Speech #880213831

Mr. Sabath introduced the following joint resolution. which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed.] "Resolved. etc.. That. notwithstanding the provisions of section 3 of the immigration act of February 5. 1917. excluding from the United States aliens who are likely to become a public charge. or who are physically defective. or who are contract laborers. or who have come in consequence of advertisements for labor. printed. published. or distributed in a foreign country. or who are assisted by others to come. or whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another or by any corporation. association. society. municipality. or foreign government. or who are stowaways. or who are illiterate. aliens lawfully resident within the United States at the time of enlistment or conscription who have enlisted or been conscripted. or hereafter shall be enlisted or conscripted. for the military service of the United States or any one of the cobelligerents of the United States in the present war. or who have enlisted and joined the CzechoSlovak or Polish Army waging war against any of the Central Powers. who may. within two years after the termination of the war. apply for readmission to this country. after being honorably discharged or granted furlough abroad in connection with their enlistment or conscription. shall be readmitted. and any such lawfully resident aliens of the United States who would otherwise be excluded under said section of the immigration act on the ground that they are idiotic. imbecile. feebleminded. epileptic. insane. or have had one or more attacks of insanity. or on ground that they are afflicted with constitutionally psychopathic inferiority. chronic alcoholism. tuberculosis. a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease. or a mental defect. shall be readmitted if It is proved that the disability was acquired while the alien was serving in the military forces of the United States or of any one of the nations cobelligerents of the United States. or who have enlisted and joined the CzechoSlovak and Polish Army waging war against any one of the central powers In the present war. and if such aliens return to a port of the United States within one year after the termination of the war. and the head tax assessed by section 2 of the said immigration act shall not be collected. or. if collected. shall be refunded in the cases of aliens readmitted to the United States in pursuance of the terms hereof. nor shall the absence abroad of aliens readmitted in pursuance of the provisions hereof be construed to interrupt the continuity of their residence in the United States within the meaning of section 4 of the naturalization act approved June 29. 1906. if the commanding officer of the military organization or branch thereof in which such alien has rendered military service certifies. in support of his petition for naturalization. that he has personal knowledge that such alien is a person of good moral character and is in every way qualified. in such officers opinion. to be admitted as a citizen of the United States. and if any alien readmitted to the United States in pursuance of the terms hereof shall at any time thereafter become a public charge. the expense of his maintenance and care in the public institution to which he may be committed shall be paid from the appropriation for the enforcement of the immigration act."