File No. 763.72111So4/11
The Acting Secretary of Labor (Densmore) to the Secretary of State
Sir: Replying to your letter of the 26th ultimo,1 with which was transmitted a copy of a note, dated the 13th ultimo, from the British Ambassador at this Capital, concerning the matter of the reentry into the United States of British subjects who have enlisted in the [Page 703] British Army and been discharged therefrom and who seek to return on passage furnished by the British Government, I have to advise you as follows:
Among the classes of aliens excluded by Section 2 of the Immigration Act (Act of February 20, 1907, 34 Statutes, page 898) is:
any person whose ticket or passage is paid for with money of another, or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is affirmatively and satisfactorily shown that such person does not belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes, and that said ticket or passage was not paid for by any corporation, association; society, municipality, or foreign government, either directly or indirectly.
Whether or not the case of any given alien will fall within the foregoing class, or any other excluded class, is impossible of determination in advance of the physical arrival of such alien at a designated port of entry of this country and the ascertainment by the appropriately designated immigration officials of the exact facts in the, matter. The power to ascertain these facts, and to determine the admissibility of the alien thereon, is vested primarily in such officials, and the Department gains jurisdiction only on appeal being taken from a decision rendered by said officials.
It will not be possible, therefore, to make a definite answer to the Ambassador’s inquiry. Cases falling within the category covered by his communication, like all other cases involving the rights of aliens to admission, will necessarily have to be considered individually as they arise.
Respectfully,
- Not printed.↩