*13 D. The Criminal Entry And Reentry Provisions Of The Undesirable Aliens Act Of 1929 Were Crafted As A Solution To The “Mexican Problem”

 

Ultimately, the two sides resolved their differences over how to deal with the “Mexican problem” by creating the unauthorized entry and reentry statutes. As the 1920s wore on, Nativists' patience was wearing thin. But the economy of the Southwestern United States remained critically dependent on Mexican immigrant labor. Crafting a legislative policy that imposed draconian limits on the number of Mexicans who could cross the border was politically infeasible, even if both sides of the debate shared a white supremacist disdain for the Mexican immigrant community. The ground was fertile for a compromise, and Senator Coleman Livingston Blease-with the help of Secretary of Labor James Davis-proposed a way to mollify both the Nativists and the agribusiness lobby. His idea would eventually become the Undesirable Aliens Act of 1929, including its provisions criminalizing unauthorized entry and reentry after deportation.

According to one biographer, Senator Blease exhibited a “Negro-phobia that knew no bounds.” City of Inmates 137 (quoting Kenneth Wayne Mixon, The Senatorial Career of Coleman Blease 5 (1967) (The Senatorial Career) (M.A. thesis, University of South Carolina)). Blease began his career in government in the South Carolina state assembly, where “his first legislative proposal was a bill to racially segregate all railroad cars in South Carolina.” Ibid. He later became the state's governor before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1925. Ibid.

Senator Blease telegraphed his views on race openly during his single term in Congress. For example, he spoke out against the establishment of a world court because he could not stand the thought of a “court where we [Anglo-Americans] are to sit side by side with a full *14 blooded ‘[n*****].’ ” City of Inmates 137 (quoting The Senatorial Career 30).

In another incident, after First Lady Lou Hoover invited the African American wife of a congressman to tea at the White House, Senator Blease attempted to introduce a formal resolution demanding that the president and his wife “remember that the house in which they are temporarily residing is the ‘White House.’ ” $%^3 Within the resolution was the text of a poem titled “[N******] in the White House,”which Senator Blease asked to be read into the congressional record. $%^4 Upon objection from a fellow legislator, Senator Blease agreed to withdraw it from the record. 71 Cong. Rec. 2946-2947 (1929). But Senator Blease wanted to make his reason very clear: “I have accomplished what I wanted by having it read here[.] * * * [I]n withdrawing it from the record I am doing it because it gives offence to the Senator from Connecticut and not because it may give offence to the [n******].” $%^5

As noted above, Senator Blease did not act alone in crafting the 1929 Act. He was assisted by Secretary of Labor James Davis, who was a strong advocate of Dr. *15 Harry H. Laughlin's eugenics theories. $%^6 See Hans P. Vought, The Bully Pulpit 173 (2004). Secretary Davis had previously warned of the “rat-men” coming to the United States via the southern border who would jeopardize the American gene pool. James J. Davis, The Iron Puddler: My Life in the Rolling Mills and What Came of It 61 (1922). Like others, he criticized the 1924 Act for closing “the front door to immigration,” while leaving the “back door wide open.” James J. Davis, Selective Immigration 207 (1925).

After the 1924 Act was passed, Davis sponsored a study by Princeton economics professor Robert Foerster on the subject of the “racial problems” of Latin American immigration. Robert F. Foerster, Report Submitted to the U.S. Dep't of Labor, The Racial Problems Involved in Immigration from Latin America and the West Indies to the United States (1925). The report was subsequently incorporated into the permanent records of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House of Representatives as it discussed the potential revision of the 1924 Act. Immigration from LatinAmerica, the West Indies, and Canada: Hearings Before the House Comm. on Immigration and Naturalization, 68th Cong., 2d Sess. 303-338 (1925). In his report, Professor Foerster provided a racial analysis of Mexico and every country located south of the U.S. border, finding that most of their inhabitants were Indian, Black, or mixed race, all of which he described as “dubious race factor[s].” Id. at 334-335. *16 He strongly advised that further immigration from south of the border be curtailed because “when an immigrant is accepted by the country, a race element or unit is added into the race stock of the country.” Ibid.

Senator Blease and Secretary Davis also found allies in the House of Representatives. First there was Representative John C. Box, discussed supra, who considered the goal of immigration law to be “the protection of American racial stock from further degradation or change through mongrelization.” 69 Cong. Rec. 2817 (1928). The second was Representative Albert Johnson, Chair of the House Immigration and Naturalization Committee, who also headed the Eugenics Research Association. Daniel Okrent, The Guarded Gate: Bigotry, Eugenics, and the Law that Kept Two Generations of Jew, Italians, and Other European Immigrants out of America 271, 326 (2019). Turning to legislation that would exclude the “Mexican race” following the 1924 Act, Representative Johnson explained that while prior reform was economically motivated, now “the fundamental reason for it is biological.” Id. at 3 (quoting Albert Johnson, Immigration, a Legislative Viewpoint, Nation's Bus., July 1923, at 26, 26).

In 1929, Senator Blease and Secretary Davis saw an opportunity to broker a legislative compromise that would address the political debate over Mexican immigration. Their idea would not impose any cap on authorized immigration-as had been fruitlessly attempted-but instead would regulate so-called “unauthorized” migration. They thus proposed legislation that would criminalize unlawful entry into the United States for the first time in the nation's history. City of Inmates 137. “[U]nlawfully entering the country” would become a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine, up to one year in prison, or both. Id. at 138 (quoting Act of March 4,1929, Pub. L. No. 70-1018, ch. *17 690, § 2, 45 Stat. 1551). “Unlawfully returning to the United States after deportation” was classified as a felony, punishable by a $1,000 fine, up to two years in prison, or both. Ibid. (emphasis added). Agribusiness was onboard; they liked the idea of taking advantage of inexpensive labor when they needed it, and making those people disappear at the end of the harvest. See id. at 138 (citing Frisselle Testimony at 8 (“We, in California, would greatly prefer some set up in which our peak labor demands might be met and upon the completion of our harvest these laborers returned to their country.”)).

Notably, the statute did not punish overstaying a visa, only unauthorized entry and reentry after deportation. Thus, it authorized punishment for those who crossed by land-who were overwhelmingly Mexicans-rather than those who overstayed their authorized period of admission-who were overwhelmingly Europeans.

 


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