Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-13

CT undesirable aliens deNVereo
last night in the National Radio
Forum, arranged by The Star
and broa beast over a Nationwide net
work of the Columbia Broadcasting Sys-
tenn follows:
There Is, or Should be. nothing so
close to the hearts of the American peo-
pie as the desire that our institutions
shall be kept free and untramme,ed of
any sort or kind of unclean methods or
practices. At the same time / believe
that there is nothing that appeals so
strongly to the American imagination
as the preservation of the sanctity of
the home and the freedom of the indi-
vidual. l desire to discuss briefly the
subject of keeping America clean. and
with 1t TO discuss some of the problems
confronting us at the present time.
In the first place, I wish 1t distinctly
understood that in speaking Of Ameri-
cans, I refer to those of foreign birth
who have come to the United States to
make 1t their home, as directly as to
:;ative-born Americans
Shortly after I became Secretary Of
Labor nine months ago. 1 discovered
there were schemes being practiced
whereby poor people were being sub
jected to all forms Of graft and what
may call rank racketeoring. by the
use to a large extent of our immigra-
ton laws for furtherance of these
damnable practices. quiet investiga-
ton disclosed that various devices were
used by which to bring aliens from
other countries into the United States
illegally and in direct violation of our
immigration laws. The price extorted
for this service has been limited only
by the ability Of the immigrants and
their families to pay. 1t was hard to
convince our immigratio officers that
such despicable practices had been re-
sorted to, because the system was so
carefully covered and guarded that 1t
was hard to get at the facts.
Cases Of Alien Smuggling.
We detached few of our 1mmigra-
ton men to find those responsible for
these illegal entries Threads were
picked up here and there which indi-
Gated that some of our minor officials
were permitting the use of re-entry
permits to bring in aliens illegally from
the various countries I appointed as
special Assistant Secretary of Labor
Hon. Murray w. Carson of New York
to supervise and assist the agents we
had investigating this racketeering
Finally evidence was secured whereby
We were able to make certain ARE Sts
and this led to disclosure of wider
range OF fraudulent activities, result
ing in the arrest of others then pre-
Sented to the various interested depart
ments of the Government thu facts in
hand and have had the active support
of all Of them in the investigations. 1
then detached the assistant commits
sloner general of immigrant ton Mr.
George j. Harris. to assist Mr.. Carson
In the preparation of these cases for
presentation to the courts He, with
Mr.. Carson. assisted by the United
States attorney. George T. Medalie. and
his assistant, Mr. William B. Herlands
are carrying forward this work Up to
the present time there have been I'M
earthed several gigantic systems of alien
smuggling and methods of extortion of
money from aliens who have been IL
legally admitted to the United States
In order properly to get this picture
before the public, 1 think it is advis-
able that we should cite some concrete
cases
Under the basic law creating the De-
partment of Labor it is provided that
only the Secretary can issue warrants
of deportation. Later, from time to
time. the positions of the Assistant
Secretary of Labor. Second Assistant
Secretary of Labor and the two assist
ants to the Secretary were created.
Inc law provided that the Secretary of
Labor could delegate any authority he
nelo under the law to either of these
Tour offers. Consequently, administra-
tive ruling was made authorizing each
OF these four officers to issue such war
rants thereby combining to five officers
IN the Department of Labor this au-
thor1ty Despite these limited safe
guards, we found that bogus or coun-
terfelt warrants of deportation were
being issued and exhibited to aliens
who are either legally or Illegally
within the United States. by certain
persons who we're demanding of such
aliens that sum of money ranging
from 500 to $500 be Immediately given
to them, or they would be deported
incidentally. when some of these cul-
prits were arrested it was also found
that they were engaged in certain
counterfeit activities and issuing coun-
terfeit money as we'll as bogus depor-
tatlon warrants.
Used Re-entry Permits.
AS to how much money has been ex-
Sorted from those of foreign birth
through these methods we are unable
to say. but evidently it has reached
considerable proportions
Next 1t was found in many cases
that when immigration inspectors an
preached certain foreign-born people
they Immediately said they were legally
In the country because they had en-
tered on re-entry permits. An investi-
CATION disclosed that a number of IL
tnrOllPn
The use of re-entry permits 1t was
ascertained then that certain clerks or
other employees in the department at
New York and elsewhere were making
this possible by means of information
distracted from Government records
relating to other and entirely different
and legally admitted aliens of similar
names. For the service of these clerks
the average price was about SITS per
oh OF
these re-entry permits were receiving
from $1,000 to $4,000 upon delivery of
an alien in the United States
Resort Is had to another device
letter heads and advertising matter are
employed by agencies pretending to be (
able to aid immigrants to enter the
United States, which bear a close re-
semblance to the stationery of real
Government Offices.
This method of using the names of
foreign-born people priorly landed in
this country has resulted or is apt to
result, IN having their rights seriously
impaired. In fact. in one case a for
eign-born person had been in the
United States for a period of Is years.
curing which time he had not asked
Tor a re-entry permit When he finally
did apply for permit he was told by
the department that only recently a
reentry permit had been issued to him, !
when. as matter of fact. his name
had been used to obtain a re-entry per-
nit for the purpose of getting some
alien illegally into the country.
Demanded Large Sum.
A further investigation was then
made by Inspectors Brown and Devio !
and later by Mr. Harris. the assistant
commissioner general Of immigration, |
with the assistance of some of the !
other departments of the Government. |