File No. 763.72111/5289
The Acting Secretary of State to the Swiss Minister ( Ritter)
Memorandum
The Acting Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Minister of Switzerland, in charge of German interests in the United States, and referring to the Minister’s memorandum of June 19, 1917,1 in which he requests to be informed, for his own advice and [Page 175] guidance, regarding the status of German subjects at present detained at Ellis Island, exclusive of those persons formerly members of the crews of German merchant vessels, has the honor to advise him of the receipt of a letter from the Assistant Secretary of Labor, dated the 9th instant, in substance as follows:
The only German aliens (other than those removed from German merchant vessels) now being detained at the Ellis Island Immigration Station, or other immigration stations throughout the country, are those who have arrived at ports of this country and have been denied admission, they being held for deportation until such time as that action can be taken with safety to the aliens involved; those who have been apprehended within this country, found to be subject to expulsion under the immigration laws, and removed to an immigration station pending an opportunity to return them to their native land; and those who have been taken into custody by officials of the Department of Justice under regulation 12 of the President’s proclamation of April 61 and have been placed in the care of the Immigration Service for detention. The status of the two former classes is that of aliens subject to deportation, they merely being held in order that they may receive proper care and attention and be available for such deportation when that course can safely be pursued. The status of the latter class (those held under regulation 12 of the President’s proclamation) is that of alien enemies interned for the duration of hostilities with the government to which they claim allegiance, or until such time as it is deemed they can be released without danger to this country. These aliens are not, in any sense, considered as prisoners of war. They are civilians whom it is deemed best, for one reason or another, to hold in detention for the time being.