Speech #820215196

Section 242 (a) would permit the Attorney General to detain persons without bail and without court reviewpersons charged with no crime. convicted of no crime. and accused of no subversive activitysolely upon a showing that he is acting with reasonable dispatch. I join with the American Bar Association in recommending that we return to a rule of reason. to the constitutional principle that excessive bail shall not be permitted. and to the constitutional admonition that the writ of habeas corpus should not be curtailed except in cases of actual invasion. We should. as the American Bar Association recommends. "maintain present authority of courts to review denial of bail." Third and fourth. the American Bar Association recommends that sections 242 (f) and 252 be amended to retain the right of hearings in deportation cases to aliens previously deported and to alien seamen. We should as a matter of simple justice give all aliens a hearing before deporting them. We give criminalseven murderers and spiesa hearing before sending them to jail. We give convicted criminals on parole. hearings before revoking their parole. We give a motorist. a hotel owner. a lawyer. and a bondsman a hearing before revoking their licenses. Why should we not give an alien a hearing before revoking his license to stay in America? We have for the past 50 years granted all aliens hearings before deporting them. Is there any sound reason for denying them hearings today? But apart from the question of simple justice. we cannot under our Constitution deprive any alienincluding alien seamenof a deportation hearing. Wong Yang Sung was an alien seaman who overstayed in the United States and became deportable. and in Sung v. McGrath (339 U. S. 33). the Supreme Court heldthat due process not only required a hearing. but a fair hearing. Justice Jackson. speaking for the Court. said. at page 49. that under compulsion of the Constitution the Supreme Court long ago held that deportation statutes must provide a hearing for aliens including those here illegally. And that has been the law ever since the Japanese Immigrant case (189 U. S. 86). We cannot approve sections 242 (f) and 252 unless we shut our eyes to the Constitution and Supreme Court opinions.