Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-06
WILL Be BARRED OUT
Diseased Syrians Struggled
Into the Country.
RUN DOWN BY INSPECTORS
Warrants Issued for the Arrest OF
Twelve Immigrants.
THEY CAME IN FROM MEXICO
Only a Gordon Along a Thousand
Miles of Border Can Exclude
Them Permanently.
THEY CAME IN FROM MEXICO

Inspectors of the immigration bureau
have lust unearthed an extensive scheme Tor
smuggling Syrians into this country. There
have been a dozen arrests and others are
now under surveillance 1t has been sus-
pected for some time that a conspiracy ex-
listed for bringing diseased and otherwise
undesirable aliens across the Mexican bor-
der after they had been rejected at the
ports of this country or when 1t was known
by the steamship people in Europe that
there was no use In shipping them to
United States port. Much information has
been sent to the Department of Commerce
and Labor bearing on this subject, and 1t Is
generally supposed that there are several
hundred aliens now in this country against
the law, not counting Cinnamon, in whom
q prosperous smuggling business has been
done for years.
An Inspectors Discoveries.
The immigrant inspector in charge at
St. Louis Mo-, reported to the commission
er general of immigration February p that
for some weeks prior to that date he had
been engaged upon the investigation OF
certain information which had come into
his possession to the effect that there were
in and about the city of ST. Louis twenty
or more Syrians who had been rejected at
eastern seaports for trachoma or other
diseases, and had after such rejection clan
destinely entered the United States. In
replying to the letter of the inspector In
charge the suggestion was advanced that
quite possibly the Syrians had entered the
United States across the Mexican border,
as reports file in the bureau of fmmi-
grafton indicated active operations In the
smuggling of diseased aliens from Mexico
into this country.
The inspector in charge at ST. Louis con-
tinued his investigations, reporting progress
from time to time. until on July I3 he was
able to report that he had located and was
keeping under close surveillance Syrian
peddler supposed to be one of the party of
smuggled aliens, from whom he hoped he
might be able to obtain detailed informal
ton. On August he secured from the
suspected peddler a confession to the eff
feet that he and about forty others of his
countrymen, upon attempting to emigrate
to the United States from Syria via Mar
selle, were rejected by the surgeons of the
steamship lines engaged in carrying aliens
from Marseille to United States seaports,
and were then shipped to Mexico; that after
arrival in that country twenty of the aliens
proceeded to South America and the re-
manning twenty, with the exception of one
who died. came to the United States, being
smuggled across the Mexican border at
various points and travelling thence to st.
Louis. from which point they scattered
IN various directions. and that one of the
aliens after entering the United States
turned to Syria. ~ -----
Warrants for Twelve Arrests.
This Syrian peddler was placed under ar
rest on department warrant dated August
10. and Investigations concerning the re-
manning members of the party whose names
had been furnished by him were continued.
with the result that on August p the de-
partment issued warrants of arrest for four
of the Syrians, and yesterday warrants for
the arrest of seven others. 1t will thus be
seen that of the party of eighteen who.
cording to the confession. proceeded from
Mexico to, and remained in, the United
States in the cases of twelve, investigation
has developed Information sufficiently ex-
plcit to justify the issuance of warrants,
with the probability that the aliens will be
located and finally removed from the coun-
try; and diligent inquiries of course still
being prosecuted with regard to the re-
manning members of the party.
Found in Various Quarters.
The government has also received letters
from responsible people in various parts of
the country saying that Syrians live in their
town and more coming all the time and
that almost every one of them has trachoma
In It's chronic stage.
1t is further reported that in some of the
cases the Syrians are practically blind from
old cornealed ulcer scars. 1t is further re-
ported that these cases are coming from
Mexico. The government believes that in
this 1t has now found out the plan whereby
these Syrians who are afflicted with
trachoma are getting into the country.
One of the worst features of the situa-
ton Is that the only thing this country can
do with any of the aliens caught Is to deport
them to the country of their origin; that Is
to say. the country whence they last came
This means that they can be carried to the
Mexican border and turned loose, but there
is nothing to prevent their coming back
across the border soon as the inspectors
back is turned. There is about thousand
miles of border that would have to be cor
doned If they were to be effectively kept
out, and this is, of course. impracticable.
RoSSLYN IMPROVEMENTS.