Mr. Chairman. this is an amendment which concerns institutionalized aliens. Under the wording of the omnibus bill. if an alien is institutionalized after he comes into this country and his institutionalization is caused by conditions that develop after his entry. and not before his entry. and has nothing whatsoever to do with his residence or his denizenship in a foreign land. he nonetheless can be deported. My amendment would exempt from deportation aliens who within 5 years after entry become institutionalized at public expense because of a disease. defect. or deficiency. if such disease. defect. or deficiency arose subsequent to admission. It always has been our policy not to permit. say. a seriously mentally or physically ill person to enter the United States. We have very strong regulatory measures which exclude those who might be mentally unfit or might have some mental of physical disease that would institutionalize them. However. under present law if they enter. having passed the health and mental tests and all the other tests. and are found to be sound in body and mind. and subsequently something untoward and through no fault of their own happens to them. they are not deported. That is fair and just. The proposed section would be highly inequitable. Suppose you have a situation where an alien perfectly healthy in body and mind suffers an automobile accident. and as a result of that accident suffers a very serious impairment of either his mind or of his body. If he becomes institutionalized. ipso facto. through no cause of his ownwith no responsibility morallyhe becomes deportable. To my mind. that is harsh. It can be very. very tragic. particularly if an alien has a family. children. dear ones. He can be ripped from the bosom of his family and sent abroadto what fate you can well judge for yourselves. So I simply provide by this amendment that where the causes that resulted in the difficulty occurred after the entry an alien shall not be deemed deportable. I understand that the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania feels quite sympathetic toward an amendment of this character. � should like out of my time to ask his opinion on this subject. What does the gentleman from Pennsylvania think of this amendment. which is an amendment with a purely humanitarian purpose?
Keywords matched
deported deportable deportation