Evening star., 1936-07-03
fearful Humanitarians and
The Alien Deportation Law
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star:
With reference to the splendid letter
OF j. D. Mason in your columns calling
attention to the facts about the objection
able Kerr-C Coolidge alien deportation bill,
I want to suggest that can see no good
reason for the suspicious attempt to
railroad through the closing hours Of the
last session a brand-new measure Is. j.
Res. 2S3) embodying only the obnoxious
administrative discretions to practically
nullify most immigration restrictions and
certainly mandatory deportation statutes
under which most alien lawbreakers
have been deported.
The resolution was pressed for pas
sage about o'clock Saturday, the last
day Of the session, when most Senators
were of the floor. If enacted 1t would
have authorized the staying of over three
thousand deportations that have been
stayed during the past three and half
years. Every one of these aliens is q
lawbreaker. Why this resolution?
What the necessity for it? If the Secre-
tary OF Labor has the implied discre-
tion" to stay" deportations for family
separation reasons over a period of three
and one-half years certainly she has the
implied discretion" to continue their
stays for another six months, or one half
year, as proposed in the resolution.
I have searched the deportation
statutes and have inquired of those in
authority, and they admit there is no ex-
press authority from which any such
discretion to nullify the law can be i'm
piled to prevent the separation of the
aliens family. The law expressly directs
where complaint has been made and the
lawbreaking of the alien has been called
to the attention of the Department of
Labor. as all of these stayed" So-called
hardship cases have been and had to be,
that the Secretary Of Labor shall take
into custody and deport" the alien.
There is no exception expressed or i'm
piled authorizing the Secretary or her
Commissioner of immigration to not
deport an alien lawbreaker who has q
family, a wife or child or parents here.
Deportation is not necessarily separation
because the whole family can accompany
the deported alien, something Bruno
Hauptmanns family, his American wife
and his American-born child could not
do. II Is too bad good relatives have
to suffer for the crimes and laWbreak-
ings of their bad relations or even their
poor relations. But our G men have
demonstrated that crimes can be pre-
vented and gangSters can be wiped out,
not by maudlin, sickly sentimentslity,
but by vigorous punishment therefor. 1t
is strange that all these fearful "humani-
tarians' have no tears for the victims
of the criminals and lawbreakers-not
only the bereaved Lindberghs, but the
millions of other mothers and fathers
suffering living death in fear the
same frightful fate might await them
that they too might be the victims of the
crime of the century. crime that would
not have happened If the illegal entrant
Bruno Hauptmann had been deported
promply-if we had had an alien regis
tration law-yea, a universal registration
law of citizens and alien like every other
civilized country has. What mockery of
law and order and what an invitation
to lawbreaking and contempt for law
any such so-called humanitarian"
mushy attitude must necessarily make.
P. H. JAMES.