immigration officials and consul officers indicate that substantial numbers of persons are getting through illegally on the Canadian border. Since the war approximately 175.000 to 200.000 European aliens have migrated to Canada. The opinion of experienced immigration officials is that many of these aliens are using Canada as a steppingstone for ultimate admission into the United States. During the fiscal year 1948. 4.353 seamen who had jumped ship were apprehended in the United States and it is estimated by the immigration officials that stowaways are arriving at a rate of approximately 100 a month. During the fiscal year 1948. 412 smugglers of aliens were apprehended but. of course. the number who were actually smuggled is unknown. And now a word about the number of illegal aliens in the United States. The scope of the problem of illegal aliens is indicated by the fact that the number of forced departures from the United States for the last 5 years has exceeded the number of immigrants entering the country legally during that period. Officials of the Immigration and Naturalization Service testified in the course of our investigation of the immigration and naturalization system that if the manpower were available there would be over 500.000 investigations of potential illegal aliens in the United States in the present fiscal year. Typical of the comments of the Immigration and Naturalization Service officers respecting investigations of illegal alens is the following: "We have little or no what we might call freelance investigations: That is. to go out and try to find aliens who are illegally in the country." A former American consul of the Canadian border estimated the number of illegal aliens in the United States from three to five million. The Immigration and Naturalization Service officials estimate that there are approximately 50.000 Cubans illegally in the United States in the Miami. Fla.. immigration district. The immigration and naturalization officials in the Los Angeles area estimate that there are approximately 50.000 illegal aliens in the general vicinity of Los Angeles and that they are unable to keep control of them due to the lack of manpower. And now. Mr.