File No. 150.01/85.
[Untitled]
Washington, June 18, 1914.
To the Diplomatic Officers of the United States.
Gentlemen: The Department is informed by the Secretary of Labor that the Bureau of Immigration of his Department has often encountered considerable difficulty in its efforts to enforce the immigration laws by reason of the proclivity of some aliens applying for admission to make false statements, and that this practice is due in part to the natural desire of aliens who are not satisfied of their own eligibility to enter the country and to a desire to make a good showing or to keep undisclosed facts of importance, but that to a considerable extent it is the result of coaching and other suggestions made to them by irresponsible agents, runners and others in the country whence they come, and possibly on board of vessels and even at our stations, by copassengers who have had experience with immigration officers.
Under section 24 of the Immigration Act, falsely testifying before an immigrant inspector is constituted perjury; while under section 2 of the said act, the immigration officials are required to exclude aliens who admit the commission of a crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, in which classification perjury has been included.
The Secretary of Labor also informs this Department that it occurs to his Department that a proper and fair enforcement of the law might be materially aided if due publicity could be given in foreign countries to the requirement of the Immigration Service of the United States that aliens shall testify truthfully when examined at our ports.
The Department desires that you bring this matter to the attention of the proper authorities of the Government to which you are accredited in order that their citizens and subjects may be advised of the requirements of the Immigration Laws of the United States and of the danger resulting from violation thereof involving not only the possibility of prosecution in the United States courts but exclusion generally.
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