Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-22
BY NORMAN KLEIN.
America's back gate"

Detroit-AmericaS back gate"
Thousands of Europeans and Asiatics,
forbidden entry to the United States by
our immigration laws, are pouring into
the country through Detroit these days
and have poured during the last eight
7 years.
&. Detroit is the weak spot in the FROM
tier wall erected by Congress to shut
out unwanted aliens. At least, Detroit
Is one of the weak spots and, along with
Florida and the Mexican border, is one
of the principal points of entry for
those wishing to crash the back gate"
In many a European village today
The word has spread that If you can't
come into the golden States with
quota visa, the next best thing is to
make bee line for the Canadian bor-
der across from Detroit.
So many aliens have entered Detroit
Surreptitiously that Henry Ford has put
g rule in force in his factories that
job seekers must show satisfactory proof
of American citizenship before their APP
plications will be considered.
Traffic Rivals Rum Running.
Today the traffic in aliens who seek
to enter the United States from Ontario,
with the points of attack stretched along
the l8-mile Gold Coast" of the Detroit
River between Lake Erie and Lake st.
Clair has become so extensive that the
racket Is second only to rum running
in point of money returns and number
of persons criminally involved, Federal
authorities agree.
Hiding in the industrial hustle and
clangor of Detroit today there are more
than 10000 aliens who entered the
country illegally, according to a recent
survey by Department of Immigration
investigators.
approximately 5000 more struggled
emigrantS are Sneaked across the De-
troit River each year, it is estimated.
Right now the smugglers' agents,
working for shrewd, foreign-born ring
leaders, who have made considerable
sums out of fairly steady cash huSi-
ness, are leading their charges across
the ice.
Other methods of smuggling aliens
into Detroit are in freight trains, mo-
tor vans, automobiles and speed boats
and lately the airplane has been called
upon to unload on United States soil
foreigners the United States Is trying
to keep out.
The airplane smugglers began oper-
ations several years ago. Although pilots
who bring contraband by air across the
border are threatened with loss of
licenses and imprisonment, the fees Of
fered by Snaugglers of aliens still tempt
flyers and owners of ilondescript planes
who ignore the flying field customs
ports.
Doctors Son Caught.
Robert Trenholme, son of a well
known Windsor physician, was arrested
for attempting to smuggle aliens across
the Canadian border by airplane. Fed
eral Judge Simons in Detroit sentenced
young Trenholme to serve year in Jail
and pay a fine of 81 900.
Undaunted, the smugglers are still
ferrylng CzechoSlovakians, Italians,
Chinese, Russians and Lithuanians by
air from Ontario to secluded farms near
Detroit The drone Of an airplane
,doesn s. attract so much attention these
days and the Department Of Commerce
aviation Inspectors are even fewer than
the Department of Labor border patrols.
The smuggling racket is profitable
racket. It's cash racket. It's cash
to this extent: If the smuggler fixes
q price Of 500 for 'the job," he collects
half before the journey on the under
ground railroad" starts, and collects the
other half when he lands the tourist
In the United States.
Some Of the most profitable SNUG
Cling Of humans is the Canada Detroit
traffie IN Chinese. It's harder to get
p Chinese across. And the Chinese are
more anxious to get inside the United
States than any other foreigners. So
- pays to smuggle them.
The Chinese are brought to Detroit
and secreted in water front shacks.
Struggled Chinese, 1t seems. have
nouSins everywhere. If relatives In
1aundries and chop suey joints in Pitts
burgh, Cleveland, Chicago and st. Louis
really mean business about family re-
union, the smugglers will quote prices
OF $3.50 to $1,000 {. 0. b. Detroit.
Toll Years to Pay on Bin.
Chinese who were themselves SNUG
glen into the country years previously
have prospered, and it is not unusual
for them to drive to Detroit In their
cars, buy on their cousins from the
smugglers' syndicates and hustle awav
overland with the newcomers, who be-
come Darkroom poems and work for
years to pay of the smugglers' bill.
An idea Of just how extensive is this
Border jumping across the Detroit River
is contained in an unoficial estimate
of the profits
Foreigners intent upon entering this
country pay smugglers operating on the
Detroit River more than 100000 q
year.
How much does 1t cost to smuggle an
alien?