Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-06-22
Secretary Perkins and
The Undesirable Aliens

TO the Editor Of The Star:
The announcement In Tuesdays Star
by Secretary Perkins that she seeks
$4.675, 40 of the $4,880, 900 900 work fund
to make complete census of foreign
born persons In the United States" and
ITO help keep out Aliens" is hopeful
sign. II the Secretary really feels that
the alleged millions of aliens illegally
and unlawfully In our country ought to
be enumerated" and that aliens mot
entitled to enter" ought not to be al
lowed to enter, or, rather, that she should
be. given $4,675. 440 merely to find out
how many foreign born there are in the
United States and merely ito help keep
out aliens not entitled to enter" 1t would
seem she ought to refuse entry to de-
ported alien anarchists like Emma Gold
man, and direct action on Communists
like John Strachey, Henri BarbusSe, Tom
Mann and Will Musenberg instead OF
giving them written permits to enter,
and that she ought to deport the 1855
alien lawbreakers who, Commissioners
MacCormack admitted before the House
immigration Committee April 8, had
been taken into custody" on complaint
and turned loose, instead of being de
ported" as existing law requires.
What we need Is not $5,000,O 900 ex-
penditure to try to "enumerate' alien
lawbreakers, who will be as difficult to
enumerate as all such gangsters are to
apprehend, but the deportation Of the
1855 alien lawbreakers taken into "cus-
tody" upon the complaint Of some ag-
grieved person or persons and turned
loose, instead of "deported," as the law
mandatorily requires, rs per cent OF
whom the commissioner admitted April
9 Chearings, p. "a would not even come
within the discretionary provisions OF
the atrocious Kerr bill he was there
advocating to give the authority to null
lily existing alien deportation laws al
ready being nullif1ed by Secretary Per-
kins or at her direction.
The additional statement In the Sec
retary's press release with reference to
increasing the border patrol is equally
enlightening. During the fiscal year Of
1888, Secretary Perkins decreased the
border patrol from 957 to 896 and re-
duced its pay $122,932, In the face Of the
fact 1t was already inadequate, and that
inadequate as it was that year 1t appre-
hended over 10000 aliens entering IL
legally and seized quarter million dol
lars worth of high powered autos, high
speed boats and even Is airshipS caught
in the act Of smuggling aliens into the
United States.
Not only did the Secretary decrease
the patrol and reduce its pay, but she
reduced the immigration and naturaliza-
ton field service BAT and its pay $796 y922
and the technical staff 203 and its pay
$476O02, thereby making law enforce
ment far less efficient, when it ought to
have been made more efficient, and
threby inspiring the whole force with
such viewpoint. And apparently from
this press release the border patrol has
been still further reduced to about 800,
although the departments general ap-
preparation was jumped nearly $4,000 600
this year. Unfortunately official nfor-
nation in the form of her annual report
Is still withheld, so that all one has is
fragmentary information elected before
the Subcommittee on Appropriations.
What the country needs is not a CEN
sus of foreign-born persons, but the de-
portation Of alien lawbreakers, and a
scientific registration and f1ngerprinting
of every person, native and foreign, resi-
dent here, and some such other scientific
check-up of temporary alien entrants as
all other countries of any consequence
have. The native born is registered
from, and including birth to death. Why
not the foreign born? A. 7. AMES.