President. of the crimes which may be committed by any citizen unknowingly and innocently under this bill. and for which the citizen may be punished by a $2.000 fine and 5 years in jail. Public Law No. 283 of this Congress. which became law on March 20. 1952. provides that any person is guilty of a felony if he "willfully or knowingly" conceals. harbors or shields from detection an alien who is unlawfully in the United States. Section 274 (b) (2) of the McCarran bill strikes from the law the words "willfully and knowingly." Under the McCarran bill. any person who "harbors" an alien who entered without a visa or who overstayed a temporary visit is guilty of a felony. and may be punished by a fine of $2.000 and imprisonment for 5 years. although he was entirely ignorant of the fact that the alien was here illegally. Mere employment and the furnishing of housing might be construed as harboring. The rancher and the farmer who house and feed their alien farmhands. even the housewife who gives lodging to her maid. all may be guilty of harboring. I need not remind this bodywhich so recently debated the wetback billof the significance of such a change in the law as the McCarran bill attempts to make. I have spoken of many provisions of the McCarran billprovisions limiting the rights of citizens. making it impossible for the alien to be naturalized. making it easy to denaturalize the alien who has succeeded in becoming naturalized. making it criminal to harbor an alien. Those provisions follow a consistent pattern. I believe they follow from the premise of the McCarran bill. I believe that the premise of the McCarran bill is a fanatical bias against aliens and a belief that no matter what the cost to our selfrespect and to the loyalty of the foreign born. no matter what the Constitution provides. no matter how many innocent persons may be hurtno matter all thisthe aliens and the foreign born must be limited and restricted and feared and suspected of evil intentions toward the United States. I affirm to the contrary. I believe that the foreignborn and the naturalized citizens and the nativeborn citizens who travel abroad are not objects of suspicion and are not evil. They must be treated with the warmth and openness and decency that they deserve: Some of them. of course. may become public enemies. just as some of our citizens are criminals and enemies of this Government. and we must fight them constantly. But even against them. we cannot use tactics forbidden by the Constitution.
Identified stereotypes
Aliens are suspected of evil intentions toward the United States.