Memorandum Regarding Immigration Bill

January 25, 1952 MEMORANDUM This week a bill was introduced by Senator Magnuson in the Senate to amend Section 8 of the Immigration Act of 1917 and the Act of February 27, 1925, as amended. This bill represents the combined views of the interested Government agencies after long and extensive cooperative work with various farm groups. With the exception of certain farm groups having minor reservations, all in- terested parties are in complete agreement on the measure. The bill ás intro- duced will satisfy the legislative requests made by the President in his message to the Congress on July 13, 1951, when he signed the Ellender-Poage Bill. It is understood that the bill was referred to a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee and that Senator Eastland is prepared to report the bill back to Committee with certain changes The changes, as understood, and the comments thereon are below. Section 8 (a) (2) originally read, "Knowing or having reasonable grounds for believing that entry into the United States was illegal, transports or moves, or attempts to transport or move, within the United States by means of transpor- tation or otherwise, in furtherance of such violation of law;" It is understood that the subcommittee proposes to strike out the phrase, "or having reasonable grounds for believing" and to further strike out the phrase "in furtherance of such violation of law" and substitute for the latter phrase, "with intent to violate paragraph 3 or 4 hereof." Deletion of the phrase for having reasonable grounds for believing" weakens the bill since a more stringent standard of proof is required for prosecution. The second change restricts this section to the point where it becomes practically meaningless, for proof of intent "to harbortt or "to induce entry" would be re- quired in every case involving transportation of an illegal entrant. Since authority to prevent transporting of illegal entrants is one of the major points requested by the President, these suggestions constitute very serious revisions. While it is hoped that neither change is made in this section, inclusion of the second change would render the bill unacceptable. It is understood that the second suggestion would be to insert the words "willfully or knowingly" at the beginning of Section 8 (a) (4) This is an editorial change bringing the section into accord with similar language used elsewhere in the bill and is perfectly acceptable. It is also understood that at the end of Section 8 (a), the subcommittee proposes to add as follows: "Provided, however, for the purpose of this section, the term tharbor shall mean secret, to prevent detection, but not employ (in- cluding the usual and normal practices incident to employment) 11 This proviso does not affect the substantive agreement that the Government agencies and the farm groups have had concerning employment as a violation of the law However, the agencies and the growers group have in the past agreed that this clarification of the meaning of "harbor" should be covered in the Committee report, since in-