Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-02-13
COUNTS
IN THIS CASE
BECAUSE HE DOESN'T KNOW HIS
BIRTHPLACE, MAN HAS BEEN
IN JAIL SINCE AUGUST
Ordered Deported From United States,
But Canada Refuses To Accept Him;
Andrew H. Mcdonald Real Example
OF Man Without a Country.

There are people who ask and ex-
pect a great deal Of the world but
Andrew r.. Mcdonald, Canadian
American young man who Is being
held in the Lewis and Clark county
Jail at the direction of the immigra-
ton authorities, asks nothing more
than to have his status definitely de-
termined and be permitted to go free
ly about the business of earning his
own living.
Mcdonald, who claims to be 20
years old although he does not appear
to be more than % or %, is the vic
tim of a situation that has the gov
eminent immigration authorities
stumped, to put it mildly. He is a
man without a country"
McDonald's father was a transient
miner who travelled back and forth
from the mining camps OF northern
Canada to those of southern Arizona
and New Mexico. Mcdonald does not
know for sure whether he was born in
northern Canada or in this country
around the mining districts of Tonopah
and Goldfleld, Nevada. Neither he nor
the immigration authorities have been
able to find any record Of his birth.
He was thrown upon his own re-
sources at the age of. l3 and has lost
all touch with his parents in the in
tervening years. Mcdonald worked
around lumber camps for a few years
until he grew in size and strength,
WhereupOn he became a miner as his
father had been. His only connection
with his family in all this time was
three or four years ago when he found
a brother and a married sister. From
them he learned that it was UNDER
stood his father had gone to South
America.
Arrested Last August
Mcdonald has followed mining for
several years and has worked in nearly
all the mining camps Of Canada and
the United States. It was not until
last summer that he got into trouble
with the immigration department over
his frequent trips back and forth across
the line. He was arrested on August
10 in an attempt to enter the United
State. He had planned to go to Butte
for q while and then On to Nevada,
where he would put in the winter.
After his arrival he was taken to
Great Falls where he was given a sus-
pended sentence of six months for IL
legal entry and was ordered deportcd.
Canada, however, refused to accept him
and he was held for investigation under
a $500 bond which he was unable TO
raise.
Mcdonald was kept in the Cascade
county Jail until November 7, and then
was transferred to the Lewis and Clark
county Jail. He has been there ever
since and is beginning to wonder when,
if ever, he will be released.
In the meantime the immigration
and customs authorities in Helena have
been conducting an investigation but
have failed to learn a single fact about
his birth and parentage, outside OF
what he Is able to supply. They have
been unable to locate any old friends
of the family or persons who know him
well enough to make affldavits that
could be accepted. 1t is not even known
whether his father was a citizen Of
this country or of Canada.
AS a result the authorities are up
a tall tree and out on a slender limb,
all by reason of the government red
tape in which the immigration laws are
tangled up. The laws say the youth
cannot be released and must be de-
ported, yet Canada says she will not
have him unless he can show he was
born there.
Said To Be Lunger
In the meantime, Mcdonald has con-
tracted what has been diagnosed as
incipent tuberculosis in one lung. His
physician says it will greatly endanger
his health to remain in confinement,
but there seems no way out.
Mcdonald, although broke now, is
anxious to get out. He is confident he
would have no trouble getting work.
He has written to James j. Davies,
secretary of labor, and to various I'M
migration and government officials to
ask their aid in determining his status
but without results SO far.
He has also applied for a parole. for
q time at least, so that he can demon
strate hat he car earn a living With
out trouble. He thinks II he could do
this the government might be inclined
10 forget his case and permit him TO
stay IN this country. He would be glad
to take out citizenship papers If he
could do so.