The Immigration Act of 1917

The Immigration Act of 1917

United States Government

Immigration Law

Legal Documents

Presents the text of the Immigration Act of 1917, which regulated immigration of aliens to the United States. Definitions used in the Act; Prohibitions settled upon those seeking admittance; Prohibitions against indentured service.

Great Neck Publishing

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1917* (original)

2017–8–1* (source published online)

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English

United States Statutes At Large, Vol. 39, 1917, p. 874-898
AN ACT
To regulate the immigration of aliens to, and the residence of aliens in, the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the word "alien" wherever used in this Act shall include any person not a native born or naturalized citizen of the United States; but this definition shall not be held to include Indians of the United States not taxed or citizens of the islands under the jurisdiction of the United States. That the term "United States" as used in the title as well as in the various sections of this Act shall be construed to mean the United States, and any waters, territory, or other place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, except the Isthmian Canal Zone; but if any alien shall leave the Canal Zone or any insular possession of the United States and attempt to enter any other place under the jurisdiction of the United States, nothing contained in this Act shall be construed as permitting him to enter under any other conditions than those applicable to all aliens. That the term "seaman" as used in this Act shall include every person signed on the ship's articles and employed in any capacity on board any vessel arriving in the United States from any foreign port or place.
That this Act shall be enforced in the Philippine Islands by officers of the general government thereof, unless and until it is superseded by an act passed by the Philippine Legislature and approved by the President of the United States to regulate immigration in the Philippine Islands as authorized in the Act entitled "An Act to declare the purpose of the people of the United States as to the future political status of the people of the Philippine Islands, and to provide a more autonomous government for those islands," approved August twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and sixteen.
Sec. 2. That there shall be levied, collected, and paid a tax of $8 for every alien, including alien seamen regularly admitted as provided in this Act, entering the United States: Provided, That children under sixteen years of age who accompany their father or their mother shall not be subject to said tax. The said tax shall be paid to the collector of customs of the port or customs district to which said alien shall come, or, if there be no collector at such port or district, then to the collector nearest thereto, by the master, agent, owner, or consignee of the vessel, transportation line, or other conveyance or vehicle bringing such alien to the United States, or by the alien himself if he does not come by a vessel, transportation line, or other conveyance or vehicle or when collection from the master, agent, owner, or consignee of the vessel, transportation line, or other conveyance, or vehicle bringing such alien to the United States is impracticable. The tax imposed by this section shall be a lien upon the vessel or other vehicle of carriage or transportation bringing such aliens to the United States, and shall be a debt in favor of the United States against the owner or owners of such vessel or other vehicle, and the payment of such tax may be enforced by any legal or equitable remedy. That the said tax shall not be levied on account of aliens who enter the United States after an uninterrupted residence of at least one year immediately preceding such entrance in the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Republic of Cuba, or the Republic of Mexico, for a temporary stay, nor on account of otherwise admissible residents or citizens of any possession of the United States, nor on account of aliens in transit through the United States, nor upon aliens who have been lawfully admitted to the United States and who later shall go in transit from one part of the United States to another through foreign contiguous territory, and the Commissioner General of Immigration with the approval of the Secretary of Labor shall issue rules and regulations and prescribe the conditions necessary to prevent abuse of these exceptions: Provided, That the Commissioner General of Immigration, under the direction or with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, by agreement with transportation lines, as provided in section twenty-three of this Act, may arrange in some other manner for the payment of the tax imposed by this section upon any or all aliens seeking admission from foreign contiguous territory: Provided further, That said tax, when levied upon aliens entering the Philippine Islands, shall be paid into the treasury of the said islands, to be expended for the benefit of such islands: Provided further, That in the cases of aliens applying for admission from foreign contiguous territory and rejected, the head tax collected shall upon application, upon a blank which shall be furnished and explained to him, be refunded to the alien.
Sec. 3. That the following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into the United States: All idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, epileptics, insane persons; persons who have had one or more attacks of insanity at any time previously; persons of constitutional psychopathic inferiority; persons with chronic alcoholism; paupers; professional beggars; vagrants; persons afflicted with tuberculosis in any form or with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease; persons not comprehended within any of the foregoing excluded classes who are found to be and are certified by the examining surgeon as being mentally or physically defective, such physical defect being of a nature which may affect the ability of such alien to earn a living; persons who have been convicted of or admit having committed a felony or other crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude; polygamists, or persons who practice polygamy or believe in or advocate the practice of polygamy; anarchists, or persons who believe in or advocate the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States, or of all forms of law, or who disbelieve in or are opposed to organized government, or who advocate the assassination of public officials, or who advocate or teach the unlawful destruction of property; persons who are members of or affiliated with any organization entertaining and teaching disbelief in or opposition to organized government, or who advocate or teach the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or killing of any officer or officers, either of specific individuals or of officers generally, of the Government of the United States or of any other organized government, because of his or their official character, or who advocate or teach the unlawful destruction of property; prostitutes, or persons coming into the United States for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose; persons who directly or indirectly procure or attempt to procure or import prostitutes or persons for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose; persons who are supported by or receive in whole or in part the proceeds of prostitution; persons hereinafter called contract laborers, who have been induced, assisted, encouraged, or solicited to migrate to this country by offers or promises of employment, whether such offers or promises are true or false, or in consequence of agreements, oral, written or printed, express or implied, to perform labor in this country of any kind, skilled or unskilled; persons who have come in consequence of advertisements for laborers printed, published, or distributed in a foreign country; persons likely to become a public charge; persons who have been deported under any of the provisions of this Act, and who may again seek admission within one year from the date of such deportation, unless prior to their reembarkation at a foreign port or their attempt to be admitted from foreign contiguous territory the Secretary of Labor shall have consented to their reapplying for admission; persons whose tickets or passage is paid for with the money of another, or who are assisted by others to come, unless it is affirmatively and satisfactorily shown that such persons do not belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes; persons whose ticket or passage is paid for by any corporation, association, society, municipality, or foreign Government, either directly or indirectly stowaways, except that any such stowaway, if otherwise admissible, may be admitted in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor; all children under sixteen years of age, unaccompanied by or not coming to one or both of their parents, except that any such children may, in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor, be admitted if in his opinion they are not likely to become a public charge and are otherwise eligible; unless otherwise provided for by existing treaties, persons who are natives of islands not possessed by the United States adjacent to the Continent of Asia, situate south of the twentieth parallel latitude north, west of the one hundred and sixtieth meridian of longitude east from Greenwich, and north of the tenth parallel of latitude south, or who are natives of any country, province, or dependency situate on the Continent of Asia west of the one hundred and tenth meridian of longitude east from Greenwich and east of the fiftieth meridian of longitude east from Greenwich and south of the fiftieth parallel of latitude north, except that portion of said territory situate between the fiftieth and the sixty-fourth meridians of longitude east from Greenwich and the twenty-fourth and thirty-eighth parallels of latitude north, and no alien now in any way excluded from, or prevented from entering, the United States shall be admitted to the United States. The provision next foregoing, however, shall not apply to persons of the following status or occupations: Government officers, ministers or religious teachers, missionaries, lawyers, physicians, chemists, civil engineers, teachers, students, authors, artists, merchants, and travelers for curiosity or pleasure, nor to their legal wives or their children under sixteen years of age who shall accompany them or who subsequently may apply for admission to the United States, but such persons or their legal wives or foreign-born children who fail to maintain in the United States a status or occupation placing them within the excepted classes shall be deemed to be in the United States contrary to law, and shall be subject to deportation as provided in section nineteen of this Act.
That after three months from the passage of this Act, in addition to the aliens who are by law now excluded from admission into the United States, the following persons shall also be excluded from admission thereto, to wit:
All aliens over sixteen years of age, physically capable of reading, who can not read the English language, or some other language or dialect, including Hebrew or Yiddish: Provided, That any admissible alien, or any alien heretofore or hereafter legally admitted, or any citizen of the United States, may bring in or send for his father or grandfather over fifty-five years of age, his wife, his mother, his grandmother, or his unmarried or widowed daughter, if otherwise admissible, whether such relative can read or not; and such relative shall be permitted to enter. That for the purpose of ascertaining whether aliens can read the immigrant inspectors shall be furnished with slips of uniform size, prepared under the direction of the Secretary of Labor, each containing not less than thirty nor more than forty words in ordinary use, printed in plainly legible type in some one of the various languages or dialects of immigrants. Each alien may designate the particular language or dialect in which he desires the examination to be made, and shall be required to read the words printed on the slip in such language or dialect. That the following classes of persons shall be exempt from the operation of the illiteracy test, to wit: All aliens who shall prove to the satisfaction of the proper immigration officer or to the Secretary of Labor that they are seeking admission to the United States to avoid religious persecution in the country of their last permanent residence, whether such persecution be evidenced by overt acts or by laws or governmental regulations that discriminate against the alien or the race to which he belongs because of his religious faith; all aliens who have been lawfully admitted to the United States and who have resided therein continuously for five years, and who return to the United States within six months from the date of their departure therefrom; all aliens in transit through the United States; all aliens who have been lawfully admitted to the United States and who later shall go in transit from one part of the United States to another through foreign contiguous territory: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall exclude, if otherwise admissible, persons convicted, or who admit the commission, or who teach or advocate the commission, of an offense purely political: Provided further, That the provisions of this Act, relating to the payments for tickets or passage by any corporation, association, society, municipality, or foreign Government shall not apply to the tickets or passage of aliens in immediate and continuous transit through the United States to foreign contiguous territory: Provided further, That skilled labor, if otherwise admissible, may be imported if labor of like kind unemployed can not be found in this country, and the question of the necessity of importing such skilled labor in any particular instance may be determined by the Secretary of Labor upon the application of any person interested, such application to be made before such importation, and such determination by the Secretary of Labor to be reached after a full hearing and an investigation into the facts of the case: Provided further, That the provisions of this law applicable to contract labor shall not be held to exclude professional actors, artists, lecturers, singers, nurses, ministers of any religious denomination, professors for colleges or seminaries, persons belonging to any recognized learned profession, or persons employed as domestic servants: Provided further, That whenever the President shall be satisfied that passports issued by any foreign Government to its citizens or subjects to go to any country other than the United States, or to any insular possession of the United States or to the Canal Zone, are being used for the purpose of enabling the holder to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labor conditions therein, the President shall refuse to permit such citizens or subjects of the country issuing such passports to enter the continental territory of the United States from such other country or from such insular possession or from the Canal Zone: Provided further, That aliens returning after a temporary absence to an unrelinquished United States domicile of seven consecutive years may be admitted in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor, and under such conditions as he may prescribe: Provided further, That nothing in the contract-labor or reading-test provisions of this Act shall be construed to prevent, hinder, or restrict any alien exhibitor, or holder of concession or privilege for any fair or exposition authorized by Act of Congress, from bringing into the United States, under contract, such otherwise admissible alien mechanics, artisans, agents, or other employees, natives of his country as may be necessary for installing or conducting his exhibit or for preparing for installing or conducting any business authorized or permitted under any concession or privilege which may have been or may be granted by any such fair or exposition in connection therewith, under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner General of Immigration, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, may prescribe both as to the admission and return of such persons: Provided further, That the Commissioner General of Immigration with the approval of the Secretary of Labor shall issue rules and prescribe conditions, including exaction of such bonds as may be necessary, to control and regulate the admission and return of otherwise inadmissible aliens applying for temporary admission: Provided further, That nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to accredited officials of foreign Governments, nor to their suites, families, or guests.
Sec. 4. That the importation into the United States of any alien for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to import into the United States any alien for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose, or shall hold or attempt to hold any alien for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, or shall keep, maintain, control, support, employ, or harbor in any house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose, any alien, in pursuance of such illegal importation, shall in every such case be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not more than ten years and by a fine of not more than $5,000. Jurisdiction for the trial and punishment of the felonies hereinbefore set forth shall be in any district to or into which said alien is brought in pursuance of said importation by the person or persons accused, or in any district in which a violation of any of the foregoing provisions of this section occurs. That any alien who shall, after he has been excluded and deported or arrested and deported in pursuance of the provisions of this Act which relate to prostitutes, procurers, or other like immoral persons, attempt thereafter to return to or to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not more than two years. In all prosecutions under this section the testimony of a husband or wife shall be admissible and competent evidence against each other.
Sec. 5. That it shall be unlawful for any person, company, partnership, or corporation, in any manner whatsoever, to prepay the transportation or in any way to induce, assist, encourage, or solicit, or attempt to induce, assist, encourage, or solicit the importation or migration of any contract laborer or contract laborers into the United States, unless such contract laborer or contract laborers are exempted under the fifth proviso of section three of this Act, or have been imported with the permission of the Secretary of Labor in accordance with the fourth proviso of said section, and for every violation of any of the provisions of this section the person, partnership, company, or corporation violating the same shall forfeit and pay for every such offense the sum of $1,000, which may be sued for and recovered by the United States, as debts of like amount are now recovered in the courts of the United States. For every violation of the provisions hereof the person violating the same may be prosecuted in a criminal action for a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of $1,000, or by imprisonment for a term of not less than six months nor more than two years; and under either the civil or the criminal procedure mentioned separate suits or prosecutions may be brought for each alien thus offered or promised employment as aforesaid. The Department of Justice, with the approval of the Department of Labor, may from any fines or penalties received pay rewards to persons other than Government employees who may furnish information leading to the recovery of any such penalties, or to the arrest and punishment of any person, as in this section provided.
Sec. 6. That it shall be unlawful and be deemed a violation of section five of this Act to induce, assist, encourage, or solicit or attempt to induce, assist, encourage, or solicit any alien to come into the United States by promise of employment through advertisements printed, published, or distributed in any foreign country, whether such promise is true or false, and either the civil or criminal penalty or both imposed by said section shall be applicable to such a case.
Sec. 7. That it shall be unlawful for any person, association, society, company, partnership, corporation, or others engaged in the business of transporting aliens to or within the United States, including owners, masters, officers, and agents of vessels, directly or indirectly, by writing, printing, oral representation, payment of any commissions to an alien coming into the United States, allowance of any rebates to an alien coming into the United States, or otherwise to solicit, invite, or encourage or attempt to solicit, invite, or encourage any alien to come into the United States, and anyone violating any provision hereof shall be subject to either the civil or the criminal prosecution, or both, prescribed by section five of this Act; or if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that any owner, master, officer, or agent of a vessel has brought or caused to be brought to a port of the United States any alien so solicited, invited, or encouraged to come by such owner, master, officer, or agent, such owner, master, officer, or agent shall pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrival is located, or in which any vessel of the line may be found, the sum of $400 for each and every such violation; and no vessel shall be granted clearance pending the determination of the question of the liability to the payment of such fine, or while the fine imposed remains unpaid, nor shall such fine be remitted or refunded: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of such questions upon the deposit with the collector of customs of a sum sufficient to cover such fine: Provided further, That whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that the provisions of this section are persistently violated by or on behalf of any transportation company, it shall be the duty of said Secretary to deny to such company the privilege of landing alien immigrant passengers of any or all classes at United States ports for such a period as in his judgment may be necessary to insure an observance of such provisions: Provided further, That this section shall not be held to prevent transportation companies from issuing letters, circulars, or advertisements, confined strictly to stating the sailing of their vessels and terms and facilities of transportation therein: Provided further, That under sections five, six, and seven hereof it shall be presumed from the fact that any person, company, partnership, corporation, association, or society induces, assists, encourages, solicits or invites, or attempts to induce, assist, encourage, solicit or invite the importation, migration or coming of an alien from a country foreign to the United States, that the offender had knowledge of such person's alienage.
Sec. 8. That any person, including the master, agent, owner, or consignee of any vessel, who shall bring into or land in the United States, by vessel or otherwise, or shall attempt, by himself or through another, to bring into or land in the United States, by vessel or otherwise, or shall conceal or harbor, or attempt to conceal or harbor, or assist or abet another to conceal or harbor in any place, including any building, vessel, railway car, conveyance, or vehicle, any alien not duly admitted by an immigrant inspector or not lawfully entitled to enter or to reside within the United States under the terms of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $2,000 and by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, for each and every alien so landed or brought in or attempted to be landed or brought in.
Sec. 9. That it shall be unlawful for any person, including any transportation company other than railway lines entering the United States from foreign contiguous territory, or the owner, master, agent, or consignee of any vessel to bring to the United States either from a foreign country or any insular possession of the United States any alien afflicted with idiocy, insanity, imbecility, feeble-mindedness, epilepsy, constitutional psychopathic inferiority, chronic alcoholism, tuberculosis in any form, or a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that any alien so brought to the United States was afflicted with any of the said diseases or disabilities at the time of foreign embarkation, and that the existence of such disease or disability might have been detected by means of a competent medical examination at such time, such person or transportation company, or the master, agent, owner, or consignee of any such vessel shall pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrival is located the sum of $200, and in addition a sum equal to that paid by such alien for his transportation from the initial point of departure, indicated in his ticket, to the port of arrival, for each and every violation of the provisions of this section, such latter sum to be delivered by the collector of customs to the alien on whose account assessed. It shall also be unlawful for any such person to bring to any port of the United States any alien afflicted with any mental defect other than those above specifically named, or physical defect of a nature which may affect his ability to earn a living, as contemplated in section three of this Act, and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that any alien so brought to the United States was so afflicted at the time of foreign embarkation, and that the existence of such mental or physical defect might have been detected by means of an competent medical examination at such time, such person shall pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrival is located the sum of $25, and in addition a sum equal to that paid by such alien for his transportation from the initial point of departure, indicated in his ticket, to the port of arrival, for each and every violation of this provision, such latter sum to be delivered by the collector of customs to the alien for whose account assessed. It shall also be unlawful for any such person to bring to any port of the United States any alien who is excluded by the provisions of section three of this Act because unable to read, or who is excluded by the terms of section three of this Act as a native of that portion of the Continent of Asia and the islands adjacent thereto described in said section, and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that these disabilities might have been detected by the exercise of reasonable precaution prior to the departure of such aliens from a foreign port, such person shall pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrival is located the sum of $200, and in addition a sum equal to that paid by such alien for his transportation from the initial point of departure, indicated in his ticket, to the port of arrival, for each and every violation of this provision, such latter sum to be delivered by the collector of customs to the alien on whose account assessed. And no vessel shall be granted clearance papers pending the determination of the question of the liability to the payment of such fines, or while the fines remain unpaid, nor shall such fines be remitted or refunded: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of such questions upon the deposit of a sum sufficient to cover such fines: Provided further, That nothing contained in this section shall be construed to subject transportation companies to a fine for bringing to ports of the United States aliens who are by any of the provisos or exceptions to section three hereof exempted from the excluding provisions of said section.
Sec. 10. That it shall be the duty of every person, including owners, officers, and agents of vessels or transportation lines, or international bridges or toll roads, other than railway lines which may enter into a contract as provided in section twenty-three of this Act, bringing an alien to, or providing a means for an alien to come to, any seaport or land border port of the United States, to prevent the landing of such alien in the United States at any time or place other than as designated by the immigration officers, and the failure of any such person, owner, officer, or agent to comply with the foregoing requirements shall be deemed a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine in each case of not less than $200 nor more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment; or, if in the opinion of the Secretary of Labor it is impracticable or inconvenient to prosecute the person, owner, master, officer, or agent of any vessel, a penalty of $1,000 shall be a lien upon the vessel whose owner, master, officer, or agent violates the provisions of this section, and such vessel shall be libeled therefor in the appropriate United States court.
Sec. 11. That for the purpose of determining whether aliens arriving at ports of the United States belong to any of the classes excluded by this Act, either by reason of being afflicted with any of the diseases or mental or physical defects or disabilities mentioned in section three hereof, or otherwise, or whenever the Secretary of Labor has received information showing that any aliens are coming from a country or have embarked at a place where any of said diseases are prevalent or epidemic, the Commissioner General of Immigration, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, may direct that such aliens shall be detained on board the vessel bringing them, or in a United States immigration station at the expense of such vessel, as circumstances may require or justify, a sufficient time to enable the immigration officers and medical officers stationed at such ports to subject such aliens to an observation and examination sufficient to determine whether or not they belong to the said excluded classes by reason of being afflicted in the manner indicated: Provided, That, with a view to avoid undue delay in landing passengers or interference with commerce, the Commissioner General of Immigration may, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, issue such regulations, not inconsistent with law, as may be deemed necessary to effect the purposes of this section: Provided further, That it shall be the duty of immigrant inspectors to report to the Commissioner General of Immigration the condition of all vessels bringing aliens to United States ports.
Sec. 11a. That the Secretary of Labor is hereby authorized and directed to enter into negotiations, through the Department of State, with countries vessels of which bring aliens to the United States, with a view to detailing inspectors and matrons of the United States Immigration Service for duty on vessels carrying immigrant or emigrant passengers between foreign ports and ports of the United States. When such inspectors and matrons are detailed for said duty they shall remain in that part of the vessel where immigrant passengers are carried; and it shall be their duty to observe such passengers during the voyage and report to the immigration authorities in charge at the port of landing any information of value in determining the admissibility of such passengers that may have become known to them during the voyage.
Sec. 12. That upon the arrival of any alien by water at any port within the United States on the North American Continent from a foreign port or a port of the Philippine Islands, Guam, Porto Rico, or Hawaii, or at any port of the said insular possessions from any foreign port, from a port in the United States on the North American Continent, or from a port of another insular possession of the United States, it shall be the duty of the master or commanding officer, owners, or consignees of the steamer, sailing, or other vessel having said alien on board to deliver to the immigration officers at the port of arrival typewritten or printed lists or manifests made at the time and place of embarkation of such alien on board such steamer or vessel, which shall, in answer to questions at the top of said list, contain full and accurate information as to each alien as follows: Full name, age, and sex; whether married or single; calling or occupation; personal description (including height, complexion, color of hair and eyes, and marks of identification); whether able to read or write; nationality; country of birth; race; country of last permanent residence; name and address of the nearest relative in the country from which the alien came; seaport for landing in the United States; final destination, if any, beyond the port of landing; whether having a ticket through to such final destination; by whom passage was paid; whether in possession of $50, and if less, how much; whether going to join a relative or friend, and, if so, what relative or friend, and his or her name and complete address; whether ever before in the United States, and if so, when and where; whether ever in prison or almshouse or an institution or hospital for the care and treatment of the insane; whether ever supported by charity; whether a polygamist; whether an anarchist; whether a person who believes in or advocates the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of all forms of law, or who disbelieves in or is opposed to organized government, or who advocates the assassination of public officials, or who advocates or teaches the unlawful destruction of property, or is a member of or affiliated with any organization entertaining and teaching disbelief in or opposition to organized government, or which teaches the unlawful destruction of property, or who advocates or teaches the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or killing of any officer or officers, either of specific individuals or of officers generally, of the Government of the United States or of any other organized government because of his or their official character; whether coming by reason of any offer, solicitation, promise, or agreement, express or implied, to perform labor in the United States; the alien's condition of health, mental and physical; whether deformed or crippled, and if so, for how long and from what cause; whether coming with the intent to return to the country whence such alien comes after temporarily engaging in laboring pursuits in the United States; and such other items of information as will aid in determining whether any such alien belongs to any of the excluded classes enumerated in section three hereof; and such master or commanding officer, owners, or consignees shall also furnish information in relation to the sex, age, class of travel, and the foreign port of embarkation of arriving passengers who are United States citizens. That it shall further be the duty of the master or commanding officer of every vessel taking passengers from any port of the United States on the North American Continent to a foreign port or a port of the Philippine Islands, Guam, Porto Rico, or Hawaii, or from any port of the said insular possessions to any foreign port, to a port of the United States on the North American Continent, or to a port of another insular possession of the United States to file with the immigration officials before departure a list which shall contain full and accurate information in relation to the following matters regarding all alien passengers, and all citizens of the United States or insular possessions of the United States departing with the stated intent to reside permanently in a foreign country, taken on board: Name, age, and sex; whether married or single; calling or occupation; whether able to read or write; nationality; country of birth; country of which citizen or subject; race; last permanent residence in the United States or insular possessions thereof; if a citizen of the United States or of the insular possessions thereof, whether native born or naturalized; if native born, the place and date of birth, or if naturalized the city or town in which naturalization has been had; intended future permanent residence; and time and port of last arrival in the United States, or insular possessions thereof; and such master or commanding officer shall also furnish information in relation to the sex, age, class of travel, and port of debarkation of the United States citizens departing who do not intend to reside permanently in a foreign country, and no master of any such vessel shall be granted clearance papers for his vessel until he has deposited such list or lists with the immigration officials at the port of departure and made oath that they are full and complete as to the name and other information herein required concerning each person of the classes specified taken on board his vessel; and any neglect or omission to comply with the requirements of this section shall be punishable as provided in section fourteen of this Act: Provided, That in the case of vessels making regular trips to ports of the United States the Commissioner General of Immigration, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, may, when expedient, arrange for the delivery of such lists of outgoing aliens at a later date:
Provided further, That it shall be the duty of immigration officials to record the following information regarding every resident alien and citizen leaving the United States by way of the Canadian or Mexican borders for permanent residence in a foreign country: Name, age, and sex; whether married or single; calling or occupation; whether able to read or write; nationality; country of birth; country of which citizen or subject; race; last permanent residence in the United States; intended future permanent residence; and time and port of last arrival in the United States; and if a United States citizen, whether native born or naturalized.
Sec. 13. That all aliens arriving by water at the ports of the United States shall be listed in convenient groups, the names of those coming from the same locality to be assembled so far as practicable, and no one list or manifest shall contain more than thirty names. To each alien or head of a family shall be given a ticket on which shall be written his name, a number or letter designating the list in which his name, and other items of information required by this Act, are contained, and his number on said list, for convenience of identification on arrival. Each list or manifest shall be verified by the signature and the oath or affirmation of the master or commanding officer, or the fist or second below him in command, taken before an immigration officer at the port of arrival, to the effect that he has caused the surgeon of said vessel sailing therewith to make a physical and mental examination of each of said aliens, and that from the report of said surgeon and from his own investigation he believes that no one of said aliens is of any of the classes excluded from admission into the United States by section three of this Act, and that also according to the best of his knowledge and belief the information in said lists or manifests concerning each of said aliens named therein is correct and true in every respect. That the surgeon of said vessel sailing therewith shall also sign each of said lists or manifests and make oath or affirmation in like manner before an immigration officer of the port of arrival, stating his professional experience and qualifications as a physician and surgeon, and that he has made a personal examination of each of the said aliens named therein, and that the said list or manifest, according to the best of his knowledge and belief, is full, correct, and true in all particulars relative to the mental and physical condition of said aliens. If no surgeon sails with any vessel bringing aliens, the mental and physical examinations and the verifications of the lists or manifests shall be made by some competent surgeon employed by the owners of the said vessels, and the manifests shall be verified by such surgeon before a United States consular officer or other officer authorized to administer oaths: Provided, That if any changes in the condition of such aliens occur or develop during the voyage of the vessel on which they are traveling, such changes shall be noted on the manifest before the verification thereof.
Sec. 14. That it shall be unlawful for the master or commanding officer of any vessel bringing aliens into or carrying aliens out of the United States to refuse or fail to deliver to the immigration officials the accurate and full manifests or statements or information regarding all aliens on board or taken on board such vessel required by this Act, and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that there has been such a refusal or failure, or that the lists delivered are not accurate and full, such master or commanding officer shall pay to the collector of customs at the port of arrival or departure the sum of $10 for each alien concerning whom such accurate and full manifest or statement or information is not furnished, or concerning whom the manifest or statement or information is not prepared and sworn to as prescribed by this Act. No vessel shall be granted clearance pending the determination of the question of the liability to the payment of such fine, or while it remains unpaid, nor shall such fine be remitted or refunded: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of such question upon the deposit with the collector of customs of a sum sufficient to cover such fine.
Sec. 15. That upon the arrival at a port of the United States of any vessel bringing aliens it shall be the duty of the proper immigration officials to go or to send competent assistants to the vessel and there inspect all such aliens, or said immigration officials may order a temporary removal of such aliens for examination at a designated time and place, but such temporary removal shall not be considered a landing, nor shall it relieve vessels, the transportation lines, masters, agents, owners, or consignees of the vessel upon which said aliens are brought to any port of the United States from any of the obligations which, in case such aliens remain on board, would under the provisions of this Act bind the said vessels, transportation lines, masters, agents, owners, or consignees: Provided, That where removal is made to premises owned or controlled by the United States, said vessels, transportation lines, masters, agents, owners, or consignees, and each of them, shall, so long as detention there lasts, be relieved of responsibility for the safekeeping of such aliens. Whenever a temporary removal of aliens is made the vessels or transportation lines which brought them and the masters, owners, agents, and consignees of the vessel upon which they arrive shall pay all expenses of such removal and all expenses arising during subsequent detention, pending decision on the aliens' eligibility to enter the United States and until they are either allowed to land or returned to the care of the line or to the vessel which brought them, such expenses to include those of maintenance, medical treatment in hospital or elsewhere, burial in the event of death, and transfer to the vessel in the event of deportation, excepting only where they arise under the terms of any of the provisos of section eighteen hereof. Any refusal or failure to comply with the provisions hereof shall be punished in the manner specified in section eighteen of this Act.
Sec. 16. That the physical and mental examination of all arriving aliens shall be made by medical officers of the United States Public Health Service who shall have had at least two years' experience in the practice of their profession since receiving the degree of doctor of medicine, and who shall conduct all medical examinations and shall certify, for the information of the immigration officers and the boards of special inquiry hereinafter provided for, any and all physical and mental defects or diseases observed by said medical officers in any such alien; or, should medical officers of the United States Public Health Service be not available, civil surgeons of not less than four years' professional experience may be employed in such emergency for such service upon such terms as may be prescribed by the Commissioner General of Immigration, under the direction or with the approval of the Secretary of Labor. All aliens arriving at ports of the United States shall be examined by not less than two such medical officers at the discretion of the Secretary of Labor, and under such administrative regulations as he may prescribe, and under medical regulations prepared by the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service. Medical officers of the United States Public Health Service who have had especial training in the diagnosis of insanity and mental defects shall be detailed for duty or employed at all ports of entry designated by the Secretary of Labor, and such medical officers shall be provided with suitable facilities for the detention and examination of all arriving aliens in whom insanitary or mental defect is suspected, and the services of interpreters shall be provided for such examination. Any alien certified for insanity or mental defect may appeal to the board of medical officers of the United States Public Health Service, which shall be convened by the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service, and said alien may introduce before such board one expert medical witness at his own cost and expense. That the inspection, other than the physical and mental examination, of aliens, including those seeking admission or readmission o or the privilege of passing through or residing in the United States, and the examination of aliens arrested within the United States under this Act, shall be conducted by immigrant inspectors, except as hereinafter provided in regard to boards of special inquiry. All aliens arriving at ports of the United States shall be examined by at least two immigrant inspectors at the discretion of the Secretary of Labor and under such regulations as he may prescribe. Immigrant inspectors are hereby authorized and empowered to board and search for aliens any vessel, railway car, or any other conveyance, or vehicle in which they believe aliens are being brought into the United States. Said inspectors shall have power to administer oaths and to take and consider evidence touching the right of any alien to enter, reenter, pass through, or reside in the United States, and, where such action may be necessary, to make a written record of such evidence; and any person to whom such an oath has been administered, under the provisions of this Act, who shall knowingly or willfully give false evidence or swear to any false statement in any way affecting or in relation to the right of any alien to admission, or readmission to, or to pass through, or to reside in the United States shall be deemed guilty of perjury and be punished as provided by section one hundred and twenty-five of the Act approved March fourth, nineteen hundred and nine, entitled "An Act to codify, revise, and amend the penal laws of the United States." All aliens coming to the United States shall be required to state under oath the purposes for which they come, the length of time they intend to remain in the United States, whether or not they intend to abide in the United States permanently and become citizens thereof, and such other items of information regarding themselves as will aid the immigration officials in determining whether they belong to any of the excluded classes enumerated in section three hereof. Any commissioner of immigration or inspector in charge shall also have power to require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses before said inspectors and the production of books, papers, and documents touching the right of any alien to enter, reenter, reside in, or pass through the United States, and to that end may invoke the aid of any court of the United States; and any district court within the jurisdiction of which investigations are being conducted by an immigrant inspector may, in the event of neglect or refusal to respond to a subpoena issued by any commissioner of immigration or inspector in charge or refusal to testify before said immigrant inspector, issue an order requiring such person to appear before said immigrant inspector, produce books, papers, and documents if demanded, and testify; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by the court as a contempt thereof. That any person, including employees, officials, or agents of transportation companies, who shall assault, resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any immigration official or employee in the performance of his duty under this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than $2,000, or both; and any person who shall use any deadly or dangerous weapon in resisting any immigration official or employee in the performance of his duty shall be deemed guilty of a felony and shall, on conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment for not more than ten years. Every alien who may not appear to the examining immigrant inspector at the port of arrival to be clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to land shall be detained for examination in relation thereto by a board of special inquiry. In the event of rejection by the board of special inquiry, in all cases where an appeal to the Secretary of Labor is permitted by this Act, the alien shall be so informed and shall have the right to be represented by counsel or other adviser on such appeal. The decision of an immigrant inspector, if favorable to the admission of any alien, shall be subject to challenge by any other immigrant inspector, and such challenge shall operate to take the alien whose right to land is so challenged before a board of special inquiry for its investigation.
Sec. 17. That boards of special inquiry shall be appointed by the commissioner of immigration or inspector in charge at the various ports of arrival as may be necessary for the prompt determination of all cases of immigrants detained at such ports under the provisions of the law. Each board shall consist of three members, who shall be selected from such of the immigrant officials in the service as the Commissioner General of Immigration, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, shall from time to time designate as qualified to serve on such boards. When in the opinion of the Secretary of Labor the maintenance of a permanent board of special inquiry for service at any sea or land border port is not warranted, regularly constituted boards may be detailed from other stations for temporary service at such port, or, if that be impracticable, the Secretary of Labor shall authorize the creation of boards of special inquiry by the immigration officials in charge at such ports, and shall determine what Government officials or other persons shall be eligible for service on such boards. Such boards shall have authority to determine whether an alien who has been duly held shall be allowed to land or shall be deported. All hearings before such boards shall be separate and apart from the public, but the immigrant may have one friend or relative present under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Labor. Such boards shall keep a complete permanent record of their proceedings and of all such testimony as may be produced before them; and the decisions of any two members of the board shall prevail, but either the alien or any dissenting member of the said board may appeal through the commissioner of immigration at the port of arrival and the Commissioner General of Immigration to the Secretary of Labor, and the taking of such appeal shall operate to stay any action in regard to the final disposal of any alien whose case is so appealed until the receipt by the commissioner of immigration at the port of arrival of such decision which shall be rendered solely upon the evidence adduced before the board of special inquiry. In every case where an alien is excluded from admission into the United States, under any law or treaty now existing or hereafter made, the decision of a board of special inquiry adverse to the admission of such alien shall be final, unless reversed on appeal to the Secretary of Labor:
Provided, That the decision of a board of special inquiry shall be based upon the certificate of the examining medical officer and, except as provided in section twenty-one hereof, shall be final as to the rejection of aliens affected with tuberculosis in any form or with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, or with any mental or physical disability which would bring such aliens within any of the classes excluded from admission to the United States under section three of this Act.
Sec. 18. That all aliens brought to this country in violation of law shall be immediately sent back, in accommodations of the same class in which they arrived, to the country whence they respectively came, on the vessels bringing them, unless in the opinion of the Secretary of Labor immediate deportation is not practicable or proper. The cost of their maintenance while on land, as well as the expense of the return of such aliens, shall be borne by the owner or owners of the vessels on which they respectively came. That it shall be unlawful for any master, purser, person in charge, agent, owner, or consignee of any such vessel to refuse to receive back on board thereof, or on board of any other vessel owned or operated by the same interests, such aliens; or to fail to detain them thereon; or to refuse or fail to return them in the manner aforesaid to the foreign port from which they came; or to fail to pay the cost of their maintenance while on land; or to make any charge for the return of any such alien, or to take any security for the payment of such charge; or to take any consideration to be returned in case the alien is landed; or knowingly to bring to the United States at any time within one year from the date of deportation any alien rejected or arrested and deported under any provision of this Act, unless prior to reembarkation the Secretary of Labor has consented that such alien shall reapply for admission, as required by section three hereof; and if it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor that such master, purser, person in charge, agent, owner, or consignee has violated any of the foregoing provisions, or any of the provisions of section fifteen hereof, such master, purser, person in charge, agent, owner, or consignee shall pay to the collector of customs of the district in which the port of arrival is located, or in which any vessel of the line may be found, the sum of $300 for each and every violation of any provision of said sections; and no vessel shall have clearance from any port of the United States while any such fine is unpaid, nor shall such fine be remitted or refunded: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of such question upon the deposit with the collector of customs of a sum sufficient to cover such fine. If the vessel by which any alien ordered deported came has left the United States and it is impracticable for any reason to deport the alien within a reasonable time by another vessel owned by the same interests, the cost of deportation may be paid by the Government and recovered by civil suit from any agent, owner, or consignee of the vessel: Provided further, That the Commissioner General of Immigration, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, may suspend, upon conditions to be prescribed by the Commissioner General of Immigration, the deportation of any aliens found to have come in violation of any provision of this Act if, in his judgment, the testimony of such alien is necessary on behalf of the United States Government in the prosecution of offenders against any provision of this Act or other laws of the United States; and the cost of maintenance of any person so detained resulting from such suspension of deportation, and a witness fee in the sum of $1 per day for each day such person is so detained, may be paid from the appropriation for the enforcement of this Act, or such alien may be released under bond, in the penalty of not less than $500, with security approved by the Secretary of Labor, conditioned that such alien shall be produced when required as a witness and for deportation. No alien certified, as provided in section sixteen of this Act, to be suffering from tuberculosis in any form, or from a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease other than one of quarantinable nature, shall be permitted to land for medical treatment thereof in any hospital in the United States, unless the Secretary of Labor is satisfied that to refuse treatment would be inhumane or cause unusual hardship or suffering, in which case the alien shall be treated in the hospital under the supervision of the immigration officials at the expense of the vessel transporting him: Provided further, That upon the certificate of an examining medical officer to the effect that the health or safety of an insane alien would be unduly imperiled by immediate deportation, such alien may, at the expense of the appropriation for the enforcement of this Act, be held for treatment until such time as such alien may, in the opinion of such medical officer, be safely deported: Provided further, That upon the certificate of an examining medical officer to the effect that a rejected alien is helpless from sickness, mental or physical disability, or infancy, if such alien is accompanied by another alien whose protection or guardianship is required by such rejected alien, such accompanying alien may also be excluded, and the master, agent, owner, or consignee of the vessel in which such alien and accompanying alien are brought shall be required to return said alien and accompanying alien in the same manner as vessels are required to return other rejected aliens.
Sec. 19. That at any time within five years after entry, any alien who at the time of entry was a member of one or more of the classes excluded by law; any alien who shall have entered or who shall be found in the United States in violation of this Act, or in violation of any other law of the United States; any alien who at any time after entry shall be found advocating or teaching the unlawful destruction of property, or advocating or teaching anarchy, or the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of all forms of law or the assassination of public officials; any alien who within five years after entry becomes a public charge from causes not affirmatively shown to have arisen subsequent to landing; except as hereinafter provided, any alien who is hereafter sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one year or more because of conviction in this country of a crime involving moral turpitude, committed within five years after the entry of the alien to the United States, or who is hereafter sentenced more than once to such a term of imprisonment because of conviction in this country of any crime involving moral turpitude, committed at any time after entry; any alien who shall be found an inmate of or connected with the management of a house of prostitution or practicing prostitution after such alien shall have entered the United States, or who shall receive, share in, or derive benefit from any part of the earnings of any prostitute; any alien who manages or is employed by, in, or in connection with any house of prostitution or music or dance hall or other place of amusement or resort habitually frequented by prostitutes, or where prostitutes gather, or who in any way assists any prostitute or protects or promises to protect from arrest any prostitute; any alien who shall import or attempt to import any person for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose; any alien who, after being excluded and deported or arrested and deported as a prostitute, or as a procurer, or as having been connected with the business of prostitution or importation for prostitution or other immoral purposes in any of the ways hereinbefore specified, shall return to and enter the United States; any alien convicted and imprisoned for a violation of any of the provisions of section four hereof; any alien who was convicted, or who admits the commission, prior to entry, of a felony or other crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude; at any time within three years after entry, any alien who shall have entered the United States by water at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officials, or by land at any place other than one designated as a port of entry for aliens by the Commissioner General of Immigration, or at any time not designated by immigration officials, or who enters without inspection, shall, upon the warrant of the Secretary of Labor, be taken into custody and deported: Provided, That the marriage to an American citizen of a female of the sexually immoral classes the exclusion or deportation of which is prescribed by this Act shall not invest such female with United States citizenship if the marriage of such alien female shall be solemnized after her arrest or after the commission of acts which make her liable to deportation under this Act: Provided further, That the provision of this section respecting the deportation of aliens convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude shall not apply to one who has been pardoned nor shall such deportation be made or directed if the court, or judge thereof, sentencing such alien for such crime shall, at the time of imposing judgment or passing sentence or within thirty days thereafter, due notice having first been given to representatives of the State, make a recommendation to the Secretary of Labor that such alien shall not be deported in pursuance of this Act; nor shall any alien convicted as aforesaid be deported until after the termination of his imprisonment: Provided further, That the provisions of this section, with the exceptions hereinbefore noted, shall be applicable to the classes of aliens therein mentioned irrespective of the time of their entry into the United States: Provided further, That the provisions of this section shall also apply to the cases of aliens who come to the mainland of the United States from the insular possessions thereof: Provided further, That any person who shall be arrested under the provisions of this section, on the ground that he has entered or been found in the United States in violation of any other law thereof which imposes on such person the burden of proving his right to enter or remain, and who shall fail to establish the existence of the right claimed, shall be deported to the place specified in such other law. In every case where any person is ordered deported from the United States under the provisions of this Act, or of any law or treaty, the decision of the Secretary of Labor shall be final.
Sec. 20. That the deportation of aliens provided for in this Act shall, at the option of the Secretary of Labor, be to the country whence they came or to the foreign port at which such aliens embarked for the United States; or, if such embarkation was for foreign contiguous territory, to the foreign port at which they embarked for such territory; or, if such aliens entered foreign contiguous territory from the United States and later entered the United States, or if such aliens are held by the country from which they entered the United States not to be subjects or citizens of such country, and such country refuses to permit their reentry, or imposes any condition upon permitting reentry, then to the country of which such aliens are subjects or citizens, or to the country in which they resided prior to entering the country from which they entered the United States. If deportation proceedings are instituted at any time within five years after the entry of the alien, such deportation, including one-half of the entire cost of removal to the port of deportation, shall be at the expense of the contractor, procurer, or other person by whom the alien was unlawfully induced to enter the United States, or, if that can not be done, then the cost of removal to the port of deportation shall be at the expense of the appropriation for the enforcement of this Act, and the deportation from such port shall be at the expense of the owner or owners of such vessels or transportation line by which such aliens respectively came, or, if that is not practicable, at the expense of the appropriation for the enforcement of this Act. If deportation proceedings are instituted later than five years after the entry of the alien, or, if the deportation is made by reason of causes arising subsequent to entry, the cost thereof shall be payable from the appropriation for the enforcement of this Act. A failure or refusal on the part of the masters, agents, owners, or consignees of vessels to comply with the order of the Secretary of Labor to take on board, guard safely, and transport to the destination specified any alien ordered to be deported under the provisions of this Act shall be punished by the imposition of the penalties prescribed in section eighteen of this Act: Provided, That when in the opinion of the Secretary of Labor the mental or physical condition of such alien is such as to require personal care and attendance, the said Secretary shall when necessary employ a suitable person for that purpose, who shall accompany such alien to his or her final destination, and the expense incident to such service shall be defrayed in the same manner as the expense of deporting the accompanied alien is defrayed. Pending the final disposal of the case of any alien so taken into custody, he may be released under a bond in the penalty of not less than $500 with security approved by the Secretary of Labor, conditioned that such alien such be produced when required for a hearing or hearings in regard to the charge upon which he has been taken into custody, and for deportation if he shall be found to be unlawfully within the United States.
Sec. 21. That any alien liable to be excluded because likely to become a public charge or because of physical disability other than tuberculosis in any form or a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease may, if otherwise admissible, nevertheless be admitted in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor upon the giving of a suitable and proper bond or undertaking, approved by said Secretary, in such amount and containing such conditions as he may prescribe, to the United States and to all States, Territories, counties, towns, municipalities, and districts thereof, holding the United States and all States, Territories, counties, towns, municipalities, and districts thereof harmless against such alien becoming a public charge. In lieu of such bond, such alien may deposit in cash with the Secretary of Labor such amount as the Secretary of Labor may require, which amount shall be deposited by said Secretary in the United States Postal Savings Bank, a receipt therefor to be given the person furnishing said sum, showing the fact and object of its receipt and such other information as said Secretary may deem advisable. All accruing interest on said deposit during the time same shall be held in the United States Postal Savings Bank shall be paid to the person furnishing the sum for deposit. In the event of such alien becoming a public charge, the Secretary of Labor shall dispose of said deposit in the same manner as if same had been collected under a bond as provided in this section. In the event of the permanent departure from the United States, the naturalization, or the death of such alien, the said sum shall be returned to the person by whom furnished, or to his legal representatives. The admission of such alien shall be a consideration for the giving of such bond, undertaking, or cash deposit. Suit may be brought thereon in the name and by the proper law officers either of the United States Government or of any State, Territory, District, county, town, or municipality in which such alien becomes a public charge.
Sec. 22. That whenever an alien shall have been naturalized or shall have taken up his permanent residence in this country, and thereafter shall send for his wife or minor children to join him, and said wife or any of said minor children shall be found to be affected with any contagious disorder, such wife or minor children shall be held, under such regulations as the Secretary of Labor shall prescribe, until it shall be determined whether the disorder will be easily curable or whether they can be permitted to land without danger to other persons; and they shall not be either admitted or deported until such facts have been ascertained; and if it shall be determined that the disorder is easily curable and the husband or father or other responsible person is willing to bear the expense of the treatment, they may be accorded treatment in hospital until cured and then be admitted, or if it shall be determined that they can be permitted to land without danger to other persons, they may, if otherwise admissible, thereupon be admitted: Provided, That if the person sending for wife or minor children is naturalized, a wife to whom married or a minor child born subsequent to such husband or father's naturalization shall be admitted without detention for treatment in hospital, and with respect to a wife to whom married or a minor child born prior to such husband or father's naturalization the provisions of this section shall be observed, even though such person is unable to pay the expense of treatment, in which case the expense shall be paid from the appropriation for the enforcement of this Act.
Sec. 23. That the Commissioner General of Immigration shall perform all his duties under the direction of the Secretary of Labor. Under such direction he shall have charge of the administration of all laws relating to the immigration of aliens into the United States, and shall have the control, direction, and supervision of all officers, clerks, and employees appointed thereunder; he shall establish such rules and regulations, prescribe such forms of bond, reports, entries, and other papers, and shall issue from time to time such instructions not inconsistent with law, as he shall deem best calculated for carrying out the provisions of this Act and for protecting the United States and aliens migrating thereto from fraud and loss, and shall have authority to enter into contract for the support and relief of such aliens as may fall into distress or need public aid, and to remove to their native country, at any time within three years after entry, at the expense of the appropriations for the enforcement of this Act, such as fall into distress or need public aid from causes arising subsequent to their entry and are desirous of being so removed; he shall prescribe rules for the entry and inspection of aliens coming to the United States from or through Canada and Mexico, so as not unnecessarily to delay, impede, or annoy persons in ordinary travel between the United States and said countries, and shall have power to enter into contracts with transportation lines for the said purpose. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner General of Immigration to detail officers of the Immigration Service from time to time as may be necessary, in his judgment, to secure information as to the number of aliens detained in the penal, reformatory, and charitable institutions (public and private) of the several States and Territories, the District of Columbia, and other territory of the United States, and to inform the officers of such institutions of the provisions of law in relation to the deportation of aliens who have become public charges. He may, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, whenever in his judgment such action may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this Act, detail immigration officers for service in foreign countries; and, upon his request, approved by the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of the Treasury may detail medical officers of the United States Public Health Service for the performance of duties in foreign countries in connection with the enforcement of this Act. The duties of commissioners of immigration and other immigration officials in charge of districts, ports, or stations shall be of an administrative character, to be prescribed in detail by regulations prepared under the direction or with the approval of the Secretary of Labor: Provided, That no person, company, or transportation line engaged in carrying alien passengers for hire from Canada or Mexico to the United States, whether by land or water, shall be allowed to land any such passengers in the United States without providing suitable and approved landing stations, conveniently located, at the point or points of entry. The Commissioner General of Immigration is hereby authorized and empowered to prescribe he conditions, not inconsistent with law, under which the above-mentioned landing stations shall be deemed suitable within the meaning of this section. Any person, company, or transportation line landing an alien passenger in the United States without compliance with the requirement herein set forth shall be deemed to have violated section eight of this Act, and upon conviction shall be subject to the penalty therein prescribed: Provided further, That for the purpose of making effective the provisions of this section relating to the protection of aliens from fraud and loss, and also the provisions of section thirty of this Act, relating to the distribution of aliens, the Secretary of Labor shall establish and maintain immigrant stations at such interior places as may be necessary, and, in the discretion of the said Secretary, aliens in transit from ports of landing to such interior stations shall be accompanied by immigrant inspectors: Provided further, That in prescribing rules and making contracts for the entry and inspection of aliens applying for admission from or through foreign contiguous territory, due care shall be exercised to avoid any discriminatory action in favor of foreign transportation companies transporting to such territory aliens destined to the United States, and all such transportation companies shall be required, as a condition precedent to the inspection or examination under such rules and contracts at the ports of such contiguous territory of aliens brought thereto by them, to submit to and comply with all the requirements of this Act which would apply were they bringing such aliens directly to seaports of the United States, and, from and after the taking effect of this Act, no alien applying for admission from foreign contiguous territory shall be permitted to enter the United States unless upon proving that he was brought to such territory by a transportation company which had submitted to and complied with all the requirements of this Act, or that he entered, or has resided in, such territory more than two years prior to the date of his application for admission to the United States
Sec. 24. That immigrant inspectors and other immigration officers, clerks, and employees shall hereafter be appointed and their compensation fixed and raised or decreased from time to time by the Secretary of Labor, upon the recommendation of the Commissioner General of Immigration and in accordance with the provisions of the civil-service Act of January sixteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-three: Provided, That said Secretary, in the enforcement of that portion of this Act which excludes contract laborers and induced and assisted immigrants, may employ, for such purposes and for detail upon additional service under this Act when not so engaged, without reference to the provisions of the said civil-service Act, or to the various Acts relative to the compilation of the Official Register, such persons as he may deem advisable and from time to time fix, raise, or decrease their compensation. He may draw annually from the appropriation for the enforcement of this Act $100,000, or as much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended for the salaries and expenses of persons so employed and for expenses incident to such employment; and the accounting officers of the Treasury shall pass to the credit of the proper disbursing officer expenditures from said sum without itemized account whenever the Secretary of Labor certifies that an itemized account would not be for the best interests of the Government: Provided further, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to alter the mode of appointing commissioners of immigration at the several ports of the United States as provided by the sundry civil appropriation Act approved August eighteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, or the official status of such commissioners heretofore appointed.
Sec. 25. That the district courts of the United States are hereby invested with full jurisdiction of all causes, civil and criminal, arising under any of the provisions of this Act. That it shall be the duty of the United States district attorney of the proper district to prosecute every such suit when brought by the United States under this Act. Such prosecutions or suits may be instituted at any place in the United States at which the violation may occur or at which the person charged with such violation may be found. That no suit or proceeding for a violation of the provisions of this Act shall be settled, compromised, or discontinued without the consent of the court in which it is pending, entered of record, with the reasons therefor.
Sec. 26. That all exclusive privileges of exchanging money, transporting passengers or baggage, or keeping eating houses, and all other like privileges in connection with any United States immigrant station, shall be disposed of to the lowest responsible and capable bidder, after public competition, notice of such competitive bidding having been made in two newspapers of general circulation for a period of two weeks, subject to such conditions and limitations as the Commissioner General of Immigration, under the direction or with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, may prescribe, and all receipts accruing from the disposal of privileges shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States. No such contract shall be awarded to an alien. No intoxicating liquors shall be sold at any such immigration station.
Sec. 27. That for the preservation of the peace and in order that arrests may be made for crimes under the laws of the States and Territories of the United States where the various immigrant stations are located, the officers in charge of such stations, as occasion may require, shall admit therein the proper State and municipal officers charged with the enforcement of such laws, and for the purpose of this section the jurisdiction of such officers and of the local courts shall extend over such stations.
Sec. 28. That any person who knowingly aids or assists any anarchist or any person who believes in or advocates the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States, or who disbelieves in or is opposed to organized government, or all forms of law, or who advocates the assassination of public officials, or who is a member of or affiliated with any organization entertaining or teaching disbelief in or opposition to organized government, or who advocates or teaches the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or killing of any officer or officers, either of specific individuals or of officers generally, of the Government of the United States or of any other organized government, because of his or their official character, to enter the United States, or who connives or conspires with any person or persons to allow, procure, or permit any such anarchist or person aforesaid to enter therein, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $5,000 or by imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.
Any person who knowingly aids or assists any alien who advocates or teaches the unlawful destruction of property to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Sec. 29. That the President of the United States is authorized, in the name of the Government of the United States, to call, in his discretion, an international conference, to assemble at such point as may be agreed upon, or to send special commissioners to any foreign country, for the purpose of regulating by international agreement, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, the immigration of aliens to the United States; of providing for the mental, moral, and physical examination of such aliens by American consuls or other officers of the United States Government at the ports of embarkation, or elsewhere; of securing the assistance of foreign Governments in their own territories to prevent the evasion of the laws of the United States governing immigration to the United States; of entering into such international agreements as may be proper to prevent the immigration of aliens who, under the laws of the United States, are or may be excluded from entering the United States, and of regulating any matters pertaining to such immigration.
Sec. 30. That there shall be maintained a division of information in the Bureau of Immigration; and the Secretary of Labor shall provide such clerical and other assistance as may be necessary. It shall be the duty of said division to promote a beneficial distribution of aliens admitted into the United States among the several States and Territories desiring immigration. Correspondence shall be had with the proper officials of the States and Territories, and said division shall gather from all available sources useful information regarding the resources, products, and physical characteristics of each State and Territory, and shall publish such information in different languages and distribute the publications among all admitted aliens at the immigrant stations of the United States and to such other persons as may desire the same. When any State or Territory appoints and maintains an agent or agents to represent it at any of the immigrant stations of the United States, such agents shall, under regulations prescribed by the Commissioner General of Immigration, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Labor, have access to aliens who have been admitted to the United States for the purpose of presenting, either orally or in writing, the special inducements offered by such State or Territory to aliens to settle therein. While on duty at any immigrant station such agents shall be subject to all the regulations prescribed by the Commissioner General of Immigration, who, with the approval of the Secretary of Labor, may, for violation of any such regulations, deny to the agent guilty of such violation any of the privileges herein granted.
Sec. 31. That any person, including the owner, agent, consignee, or master of any vessel arriving in the United States from any foreign port or place, who shall knowingly sign on the ship's articles, or bring to the United States as one of the crew of such vessel, any alien, with intent to permit such alien to land in the United States in violation of the laws and treaties of the United States regulating the immigration of aliens, or who shall falsely and knowingly represent to the immigration authorities at the port of arrival that any such alien is a bona fide member of the crew, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding $5,000, for which, sum the said vessel shall be liable and may be seized and proceeded against by way of libel in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the offense.
Sec. 32. That no alien excluded from admission into the United States by any law, convention, or treaty of the United States regulating the immigration of aliens, and employed on board any vessel arriving in the United States from any foreign port or place, shall be permitted to land in the United States, except temporarily for medical treatment, or pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Labor providing for the ultimate removal or deportation of such alien from the United States, and the negligent failure of the owner, agent, consignee, or master of such vessel to detain on board any such alien after notice in writing by the immigration officer in charge at the port of arrival, and to deport such alien, if required by such immigration officer or by the Secretary of Labor, shall render such owner, agent, consignee, or master liable to a penalty not exceeding $1,000, for which sum the said vessel shall be liable, and may be seized and proceeded against by way of libel in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the offense.
Sec. 33. That it shall be unlawful and be deemed a violation of the preceding section to pay off or discharge any alien employed on board any vessel arriving in the United States from any foreign port or place, unless duly admitted pursuant to the laws and treaties of the United States regulating the immigration of aliens: Provided, That in case any such alien intends to reship on board any other vessel bound to any foreign port or place, he shall be allowed to land for the purpose of so reshipping, under such regulations as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe to prevent aliens not admissible under any law, convention, or treaty from remaining permanently in the United States, and may be paid off, discharged, and permitted to remove his effects, anything in such laws or treaties or in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding, provided due notice of such proposed action be given by the master or the seaman himself to the principal immigration officer in charge at the port of arrival.
Sec. 34. That any alien seaman who shall land in a port of the United States contrary to the provisions of this Act shall be deemed to be unlawfully in the United States, and shall, at any time within three years thereafter, upon the warrant of the Secretary of Labor, be taken into custody and brought before a board of special inquiry for examination as to his qualifications for admission to the United States, and if not admitted said alien seaman shall be deported at the expense of the appropriation for this Act as provided in section twenty of this Act.
Sec. 35. That it shall be unlawful for any vessel carrying passengers between a port of the United States and a port of a foreign country, upon arrival in the United States, to have on board employed thereon any alien afflicted with idiocy, imbecility, insanity, epilepsy, tuberculosis in any form, or a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease, if it appears to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor, from an examination made by a medical officer of the United States Public Health Service, and is so certified by such officer, that any such alien was so afflicted at the time he was shipped or engaged and taken on board such vessel and that the existence of such affliction might have been detected by means of a competent medical examination at such time; and for every such alien so afflicted on board any such vessel at the time of arrival the owner, agent, consignee, or master thereof shall pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrival is located the sum of $50, and pending departure of the vessel the alien shall be detained and treated in hospital under supervision of immigration officials at the expense of the vessel; and no vessel shall be granted clearance pending the determination of the question of the liability to the payment of such fine and while it remains unpaid: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of such question upon the deposit of a sum sufficient to cover such fine: Provided further, That such fine may, in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor, be mitigated or remitted.
Sec. 36. That upon arrival of any vessel in the United States from any foreign port or place it shall be the duty of the owner, agent, consignee, or master thereof to deliver to the principal immigration officer in charge of the port of arrival lists containing the names of all aliens employed on such vessel, stating the positions they respectively hold in the ship's company, when and where they were respectively shipped or engaged, and specifying those to be paid off and discharged in the port of arrival; or lists containing so much of such information as the Secretary of Labor shall by regulation prescribe; and after the arrival of any such vessel it shall be the duty of such owner, agent, consignee, or master to report to such immigration officer, in writing, as soon as discovered, all cases in which any such alien has illegally landed from the vessel, giving a description of such alien, together with any information likely to lead to his apprehension; and before the departure of any such vessel it shall be the duty of such owner, agent, consignee, or master to deliver to such immigration officer a further list containing the names of all alien employees who were not employed thereon at the time of the arrival but who will leave port thereon at the time of her departure, and also the names of those, if any, who have been paid off and discharged, and of those, if any, who have deserted or landed; and in case of the failure of such owner, agent, consignee, or master so to deliver either of the said lists of such aliens arriving and departing, respectively, or so to report such cases of desertion or landing, such owner, agent, consignee, or master shall, if required by the Secretary of Labor, pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrival is located the sum of $10 for each alien concerning whom correct lists are not delivered or a true report is not made as above required; and no such vessel shall be granted clearance pending the determination of the question of the liability to the payment of such fine, and, in the event such fine is imposed, while it remains unpaid; nor shall such fine be remitted or refunded: Provided, That clearance may be granted prior to the determination of such question upon deposit of a sum sufficient to cover such fine.
Sec. 37. That the word "person" as used in this Act shall be construed to import both plural and the singular, as the case may be, and shall include corporations, companies, and associations. When construing and enforcing the provisions of this Act, the act, omission, of failure of any director, officer, agent, or employee of any corporation, company, or association acting within the scope of his employment or office shall in every case be deemed to be the act, omission, of failure of such corporation, company, or association, as well as that of the person acting for or in behalf of such corporation, company, or association.
Sec. 38. That this Act, except as otherwise provided in section three, shall take effect and be enforced on and after May first, nineteen hundred and seventeen. The Act of March twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and ten, amending the Act of February twentieth, nineteen hundred and seven, to regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States; the Act of February twentieth, nineteen hundred and seven, to regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States, except section thirty-four thereof; the Act of March third, nineteen hundred and three, to regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States, except section thirty-four thereof; and all other Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed on and after the taking effect of this Act: Provided, That this Act shall not be construed to repeal, alter, or amend existing laws relating to the immigration or exclusion of Chinese persons or persons of Chinese descent, except as provided in section nineteen hereof, nor to repeal, alter, or amend section six, chapter four hundred and fifty-three, third session Fifty-eighth Congress, approved February sixth, nineteen hundred and five, nor to repeal, alter, or amend the Act approved August second, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled "An Act to regulate the carriage of passengers by sea," and amendments thereto, except as provided in section eleven hereof: Provided further, That nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to affect any prosecution, suit, action, or proceedings brought, or any act, thing, or matter, civil or criminal, done or existing at the time of the taking effect of this Act, except as mentioned in the third proviso of section nineteen hereof; but as to all such prosecutions, suits, actions, proceedings, acts, things, or matters, the laws or parts of laws repealed or amended by this Act are hereby continued in force and effect.
Champ Clark,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Thos. R. Marshall
Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate.

In the House of Representatives of the United States.
February 1, 1917.
The President of the United States having returned to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, the bill (H. R. 10384) "To regulate the immigration of aliens to, and the residence of aliens in the United States," with his objections thereto, the House proceeded in pursuance of the Constitution to reconsider the same; and Resolved, That the said bill pass, two thirds of the House of Representatives agreeing to pass the same.
Attest:
South Trimble
Clerk.
In the Senate of the United States. February 5, 1917.
The Senate having proceeded, in pursuance of the Constitution, to reconsider the bill (H. R. 10384) entitled "An Act to regulate the immigration of aliens to, and the residence of aliens in, the United States," returned to the House of Representatives by the President of the United States, with his objections, and sent by the House of Representatives to the Senate with the message of the President returning the bill,
Resolved, that the bill do pass, two-thirds of the Senate agreeing to pass the same.
Attest:
James M. Baker.
Secretary.