Evening star., 1934-05-13
NEW DEAL ASKED
FOR ALIENS IN us.
Change in Law Holds Hope
and Mercy for Many De.
serving Persons.


and general undesirable who too
often beats" deportation, the new
deal holds threat Of general house
cleaning. But for thousands Of de-
serving cases-many the innocent vic
Tins of the technicalities of an mex
orable immigration law-it extends
for the first time an assurance of hope
and mercy. At least that is the hope
of Col. Daniel w. MacCormack, COM
missioner of immigration and natu-
raliZation.
Since July I, 1924, when the immi-
grafton laws were tightened. the Labor
Department reports 137,067 'undesir-
able" aliens were deported from the
United States at Government expense
to the countries whence they came.
Actually the number of deporteeS is
greater. for thousands of others were
given the choice of leaving the coun-
try voluntarily or facing proceedings
from which there was no escape.
Falls on Good and Bad.
The immigration law respecting de-
portation is mandatory. 1t is no re-
spector of persons or of individual de-
prees Of infraction 1t falls alike upon
the good and the bad, the deserving
and the undeserving, the criminal con-
victed of moral turpitude and the
HELPLESS 2-month-old baby brought
into the country illegally through no
fault of his own.
There has been widespread criti-
cism by the press, social agencies
and even the courts Of certain depor-
tations, mandatory under the present
law.
1t is difficult for many Americans to
understand why the law should make
inevitable such hardships as the
breaking up of homes or the separa-
ton of children from their parents.
Aware of the distress, crueltles ana
hardships visited upon the innocent
dependants. many of them American
citizens. by these enforced separa-
tions the administration ordered
special study made of the operation
of the immigration laws
Five Bills to Be Reported.
This committee of leading citizens,
headed by Carlton Palmer OF New
YORK and aided by technicians OF the
immigration and Naturalization SerV-
ice. submitted a comprehensive report
to Secretary of Labor Perkins. which
is now before the immigration Com
mittees of Congress. Five bills baSeo
on the report are now in process OF
being reported from the House Com
mittee.
The first direct result of this special
study was to open the door OF hope Tor
sos cases in which execution OF tne
warrant of deportation was suspended
until July l. next.
OF the sos special cases in which
the execution of deportation orders
was stayed until July l, it was de-
termined that not in excess OF 400
would actually be given the benefit OF
discretionary power should such power
be vested by Congress in the Secre-
tary of Labor.
A statistical analysis of these 465
cases indicates that 987 relatives OF
deportees, all American citizens or
legally domiciled aliens. would be lett
in this country if deportations are
carried out in accordance with the
dictates of the law. OF this number
it was said that 665 would likely be-
come public charges and of these
420 are United States citizen children
and 1853 are United States citizen
adults.
Arrested Eight Times.
One criminal alien, for instance.
during 81 years of residence, has been
arrested eight times for murder, lar
ceny grand larceny, and counterfeit
ing. The disposition OF the arrest Tor
murder is not known at this time, nor
do the records show what dlsposl-
ton has been made Of three larceny
charges. AS matters stand, he Is not
subject to deportation.
Another alien who has spent over
10 years in prison on sentences for
various serious crimes, cannot be de-
ported under existing law because he
= has not, since 1917, been convicted of
2 crimes involving moral turpitude for
which he has received sentence OF
more than l year.
On the other hand, a laW-abiding
alien who has been legal resident of
the United States for nine years
entered Canada for brief visit on
his honeymoon. A year after this
trip he contracted tuberculosis and
eventually became a public charge.
As this occurred within five years OF
his technical entry from Canada, he
is facing deportation. This despite
the fact that he now has a job and is
supporting his wife, father and moth
er who live with him.
In this and succeeding articles out
lines of such deserving" cases will be
given in comparing the injustices
;efr &c
ing to correct.
Chauffeur Faces Deportation.
One of the many cases in which
the Labor Department feels that jus
tice should be tempered with mercy
involves the former chauffeur of a
Washington woman, Mrs. Hartman
Russell
Even a professional chauffeur with
international experience, like John
William Walker, now and then has oc-
casion to tell traffic officer that he
didn't see the red light" That. in
effect Is what he now says to immi-
grafton authorities in regard to his
illegal residence in this country. This
time however. his mistake will have
tragic consequences unless Congress
acts to save him. His deportation will
leave his American wife and two small
American-born daughters without
means of support.
Walker. an Englishman, was en-
ployed by Mrs Russell to drive her
car on a tour through France. At
the conclusion of the trip. Walker con-
tinued in her employ and accompanied
her to the United States, entering as
a temporary visitor
All this was years ago and Walker
now resides in Albany, N. Y. while
he awaits deportation.
A few months after his arrival in
this country, Mrs Russell helped him
secure another position. He has testi-
fed that she gave him to understand
that is was not necessary for him to
leave the United States. that every
thing was all right"
Unfortunately for Walker every
thing was not all right. Years later.
I