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PURCHASE OF STATE LABORATORY AT HAMILTON,

MONT.

FEBRUARY 20, 1931.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. MAPES, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 16915]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 16915) authorizing the purchase of the State laboratory at Hamilton, Mont., constructed for the prevention, eradication, and cure of spotted fever, having considered and amended the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass. Amend the bill as follows:

Line 3, after the words "That the" strike out the words "Surgeon General of the Public Health Service" and insert "Secretary of the Treasury" in lieu thereof.

Page 2, line 5, after the word "States" change the period to a comma and add the following: "and shall be administered and maintained as a part of the United States Public Health Service, Treasury Department."

The bill has the approval of the Treasury Department, as will appear by the letter attached.

Hon. JAMES S. PARKER,

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, February 16, 1931.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of February 7 inclosing a copy of the bill (H. R. 16915), authorizing the sum of $75,000 for the purchase of the State laboratory, at Hamilton, Mont., constructed for the prevention, eradication, and cure of spotted fever, and an additional sum of $75,000 for constructing and equipping an additional building for the same purpose and for making any necessary alterations in the existing laboratory referred to.

In 1903 the State Board of Health of Montana requested the United States Public Health Service to undertake an investigation of spotted fever. Since that time the Public Health Service has worked continuously in cooperation with the State Board of Health of Montana, except for several years during and following the World War. During this period of cooperation five members of the service have lost their lives.

The State of Montana erected a laboratory especially designed for the study of this and other tick-borne diseases and has expended approximately $300,000 in these studies.

Spotted fever has continued to spread until it has become a very definite interstate problem, affecting at least 13 Western States.

The United States Public Health Service has originated and is now manufacturing an effective vaccine for spotted fever. The demand for this vaccine which began in a very small way has almost doubled each year of its use until at the present time the State laboratory at Hamilton is too small to contain the work. On account of the great danger connected with the manufacture of this vaccine it has been impossible to get any commercial concern to undertake its manufacture, and on account of the serious nature of the disease itself, and its high mortality, I am of the opinion that the United States Government is obligated to continue the preparation of the vaccine which is at the present time our only method of protecting those who may be exposed to the disease. I am supported in this opinion by the health officials of the various States.

Last week the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service informed me that spotted fever has been found in several of the States along the Atlantic seaboard. This information I consider to be of such a very serious nature that I believe that the Federal Government should bend every effort to control the spread of this disease.

The following changes in the bill are respectfully suggested:

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Section 1, page 1, line 3: Strike out the words "the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service" and insert instead "the Secretary of the Treasury. Section 1, page 2, line 5: After the words "United States", add, "and shall be administered and maintained as a part of the United States Public Health Service, Treasury Department."

The bill so modified has the approval of this department.

It may be added that the Director of the Bureau of the Budget advises that the expenditure contemplated by the proposed legislation is not in conflict with the financial program of the President.

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3d Session

No. 2799

DEPORTATION OF CERTAIN ALIENS

FEBRUARY 20, 1931.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. JOHNSON of Washington, from the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 17152]

The Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 17152) to expedite the deportation of certain aliens, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report it back to the House without amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.

This bill carries out certain recommendations made by the Secretary of Labor to the Senate in his letter of December 26, 1930, in response to Senate Resolution 335, wherein he was asked the following question:

What changes should be made in existing laws to facilitate the deportation of undesirable aliens?

The following extracts from his reply to the Senate explain the necessity for the enactment of the legislation:

First. The institution of deportation proceedings is very frequently delayed, and often made impossible, by the fact that under the law warrants of arrest may be issued only by the Secretary of Labor at Washington. In many cases the officers after locating an alien believed to be subject to deportation are delayed in taking him into custody pending the issuance of such warrant of arrest, and this often affords the alien an opportunity to evade arrest.

As a remedy for this situation, it is recommended that the Secretary of Labor be authorized to delegate authority to sign warrants to field officers designated by him.

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Third. There is no authority under existing laws to deport alien criminals as such unless the crimes of which they have been convicted involve moral turpitude. In recent sessions of Congress bills have been introduced and considered, among them S. 5094, Union Calendar No. 752, second session, Seventieth Congress (Rept. No. 2418, Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives), which in a general way eliminate the requirement that the crime involve moral turpitude, and base the liability to deportation upon a sentence, or sentences, to imprisonment amounting to the minimum time specified in the bill. It is suggested that legislation along that line be enacted.

Fourth. A serious difficulty which has arisen in the sections of the law that pertain to the prosecution of aliens who enter unlawfully is that as the offense is entry the place of entry determines the district in which the alien shall be prosecuted as the sixth amendment of the Constitution provides that:

"In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law,

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It not infrequently happens that aliens enter in one district and are located in another district many miles away, and in order to be prosecuted must be moved to the United States district court in which entry occurred. It is suggested that this difficulty be obviated by making the remaining in the United States after such unlawful entry an offense as well as the entry itself. This would permit of prosecution in any district in which the alien is found, the prosecution being based on his remaining here unlawfully rather than on the unlawful entry. Fifth. As having a possible bearing on the deportation of aliens, attention is directed to the fact that while section 8 of the immigration act of 1917 makes it a misdemeanor to unlawfully bring into or land an alien in the United States, or to conceal or harbor, or attempt to conceal or harbor any alien so brought in, and fixes a penalty therefor, no penalty attaches to the person who, having knowledge of such unlawful entry, conceals or harbors such alien unless that act is in pursuance of unlawful landing. It would be helpful if a penalty were also imposed upon persons who, although having no part in the unlawful entry, but having knowledge of the unlawful act, conceal or harbor such alien. Moreover, it not infrequently happens that aliens who have unlawfully entered the United States are employed by persons with full knowledge of such unlawful entry. As a possible means of correcting this situation, it might be deemed advisable to so amend the section under discussion so as to provide that such employment, whithin some fixed period after such entry, shall for the purpose of the section be regarded as concealing or harboring the alien who has unlawfully entered, and to fix a penalty for such offense.

There is need for strengthening the law relative to the deportation of those aliens who are affiliated with organizations which advocate the overthrow of the Government of the United States. However, this subject is being exhaustively considered by a special committee of one of the Houses of Congress, and it is presumed that such committee will propose well-reasoned amendments to the law in this respect.

Respectfully submitted.

W. N. DOAK, Secretary.

Following is an explanation of the bill by sections:

WARRANTS OF ARREST

Section 1: The existing law provides that a deportable alien shall, "upon the warrant of the Secretary of Labor, be taken into custody and deported." Under the system put into effect by regulations immigration officials in the field having reason to believe that an alien is deportable apply to the Secretary of Labor at Washington for a warrant of arrest. Inasmuch as it is impossible for the Secretary to know whether or not the facts presented are sufficient to justify an arrest, it has become the practice in nearly every case to issue a warrant of arrest whenever applied for by the officer in the field. All this takes time and money, and in many cases delays the taking of the alien into custody pending the arrival of the warrant of arrest, affording the alien an opportunity to evade arrest. Accordingly, section 1 provides that the authority vested in the Secretary of Labor to issue warrants of arrest may be exercised by any official of the Department of Labor, commissioner of immigration, or district director of immigration, authorized by the Secretary of Labor. This of course, does not confer upon any such official the authority to order deportation. Such action may be taken only upon order of the Secretary of Labor.

DEPORTATION OF ALIENS CONVICTED OF TWO OR MORE OFFENSES

Section 2: Section 2 (a) adds two new grounds for deportation on account of conviction of crimes, as follows:

(1) An alien who is convicted of any offense (committed after the enactment of this act and at any time after entry) for which he is sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one year or more, and who is thereafter convicted of any offense (committed after the enactment of this act and at any time after entry) for which he is sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one year or more.

(2) An alien who is convicted of any offense (committed after the enactment of this act and within 10 years after entry) for which he is sentenced to imprisonment for a term which, when added to the terms to which sentenced under two or more previous convictions of any offense or offenses (committed after the enactment of this act), amounts to two years or more.

These provisions make deportable (1) an alien convicted of two offenses for which the sentence is one year or more in each case, and (2) an alien who has been convicted three or more times for minor infractions of law and has received terms of imprisonment aggregating two years or more.

SAFEGUARDS

Subdivision (b) gives the alien subject to deportation under these provisions several safeguards:

(1) To serve as a basis for deportation proceedings the conviction must be in a court of record and the judgment on such conviction must have become final. Thus, where an alien has appealed, or while he has the right to appeal, the judgment on the conviction rendering him liable to deportation, he may not be deported for that offense.

(2) It is provided that in the case of a sentence for an indeterminate term in which the minimum term under the sentence is less than one year, the term actually served shall be considered the term for which sentenced.

(3) An alien who has been unconditionally pardoned after conviction of an offense specified in this section as grounds for deportation shall not be deported on account of that offense. It should be noted that there is no relief from deportation if the pardon is conditioned upon continued good behavior. Such a pardon amounts only to a commutation of sentence or a parole, and section 3 of the act of March 4, 1929, provides that in such cases the deportation may be effected upon the release from confinement.

Although this section provides for the deportation at any time of an alien who has been convicted of two or more offenses of the character described, it is provided in subdivision (c) that the deportation proceedings must be begun within three years after the expiration of the last term for which sentenced.

Subdivision (d) is put in out of an abundance of caution to make it clear that it is the intention of Congress that an alien who is liable to deportation under any provision of law shall be deported whether or not he is liable to deportation under any provision of this bill, and, conversely, that the grounds for deportation set forth in the bill are in addition to, and not in substitution for, the grounds already existing under other laws. For instance, if an alien is convicted of an offense

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