The Northwest Times

House Immigration Unit Favors H. R. 3566, JACL-ADC Reports

WASHINGTON, D. C. June 17—The Standing Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House Judiciary Committee has favorably reported out H. R. 3566, its redraft of H. R. 2933, the Washington office of the JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee was informed by the Clerk of the Subcommittee.

This bill would extend to the Attorney General the discretionary powers to cancel the deportation of aliens, regardless of race or inadmissibility into the United States, providing that such deportation would result in serious economic detriment to an American citizen family or a resident spouse or in cases where the deportable alien has been in the United States for seven or more consecutive years.

This legislation is the outgrowth of the two-year campaign of the JACL, Anti-Discrimination Committee to place prospective deportees of the Japanese race on the same basis as deportees of other countries.

The bill as presently worded is a Subcommittee redraft of H. R. 2933, a measure drawn up by the Justice Department as a comprehensive amendment to the federal immigration and deportation laws.

The first redraft approved by the Subcommittee and reported out to the full Judiciary Committee contained the provisions that all private bills relating to immigration matters would be outlawed unless the Attorney General certified that no administrative remedy existed to take care of the situation and that the bill had real merit.

This redraft recommitted to the Subcommittee when the Attorney General objected to this section.

After several weeks of study, the Subcommittee decided to delete this revision in its entirety in order that the emergency features of the bill, those granting the Attorney General the necessary powers to cancel the deportations of most Japanese aliens subject to deportation, would not be held up pending a final determination on the controversial subject of private bills.

This bill will probably be considered again by the full Judiciary Committee in its next executive session, Mike Masaoka, national legislative director, was informed.

"This is a real victory for our friends in the Subcommittee." Masaoka said. "We do not anticipate any objections to this revised bill by the full Committee," he added, "because most of the members are convinced of the real merit and necessity for this kind of bill that would place all aliens on the same basis for deportation purposes."

Clocks will go as they are set; but man, irregular man, is never constant, never certain.—Otway.