Office of the Historian

812.504/1392

Memorandum by the American Ambassador in Mexico (Daniels) of a Conversation With the Mexican Minister for Foreign Affairs (Puig)59

Mexico, May 17, 1933.

Under date of May 8, 1933, Ambassador Daniels informed His Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Doctor Puig Casauranc, that according to information received from official sources the United States immigration authorities at Nogales, Arizona, had apprehended two hundred ninety-seven Chinese nationals at that city during the month of March, 1933.

Since the delivery of Mr. Daniels’ note, further information has been received regarding this situation.

It appears that from September, 1931, to the end of February, 1933, two thousand six hundred seventy-six Chinese nationals were deported from that district of the United States Department of Labor having headquarters at El Paso, at a total cost to the immigration appropriation of about three hundred sixty thousand dollars.

It is stated that, although few Chinese still remain in the State of Sonora, the volume of Chinese illegally entering the United States continues, and that many of the Chinese now arriving as refugees in the United States are in fact able to pay their passage to China and [Page 843] are, strictly speaking, not refugees, but come from south of Sonora, taking advantage of the situation to secure a free trip to China.

It has been suggested that if the Chinese are in fact not refugees and are not forced to leave Mexico, the Mexican authorities may be willing to cooperate by refusing to permit these Chinese nationals to proceed to the border, unless they are in possession of documents visaed by American Consular Officers, this being the procedure which was previously adopted in the case of European aliens.

It has been suggested that Mr. William P. Blocker, present American Consul at Ciudad Juárez, be detailed to cooperate with the Mexican authorities in this matter, provided the Mexican Government has no objection.

  1. Copy transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in his despatch No. 81, May 17, 1933; received May 24.↩