150.071 Control/203b

The Secretary of State to the Senate Majority Leader ( Robinson )11

My Dear Senator Robinson: There is now pending before the Senate a bill, S. 379, introduced by Senator King, entitled “A bill to provide for the deportation of certain alien seamen, and for other purposes”. The bill in practically its present form has been pending before Congress for many years being urged principally by Mr. Andrew Furuseth, representing the Seamen’s Union. The Department of State is heartily in favor of preventing the entry into this country of aliens not properly admissible under our laws and of sending out of the country aliens, whether seamen or not, who are here in contravention of our laws and it would favor any proper measure for the accomplishment of those purposes which might be found necessary and consistent with our international responsibilities. As this Department and the Department of Labor have pointed out to the appropriate committees, the bill S. 379 is objectionable from the point of view of our international relations, it would add greatly to the cost of administration, it is unnecessary for the purpose of keeping out of the country seamen not entitled to admission to the United States and the machinery it provides for that purpose is already provided for in more effective form by the Immigration Act of 1924.12 Both this Department and the Department of Labor have suggested a substitute13 for the measure which would be unobjectionable from the standpoint of our foreign relations and would increase the effectiveness of existing law but that suggestion has unfortunately not been adopted. I think it is important that you should be aware of the foregoing in the event that it should be sought to bring the bill S. 379 up for consideration in the Senate.

Sincerely yours,

Cordell Hull
  1. Identic letter on June 15 sent to Joseph W. Byrns, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
  2. 43 Stat. 153.
  3. See letter of June 4, 1934, to the Secretary of Labor, Foreign Relations, 1934, vol. i, p. 763.