Mr. FREE. Have those cases been reported to the Secretary of Labor?

Mr. UHL. Yes.

Mr. FREE. Can you give us a list of the cases reported to the Commissioner General of Immigration?

Mr. UHL. Yes; I can when I get back to Ellis Island.

Mr. FREE. I would like to move that Mr. Uhl be requested by the committee to furnish the committee a ilst of the cases reported. Mr. UHL. I will do it.

Mr. CURRAN. I hope you will not think I am out of order. What I have to say now has not in a narrow sense to do with aliens already in the country and found to be deportable after their admission here. Yet it is purely a matter of procedure. That is when an arriving alien has been excluded by a board of special inquiry at an immigration station.

Mr. VAILE. When an alien gets here and is taken off a vessel and examined at Ellis Island and by reason of some physical defect is found inadmissible, if that alien has wit enough to destroy his passport, the steamship company will not take him back and we have no means to compel it to do so, because the fines are not collected. There are some distressing cases at Ellis Island now. Mr. Uhl just cited the case of a feeble-minded child at Ellis Island who can not be deported because the vessel will not take her back. The chairman has now arrived and I will ask him to take the chair. There are some interesting things that I want him to hear.

(Hon. Albert Johnson, chairman, thereupon presided.)

The CHAIRMAN. I am sorry that I have not been able to be in attendance at the meeing this morning. I have been attending a meeting of the Committee on Printing, which is considering a new wage scale for the Government Printing Office.

Mr. CURRAN. I hope strongly that you will consider adding to the bill a provision that when an alien arriving here is excluded and appeals from the decision that such an appeal, instead of being made to the Secretary of Labor and decided by him, be made to the immigration official in charge at that port and decided by him. That is for this reason: At Ellis Island when an alien applies for admission we have something more than the cold, written record that the alien has made. We have the human factor, and we can go into that factor. I think in the long run that the local officials can decide a case with a nearer approximation to justice than any officer elsewhere can decide it. And we can do it at once. The best efforts of the Labor Department in Washington can not rush the case through in the time in which we could handle it. And if we decide to send an alien back it can be done upon the ship that brought the alien in. Mr. VAILE. Provided he does not destroy his passport?

Mr. CURRAN. Yes; that is true. The average length of detention of an alien at Ellis Island during October last was two weeks. I can cut that in half if this recommended power is granted. We want a board of review consisting of three or four good inspectors such as they have here in Washington, but I am perfectly willing to accept the responsibility. I say that not personally but also for my successor when he comes along. I think the decision is best when it is made locally, because it is done without delay. Obviously, numerous

hardships result from delay and detention. This is a power that should not be centralized, away from the seat of operation. The whole thing is a summary proceeding. There is no power to parole or let out on bail a detained alien. The alien must simply be deprived of his liberty, and that when he may be entirely innocent as to the cause of exclusions. Yet I must forward the papers on and hope for an early decision. They are doing very well in the department, but delays of a week or two can not be avoided unless this work is done at the island. I feel that this is in the interest of good administration and the alien.

The CHAIRMAN. Would you have the same authority apply to the commissioners at Seattle and San Francisco?

Mr. CURRAN. Yes, sir.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. An alien arriving, say, on January 1, is examined by your board of special inquiry on the same day, is he not? Mr. CURRAN. Not necessarily.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. He is examined on the second day, then?
Mr. CURRAN. Approximately.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. Then you have the testimony written out-the testimony of all the witnesses who came before the board of special inquiry and it is sent by you to the Secretary of Labor with recommendation?

Mr. CURRAN. It is sent to the Secretary of Labor without recommendation.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. Is it not a fact that the whole time involved is between 6 and 10 days before you get a decision from the Department of Labor, unless it is an extraordinary case?

Mr. CURRAN. I think so. It is just long enough to miss the sailing of the ship upon which the alien came.

The CHAIRMAN. Was it not the theory of the law that the cases should pass through the Commissioner General of Immigration, who would recommend either approval or disapproval?

Mr. CURRAN. I am not allowed to make a recommendation, and the Commissioner General of Immigration does not make a recommendation. I think the cases go to the Assistant Secretary of Labor without recommendation.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you remember the name of one light-minded person in whose case Commissioner Todd took a stand and tried to deport?

Mr. CURRAN. Pauline Fink?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. She is a feeble-minded girl, and, as I understand, that case is now in the Supreme Court of the United States. The CHAIRMAN. Where is she?

Mr. REITZEL. It is going to the Supreme Court.

The CHAIRMAN. Has Pauline Fink been deported?

Mr. UHL. No, sir; she is in New York State somewhere.

The CHAIRMAN. Was she examined by only one board?

Mr. UHL. I think she was examined by four medical boards. The CHAIRMAN. Was she returned to the same board that had reported on her?

Mr. UHL. No.

The CHAIRMAN. Did all boards recommend that she be deported? Mr. UHL. One board was split and the other three were unanimous.

The CHAIRMAN. Is Pauline out on bond now?

Mr. UHL. I do not know whether she is out on bond or as the result of a writ of habeas corpus.

The CHAIRMAN. Is the case in the Supreme Court or has it already been decided?

Mr. UHL. I understand that the higher court referred the case back to the lower court with certain directions.

Mr. Box. With reference to your recommendation that the decision of the commissioner in charge be final, that is based upon the idea that the commissioner at every point and all the time can be trusted with that final action. Do you feel, upon reviewing the whole history of the service, including you own station and all the outlying stations, that it would be safe to leave that power in the hands of the inspector or commissioner general?

Mr. CURRAN. Judge Box, I can not either properly or with good grace answer the question. I am not familiar with the other stations and the character of those in charge there.

Mr. Box. For instance, we understand that Mr. Howe was not in favor of deportation for certain lines of cases. I have an idea that members of this committee would hesitate to leave that power finally in the hands of each commissioner who might be in charge. Since I have called attention to such instances as that, do you still believe it would be advisable to so delegate the authority?

Mr. CURRAN. Yes. That is only the case of one man.

Mr. VALLE. The trouble was not any more with Mr. Howe than it was with the then Assistant Secretary of Labor, Mr. Post. Mr. Box. I am simply using that as the general idea.

Mr. CURRAN. I should like to add one or two considerations. I think you are safe as to your local officials, in the existence of an extensive power of regulation in the Secretary of Labor. Furthermore, the local officials should, of course, be required to make full and immediate report of their actions, in order that the Secretary might coordinate the action throughout the whole country.

The CHAIRMAN. That was what I wanted to know about procedure and action.

Mr. CURRAN. That is handled by regulation.

The CHAIRMAN. If the authority should rest in the commissioner at Ellis Island to deport without appeal, should the same authority rest with the commissioners, say, at Angel Island and Seattle, who might be of different minds.

Mr. CURRAN. Yes; and different Secretaries of Labor might be of different minds.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; but they come through a process that is subject to review and becomes a basis for habeas corpus proceedings.

Mr. CURRAN. There is always a chance of review by writ of habeas corpus, so that no one may run wild. At Ellis Island we handle 90 per cent of the country's quota immigration. We do that right along. It amounts to 12,000 aliens a month.

Mr. RAKER. We could delegate this power to Ellis Island only? Mr. CURRAN. Yes. It is Ellis Island only that I speak of. We have handled two-thirds of all the immigrants that came to the United States. We are handling a very large number of ships

from all over the world. And New York is, as you know, the greatest seaport in the world.

The CHAIRMAN. Are your inspectors armed?

Mr. CURRAN. No.

The CHAIRMAN. Are they forbidden to be armed?

Mr. UHL. We have not been able to obtain approval for our employees to carry arms of any kinds.

The CHAIRMAN. Owing to the troubles they are having on the border, I would say the act should carry a provision for the arming of those employees necessary to be armed.

Mr. RAKER. What do you mean, that the inspectors on the Mexican border are unable to protect themselves?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; at times. I will not take the time now to explain it to you. I will do it personally and later.

Mr. Box. You did not have in mind any sort of review by the authorities in Washington, or elsewhere, of the acts of the local officials in excluding aliens?

Mr. CURRAN. None whatever.

Mr. Box. About this matter we discussed a moment ago, wherein the incoming alien loses his passport, is that possible under the new act? Do you not have his record, a record of his visé or passport in your office, so that you could show the steamship company that they had brought the alien, and prove your case in court?

Mr. CURRAN. We can show it not only from the original visé, but from the steamship company's own entries on the manifest. If it could be put into law that they must make the data on their manifests as conclusive, we could cure that defect.

Mr. Box. What record have you in use that is not in their custody? Mr. CURRAN. We have the record of the manifest, which is complete, and we have voluminous visés and documents that rest with us until the case is disposed of.

Mr. Box. If an alien loses his passport, you still have a copy of it?

Mr. CURRAN. No; not of the passport. It is the passport of the foreign government's that the steamship company wants before it will return the man.

Mr. VAILE. Why not collect the alien's passport upon his arrival, just like the conductor on a train collects the tickets, and give him a receipt for it?

Mr. CURRAN. We have considered that. We have an average of 800 aliens always in detention at Ellis Island. They are continually going and coming. It would be difficult to administer because there would be tremendous possibilities of fraud, graft, and loss. We hesitate to do that before we find it absolutely necessary. Mr. DICKSTEIN. Following up Judge Box's question, you have said that there should be no right of further appeal?

Mr. CURRAN. No; there is no right of appeal from the consul. Mr. DICKSTEIN. With your board of special inquiry, consisting of three members, if two vote for admission and one against admission, that one member has a right to appeal to the Department of Labor, has he not?

Mr. CURRAN. Yes.

Mr. DICKSTEIN. We would have to change that law?

Mr. CURRAN. Yes; I would consider that appeal-the officer in charge. We will always have unnecessary detention, unless we can avoid the delay.

Mr. RAKER. How can an alien land in the United States under the act of 1924 without a visé? How can he leave the vessel?

Mr. CURRAN. We are constantly at war with stowaways.

Mr. RAKER. Where there is a party on a vessel and he has no visé, how can that party get off the vessel without being immediately deported?

Mr. CURRAN. I can answer that, but I would like to get the better answer of Mr. Uhl, who has, as I just stated, been in the service 32 years.

Mr. RAKER. Mr. Uhl, how can any alien coming to the United States for the first time land at Ellis Island without the visé provided for in the act of 1924?

Mr. UHL. He can not, unless he is smuggled ashore.

Mr. RAKER. How did the case of this Chinese woman, which went to the district court, get a writ of habeas corpus without showing a visé? Her name is Shee.

Mr. UHL. She might have got a writ of habeas corpus. We have an instance like that where an alleged seaman came from the British West Indies with a visé. He was on the list in the usual way, but the suspicion of the inspector was aroused and it was found that he was never at sea before. He was held aboard the ship. His friends sued out a writ of habeas corpus for him, but he was not landed. was deported. After the hearing the court dismissed the writ.

He

Mr. RAKER. If upon examination you find one or more aliens on board without a visé you refuse to let them land, do you not? Mr. UHL. Yes.

Mr. RAKER. And the friends of the alien on shore apply to the court for writ of habeas corpus and the officer brings the alien from the ship to be dealt with by the court, which either lands the alien or returns him?

Mr. UHL. We have had but one case of that kind and it was dismissed. When the alien is aboard ship, the writ is served on the master of the ship.

Mr. CURRAN. As to this suggestion about the decision at Ellis Island, the quality of the present immigration is definitely better than existed before July 1. It is a better as well as a smaller immigration. The visés have shown in the main only two classes of errors; first, those made while the consuls were learning the new burden placed upon them. They have done very well with it. Each of them is alone struggling to learn the subject of immigration, and there is a steady improvement in their work. I think they are doing very well. We will have an alien of a splendid quality, but through a defect in the visé called a technicality he is detained. But we have no medical examination worthy of the name abroad. A great many aliens are now detained on account of physical defects. Mr. BACON. You say the aliens coming in now have physical defects?

Mr. CURRAN. Yes.

Mr. BACON. If the aliens would answer our questionnaire properly before the consuls, when they are under oath placed on notice as to