The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-12-03
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director,
Washington, D. G.
UNDEsIRABLEs BUT HUMAN.

days Jackie Schumacher, a little -
year-old cripple boy, must go back
alone to Scotland. All of Jackies
family, who are devoted to him, live
in White Plains, n. Y, and he hasn't
single relative or friend left in his
native country. Nevertheless, he must
go back. American immigration Of
ficials have said so.
Jacl1ie's father, accompanied by an
elder son and daughter, came to this
country from Scotland soon after the
war ended. Mrs. Schumacher and
Jackie, with another boy and girl, did
not arrive in New York until the early
part of 1920. Immigration agents i'm
mediately raised an objection TO
Jackie's Ambulance upon the ground
that he was a defective, and detained
him at Ellis Island.
Thru the aid of friends and the gooo
offices of a congressman, the 1amlly
was able to obtain the boys release
by filing a bond guaranteeing that ne
would not become pubnc chars9i;
Later this bond was extended. Sun
the matter was not permanently set
tied. The family was constantly haunt
ed nv the fear that eventually JACKIE
would have to go, that an immlsraLloh
officer would come and get him. sew
eral months ago, Mrs. SchumacneL
died. The doctor who attended heF
said that her death was due to con-
slant fear and worry over the rate Oh
her son.
And now that fate has come. A
general roundup of detectives was re
Gently ordered by the immigration
authorities, and Jackie is only one
Of a large number of forlorn human
beings who are to be disposed or IN
the usual cOld-blooded, arbitrary
manner at Ellis Island On the nSC
of und esirables awaiting deportation
are likewise mothers ana lnIanls WHO
will be torn from their families now
residing in this country; husbands ana
fathers. prevented by various technI-
calities from joining their tamllles
here, and mentally and physically de-
fective children who are to be cast
back upon lands where they no longer
have homes.
. The blame for this cruel and inhu-
man treatment of aliens does not be-
long to our immigration OFFICIALS.
They have no personal -5nfluence or
authority and merely act as automa-
toms in carrying out the immigration
laws Neither does the blame lie in
the laws, which are necessary evils
for4the protection of the nation from
large masses of undesirable citizens.
But blame must descend upon gov
eminent which fails to provide the
means to set aside the laws when it is
seen that in individual cases they
cause intolerable hardship.
Relentless Law.
Even the secretary of labor is Vir-
tually powerless to interfere with the
immigration machinery, once it is set
in motion. The late Secretary of La
Dor Wilson went about as far as he
could when he issued the following
instructions to immigration officials:
while regulation and exclusion,
and therefore detention, are necessary
in respect of immigration" he said
sit should be understood by all who
participate in administering these
laws that they are not intended to be
penalizing. It is with no unfriendli-
ness to aliens that immigrants are de-
tanned and some of them excluded,
but solely for the protection OF our
own people, and our own institutions.
Indifference, then, to the physical or
mental comfort of these wards OF ours
from other lands should not be toler-
ated."
That these instructions are not al
WAYS carefully observed is evidenced
by the numerous complaints that
have arisen on that score Indeed
they have recently become so Voclfer-
GUS that the British government, we
are informed, has filed a protest with
our state department. The immigra-
ton officials claim that they do all
thew can to minimize the necessary
hardships inflicted upon aliens ana 70
abolish all that are unnecessary put
that they are handicapped by made
quate facilities.
In other words, the just and equita-
BILE treatment of aliens is prevented
according to one immigration OFFICIAL
"bv the slimness of congressional APP
unwarrantably limited
in view of the fact that the income
from arriving aliens IN neae an h1o MY
alone, since the beginning OF the IN
migration service, has exceeded the
total running expenses of the service
by more than 100000
IF congress were not so stfngy, con-
tinues the official Gin words TO TINS
effect) the United States would pIoF1 ~
an administrative board at EMS IS
land. which would be authorized TO act
in individual cases, considering the
which alter eacn one,
end lifting the penalty of deportatl!osI
whenever the facts seem TO 1ustlly
such a course. Ellis Island today is
like a city with a police system, put
without courts. The alien VINO com
nits the crime of being undesirable
for admittance in the eyes OF the Ia"
is arrested and sent to jail Tor oe-
ported, which in some cases amounts
to about the same thing) without
trial by judge or jury.
A Typical Case.
There is the case of a young man,
for instance, who arrived at the is
land from a South American country
He had lived in the United States for
three years, coming originally thru
Canada, and had an Ameriean-born
wife and child here. His trip to South
America had been made to see his
aged mother, who was at the point OF
death in the home of her other SON. |
He appeared to have every quahfica-
ton for residence in this country ana
was about to pass safely thru the i'm
migration inquisition when one off |
ell inquired almost as an after
thought as to where the young man
had been born. Unlucky young man!
He was a native of British India, and
as such could not possibly be admit
ted to the U. S. A. He was given per-
to enter the country long
enough to say goodbye to his wife and
child, and then back to India he had
to 90, back to a land he had not seen
since early childhood, which was to-
tally unfamiliar to him and where he