DEPORTATION FOR ACTS TENDING TO INCITE DISLOYALTY AND DENIAL OF PUBLIC LAND PRIVILEGES TO CERTAIN ALIENS. COMMITTEE ON IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION, Wednesday, October 22, 1919. The committee this day met, Hon. Albert Johnson (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. Representative Newton, of Minnesota, is before us for a hearing on several bills introduced by him and referred to this committee. One is H. R. 10066, as follows: Be it enacted, etc., That any resident male alien between the ages of eighteen years and forty-five years, who, in accordance with the provisions of the act approved May 18, 1917, entitled "An act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States," as amended by chapter 12 of the act of Congress approved July 9, 1918, entitled "An act making appropriations for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1919," and chapter 166 of the act of Congress approved August 31, 1918, entitled "An act amending the act entitled An act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States,' "' failed to register for military service as in said act as amended provided, or who, registering as aforesaid, claimed exemption from military service as an alien, or who, registering as aforesaid and having theretofore filed a declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States, withdrew his said declaration to become such citizen, or did any other act in an effort to avoid or escape military service, shall forever be barred and prohibited from availing himself of any of the provisions of the laws relating to the disposition of the unappropriated public lands of the United States. Mr. WELTY. Have you another bill, Mr. Newton? Mr. NEWTON. Yes, I had one prohibiting aliens from entering the civil service, but I did not know whether it would be referred to the Committee on Immigration or to the Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. The CHAIRMAN. We will hear you in regard to this bill, 10066. The intent of the bill is clear. STATEMENT OF HON. WALTER H. NEWTON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MINNESOTA. Mr. NEWTON. Gentlemen of the committee, in common with a great many other Americans I have noticed that during the late war, whereas a great bulk of our citizens of foreign birth loyally supported the Government, there were some who did not do so. Of that number a percentage of them spent their time in endeavoring to get others to avoid military service, and as the result of the efforts of those agitators, including some who were of native birth, quite a number of aliens living in this country, and who had lived in this country for some time, enjoying all of our privileges and benefits, 3 early besought themselves to find out some way of getting out of performing the obligations and duties that they owed to a country in which they lived and enjoyed the protection of its laws and benefits and opportunities. My information is that something like 210,000 aliens, otherwise liable to the draft, either withdrew their citizenship papers, having declared their intention of becoming citizens, or while registering with the draft board claimed exemption from service because of the fact that they were born across the seas and were not fully naturalized citizens. Mr. Box. If I would not interrupt you, what do you include; what classes do you include in the 220-odd thousand? Mr. NEWTON. The 210,000? The CHAIRMAN. Let me correct that figure a little bit before you go further. Those figures came in the other day here and have been accepted, and the supposition was at that time that that 210,000 aliens included about 2,000 first-paper aliens who had withdrawn their papers. Investigation reduces the number of first-paper aliens who withdrew their papers to avoid military service to 1,700. We made all kinds of inquiry to find the number of aliens who claimed exemption from military service on the ground of alienage, and this committee has made quite a study of the tables in the second report of the Provost Marshal General, and failed to arrive at any figure showing 208,000 or 210,000, but yesterday we secured the first report of the Provost Marshal General on the first draft under the selective service act of 1917, submitted on December 20, 1917, and on page 55 of that report in table 27 we find a comparison of aliens, declarants, and citizens, as follows: Total registered citizens and declarants called 2,625,236, and the certified for service of that number are 710,366; total aliens called 457,713; certified for service 76,545. Now, then, in table 28, the grounds of aliens' claims: Total aliens called but not accepted 381,168; exempt on claim of alienage, 228,452. Mr. NEWTON. That was in the first draft? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Exempted, discharged, or rejected on other grounds, 152,716. Now, you will notice there that those exempted on claim of alienage amounted to 59.93 per cent, or nearly 60 per cent. Mr. Box. Of the aliens? The CHAIRMAN. Called but not accepted. There is undoubtedly where the figures originated that resulted in the statements being made here about 210,000. So you see that the figures referred to are not exactly 210,000, but were 228,452, and referred to the first draft only. Mr. Box. That does not include the desertions by aliens ? The CHAIRMAN. It does not include them, nor does it include aliens who claimed exemption or who were given exemption in later drafts as explained the other day by Mr. Welty. Mr. NEWTON. So that the figures given are very conservative. Gentlemen, following this great war, it seems to me that a situation of that kind can not be overlooked by the American Congress. There have been measures introduced here proposing to deport not only those declarants who went to court and withdrew their papers but also to deport those men who claimed exemption from military service to the draft boards upon the ground of being an alien. I understand that some question has been raised as to the right of Congress or propriety of their doing that, on account of certain treaty obligations. I have not had an opportunity as yet to examine those treaties. Suffice it to say, however, that if this committee should feel that both of these classes should be deported, then, of course, it is obvious that there is no need of enacting legislation such as I here propose, because they would not be here to avail themselves of the civil service or of the public lands. Mr. WELTY. You are discussing bill No. 10066 now, is that right? Mr. NEWTON. On the public-lands question, yes. I have not the number of that. Mr. Box. That is right, 10066. The CHAIRMAN. Let me ask a question. You have included the amendment of July 9, 1918. That amendment provides that those first-paper aliens who withdrew their declarations in order to evade military service should be forever debarred from citizenship in the United States. By being thus debarred from citizenship in the United States are they debarred from making the final step in taking public lands? Mr. NEWTON. I think not. I was under that impression myself at first. Mr. VALLE. Some of the public-lånd laws accord the privilege to citizens of the United States, or those who have declared their intention to become such. Mr. NEWTON. The gentleman is right. That is what leads me to take this action. Mr. WELTY. Before we proceed any further, it seems to me that this bill should have been referred to the Committee on Public Lands. It affects the land situation, and I am afraid that if we even consider the bill we would have a little conflict there. Mr. VAILE. I do not think that the Public Lands Committee, of which I am a member, is very jealous of its jurisdiction. It has plenty to do. The same query came to my mind, but before Mr. Newton gets through I want to make a suggestion in regard to the form of this act, in regard to an amendment which we considered in the Public Lands Committee. But as to referring it to the Public Lands Committee, I do not think there is any objection to our considering it now. If the Public Lands Committee wants it, we can refer it to them later on. The CHAIRMAN. If this committee should report a bill deporting those who withdrew their first papers that will eliminate them from taking public lands. Mr. VAILE. There is a class, though, that I want to refer to, that that does not include. The CHAIRMAN. We have yet to consider the matter of aliens who secured military exemption-whether a clause debarring them from the right to take public lands stands in lieu of deportation in their cases? Let us assume that we are unable to deport those first-paper aliens who withdrew their papers and who were, by the amendment to the military appropriations bill of July 9, 1918, debarred from ever becoming citizens of the United States, how will they be permitted to take either public lands or prove up on public lands? |