He has been convicted at least 30 times on charges of larceny. theft. professional thief. and assault. His sentences have ranged from 30 days to 3 years. He was ordered deported. but Soviet Russia refused a passport. This alien is a confirmed criminal mandatorily deportable under our laws but the Department of Justice under existing law is unable to effect his departure. He remains at large. a continuous and continuing menace to the peace and safety of our country. The gravity of the situation stems from the absence of any power now placed in the Attorney General to exercise continuing supervision and control over aliens who have been ordered deported but who. either because of lack of cooperation by foreign governments or by the aliens themselves. cannot be deported from the United States and who. therefore. remain indefinitely in this country in defiance of the fact that they have been ordered deported. The statistics for the last 7 years show that there has been an average of only one alien a year actually deported from this country under the law relating to the deportation of subversives and anarchists. Four principal objectives are sought to be accomplished by this segment of the bill S. 4037: First. to enlarge the number of countries to which deportable aliens may be sent. Second. to enable the Attorney General to keep deportable aliens under supervision or detention for a period up to 6 months while arrangements are being made for deportation. Third. to enable the Attorney General to prescribe rules and regulations governing the conduct of aliens who are found to be deportable but whose deportation cannot be effected within a period of 6 months. The bill makes violations of the terms of the rules and regulations an offense subject to normal court trial. Fourth. to make it an offense for deportable aliens in the subversive. criminal. and immoral classes to willfully fail to depart. A violation of this provision is made a penal offense subject to normal court trial. The present law prescribes the countries to which a deportable alien may be sent. These include the country from whence the alien came. the country of which the alien is a citizen or subject. and the country in which the alien previously resided. Under the present law in selecting a country to which a deportable alien may be sent the Attorney General must follow the order in which the various countries are set forth in the statute. This results in a great many administrative delays in the attempt by the Attorney General to procure the necessary travel documents from a country designated in the statute which would accept the deportable alien. Under the provisions of the bill the deportation of a deportable alien would be first to the country specified by the alien if such country would accept him. otherwise the deportation would be to any of the countries. designated in the statute. without priority or preference because of the order in which the designation appears in the statute. The bill provides however. that no alien shall be deported to a country in which the Attorney General finds that such alien would be subjected to physical persecution. Existing law does not grant the Attorney General any specified period within which he may hold deportable aliens in custody or under his supervision while he negotiates for their return abroad. As a result. even though the delay in the deportation is in many cases caused by continuing negotiation between our Government and foreign governments. the Attorney General is unable to maintain any control over aliens during this period in which he is undertaking to effect their deportation. Accordingly the bill provides. as I have previously indicated. that the Attorney General may continue his control and. where necessary. his powers of detention over reportable aliens for a period of 6 months after a deportation order has been entered. Thereafter. if the deportation has not been consummated. the Attorney General would be empowered to maintain a continuing supervision over the deportable alien. and a violation of the terms of supervision is made a penal offense. The last provision of this segment of the bill provides that deportable aliens in the criminal. subversive. and immoral classes who shall willfully fail or refuse to depart from the United States within a period of 6 months of the deportation order. or shall willfully fail or refuse to make application in good faith for travel or other documents necessary for their departure. or who shall connive or conspire or take any other action designed to prevent or hamper or with the purpose of preventing or hampering their departure pursuant to the deportation order. or shall willfully fail or refuse to present themselves for deportation at the time and place required by the Attorney General. shall. upon conviction. be guilty of a felony. That this provision is thoroughly in accord with our constitutional processes appears clearly in the pronouncements of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Wong Wing against United States. in which the Court stated: We think it clear that detention. or temporary confinement. as part of the means necessary to give effect to the provisions for the exclusion or expulsion of aliens would be valid. Proceedings to exclude or expel would be vain if those accused could not be held in custody pending the inquiry into their true character and while arrangements were being made for their deportation. Detention Is a usual feature of every case of arrest on a criminal charge. even when an innocent person is wrongfully accused. but it is not imprisonment in a legal sense. So. too. we think it would be plainly competent for Congress to declare the act of an alien in remaining unlawfully within the United States to be an offense. punishable by fine or imprisonment. if such offense were to be established by a judicial trial. The bill. moreover. provides. under certain conditions. for the release of the convicted alien under the supervision of the court. As House bill 10 passed the House of Representatives. the power of indefinite detention of deportable aliens was vested in the Attorney General. In order to avoid any possible doubt of constitutionality. and also in order to conform the provisions of this segment of Senate bill 4037 strictly to established precedents. Senate bill 4037 modifies the provisions taken from House bill 10. so that only willful overt acts would be made a basis for confinement. and then only after normal judicial processes.
Keywords matched
deported deportable deportation