Capital Comment

Washington.

A concerted move to enact anti-alien legislation is taking shape in the House of Representatives as the closing days of the present session of Congress approach. The hope is that action will be taken on these restrictive measures during the last few days of the session when legislative blocks normally gain the opportunity of riding their proposals through the bill in the rush of last-minute business.

The anti-alien bills have already been reported out of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. Altogether there are about a half dozen such measures, with more than twenty additional proposals pending before the committee. In the main all of the restrictive measures are of two types. One type would make it easier to deport aliens while the other would either partially or wholly bar immigration to the United States.

One of the leaders of the new movement is Representative Martin Dies of Texas, who has introduced a notable string of anti-alien bills. His most famous bill would prohibit entry of new immigrants who seek to establish a home in this country. It would make mandatory deportation of aliens of illegal entry regardless of what the circumstances of their entry may be. It would force aliens already in this country to become citizens within twelve months, or else they would be deported. It would require that all aliens obtain Labor Department permits to work in this country and permits would be issued only to employers on proof that they could not obtain United States citizen to do the work. The only liberal part about the measure is that it would permit the gradual reunion of families not likely to become public charges when the economic condition of the country is improved.

Representative Dies claims that there are approximately 6,000,000 aliens in this country who would be deported if his bill were enacted into law. He blames the problem of unemployment on the aliens. He says he has information that Germany has deported 3,000,000 of its aliens in an effort to solve its problems, and wonders why the United States should not do the same. Perhaps Mr. Hitler can tell him. In any event, the Texan is engaged in a drive to gain support for his measure. He claims that “at least 150 Congressmen” favor his bill. One of these is Representative Thomas Blanton, also from Texas and user of the same figures on the number of aliens in this country.

Just what is behind all of this anti-alien raving is not very hard to understand. All indications point to a manifestation of intolerance on the part of those who freely talk about American principles of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religious and political views. The number of bills introduced during the present session of Congress and directed against aliens and immigration, remind one of the wartime days when anti-alien feeling was running high.

Most of the anti-alien propaganda will not stand the spotlight of truth and facts. Take for instance the figures used frequently by Representatives Blanton and Dies. Daniel W. MacCormack, Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization in the Department of Labor, has referred to the figures as “fantastic exaggerations.”

While Representative Dies contends that there are 3,500,000 aliens in this country who have entered illegally, Commissioner MacCormack says the facts are that there are “probably less than 100,000.” The highest estimate made by the Department of Labor is under 200,000. And if those aliens who entered legally but who cannot prove their legal admission are counted, the best available estimates from official sources indicate that the total, including those who entered illegally, would not exceed 400,000.

The Labor Department itself, is suspicious of the anti-alien movement which has made marked headway during the last few years. Sponsors of anti-alien legislation are ever ready to paint the alien as a menace to our form of government. They say that he endangers the American standard of living. These same people point to the depression and cry out that the alien is the cause of nation-wide unemployment. In order to prove their points, they cite what Commissioner MacCormack has termed “fantastic exaggerations.”

Commissioner MacCormack admits that “there is in this country today an anti-alien prejudice which affects indirectly a third of our population—for one person out of every three in this country is of foreign birth or foreign parentage.” From this it is quite evident that it took more than the so-called “natives” to make this country the great nation that it is today.

And yet, Representative Dies reports plans for an organization to support his anti-alien bill. This organization would be nation-wide in scope and would be called “The Americans.” State units would be formed. Membership would be open only to native-born and naturalized citizens.

The next week or two may be expected to give a clearer picture of what the outcome of the present legislative drive will be. Meanwhile, close watch must be kept of the various activities of the proponents of this type of legislation. The thinking members of Congress are opposed to restrictive measures which have for their sole purpose the destruction of the real principles on which this country was founded.

In view of the rising tide of prejudice against aliens, it would seem highly desirable that every effort be made to obtain the real facts of the alien situation. Perhaps a thorough study of the whole alien situation needs to be made. The Labor Department would do well to arm itself with every additional fact available or which could be made available through research in order to meet a development which may be expected to grow. In obtaining these facts, it seems quite important that the real motives behind the instigators of the anti-alien movement be uncovered. Only through a complete expose of the whole movement of anti-alien prejudice and the ultimtte destruction of this drive, can this country continue to be regarded as a safe place for the law-abiding alien to live.