Great Falls tribune., 1922-02-21
The HQSkit1 Letter
THE IMMIGRANT AND THE QUOTA

Washington, d. G., Feb. 17-That
stories of families separated by the
immigration quota law are largely
exaggeration, was explained to the
writer by Mr.. W. W. Husband, COM
missioner general of immigration,
today.
"It has been the policy Of the de-
partment," said Mr.. Husband, mot to
separate families. In no case has
! small child been sent back I'd his
native country without his parent or
a guardian. And even larger children
who are debarred are not allowed to
so back without a relative or some
substitute guardian authorized by the
family.
"Yet numerous stories are printed
and circulated to the effect that this
| family Of immigrants and that has
been separated because one member
was ineligible for admission under
the quota law and must go back alone.
| The name of the family and details Of
the case give these stories an aspect
of being undeniably true. The trouble
with them is that they are only half
truths
! Mr.. Husband gave as an example
| the case Of a Major Boyd and his
family. The major, an Australian who
| fought at Gallipoli, came to this
country before the quota law went
into effect. Then his wife, born in
England, came to join him, bringing
their four children. all Australians.
The Australian quota was exhausted,
while the English was not. The chill
dren were paroled, however, and al
lowed to spend the night with their
mother at a hotel. Next day they
went to Ellis Island and after the
case was reviewed the family was
allowed to proceed to California: 1t
was decided to admit the children
| temporarily as students since all were
The Boyd story as the public read
| it conveyed an entirely different i'm
preston of the handling of the case.
1t said: "a mother was allowed to
land, but immigration restrictions
barred her four children when the
liner Finland docked here yester-
day. Mrs. Boyd refused to leave
her children and steps to have them
admitted were taken"
The quota law uses the country Of
birth rather than the complicated and
confusing naturalization laws as
basis for determining nationality.
Thus, man born in Russia and
married to woman born in Poland
may bring to this country family
of children born in England. At
| present, the Russian and English
quotas have not been filled and the
man and children are received. But
the Polish quota is exhausted.
I'm such cases." says Mr.. Husband.
"the whole family is held for board
Of special inquiry andl the case is
reviewed. The Polish wife is not
separated from her family. and there
is no suggestion of this being done,
but the story Of this first act OF the
drama attracts attention and is
printed The public learns that a
Polish mother is debarred from this
country and her children and husband
have been admitted. This is abb
stractly true, but in actual tact there
| has been no separation.
Gases Decided On Their Merits
"The board OF special inquiry goes
into the case and makes its decision
Perhaps the mother is admitted
1,743 immigrants have been admitted
in excess of the quotas in just such
cases as this. We htae admitted
them simply to avoid doing what peo-
pie think we have been doing-separ-
ating mothers from children.
'sThese immigrants in excess Of the
quota limitations have been tempo
rarily admitted in order to prevent
undue hardship. They are placed un-
der bond to return to their own coun-
tries if congress does not pass legis-
lation allowing them to stay perma-
nently 1t would be almost imposs'
sible to gather up these l;143 imml'
grants from all parts OF the countr!
to deport them. 1t 1s hoped tna'
congress will legislate to settle satls
factorily these comparatively few
cases which the quota law did not
anticipate" =,
Mr.. Husband points out that thf