Chapter 551.
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CHAP. 551.— An act in amendment to the various acts relative to immigration and the importation of aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor.March 3, 1891. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Alien labor immigration. That the following classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into the United Classes denied admission.States, in accordance with the existing acts regulating immigration, other than those concerning Chinese laborers:
All idiots, insane persons, paupers or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease, persons who have been convicted of a felony or other infamous crime Assisted immigrants.or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, polygamists, and also any person whose ticket or passage is paid for with the money of another or who is assisted by others to come, unless it is affirmatively and satisfactorily shown on special inquiry that such person does not Under contract.belong to one of the foregoing excluded classes, or to the class of Vol. 23, p. 332.contract laborers excluded by the act of February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, but this section shall not be held to exclude Relatives.persons living in the United States from sending for a relative or friend who is not of the excluded classes under such regulations as *Proviso*.the Secretary of the Treasury may proscribe: *Provided*, That nothing in this act shall be construed to apply to or exclude persons Political offenders.convicted of a political offense, notwithstanding said political offense may be designated as a “felony, crime, infamous crime, or misdemeanor, involving moral turpitude” by the laws of the land whence he came or by the court convicting.
Sec. 2. That no suit or proceeding for violations of said act ofCompromise of suits. February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, prohibiting the importation and migration of foreigners under contract or agreement to perform labor, shall be settled, compromised, or discontinued without the consent of the court entered of record with, reasons therefor. Sec. 3. That it shall be deemed a violation of said act of FebruaryResponse to foreign advertisements deemed contract. twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, to assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien by promise of employment through advertisements printed and published in any foreign country; and any alien coming to this country in consequence of such an advertisement shall be treated as coming under a contract as contemplated by such act; and the penalties by said act imposed shall be *Proviso*.applicable in such a case: *Provided* This section shall not apply to State Bureaus.States and Immigration Bureaus of States advertising the inducements they offer for immigration to such States.
Sec. 4. That no steamship or transportation company or ownersSoliciting immigration forbidden. of vessels shall directly, or through agents, either by writing, printing, or oral representations, solicit, invite or encourage the immigration of any alien into the United States except by ordinary commercial letters, circulars, advertisements, or oral representations, stating the sailings of their vessels and the terms and facilities of Violation.transportation therein; and for a violation of this provisionally such FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Ch. 551. 1891.1085 steamship or transportation company, and any such owners of vessels, and the agents by them employed, shall be subjected to the penalties imposed by the third section of said act of February twenty-sixth,Vol. 23, p. 233. eighteen hundred and eighty-five, for violations of the provision of the first section of said act. Sec. 5. That section five of said act of February twenty-sixth,Additional exceptions to classes prohibited. Vol. 23, p. 233. eighteen hundred and eighty-five, shall be, and hereby is, amended by adding to the second proviso in said section the words “nor to ministers of any religious denomination, nor persons belonging to any recognized profession, nor professors for colleges and seminaries,” and by excluding from the second proviso of said section the words “or any relative or personal friend.
” Sec. 6. That any person who shall bring into or land in the UnitedPenalty for aiding, etc., illegal landing. States by vessel or otherwise, or who shall aid to bring into or land in the United States by vessel or otherwise, any alien not lawfully entitled to enter the United States shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Sec. 7. That the office of superintendent of immigration is herebySuperintendent of immigration to be appointed. created and established, and the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, is authorized and directed to appoint such officer, whose salary shall be four thousand dollars per annum, payable monthly. The superintendent of immigration shall be an officer in the Treasury Department, under the control and supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whom he shall make annual reports in writing of the transactions of his office, together withReports, etc. such special reports, in writing, as the Secretary of the Treasury shall require.
The Secretary shall provide the superintendent with a suitable furnished office in the city of Washington, and with suchOffice,etc. books of record and facilities for the discharge of the duties of his office as may be necessary. He shall have a chief clerk, at a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, and two first-class clerks. Sec. 8. That upon the arrival by water at any place within theInflection of immigrants on arrival. United States of any alien immigrants it shall be the duty of the commanding officer and the agents of the steam or sailing vessel by which they came to report the name, nationality, last residence, and destination of every such alien, before any of them are landed, to the proper inspection officers, who shall thereupon go or send competent assistants on board such vessel and there inspect all such aliens, or the inspection officers may order a temporary removal of such aliens for examination at a designated time and place, and then and there detain them until a thorough inspection is made.
But such removal shall not be considered a landing during the pendency of such examination. The medical examination shall be made byMedical examination. surgeons of the Marine Hospital Service. In cases where the services of a Marine Hospital Surgeon can not be obtained without causing unreasonable delay the inspector may cause an alien to be examined by a civil surgeon and the Secretary of the Treasury shall fix the compensation for such examination. The inspection officers and their assistants shall have power to administer oaths, and to take and considerPowers, etc., of inspection officers. testimony touching the right of any such aliens to enter the United States, all of which shall be entered of record.
During such inspection after temporary removal the superintendent shall cause such aliens to be properly housed, fed. and cared for, and also, in his discretion, such as are delayed in proceeding to their destination after inspection. All decisions made by the inspection officers or their assistants touching the right of any alien to land, when adverse to such right, shall be final unless appeal betaken to the superintendent of immigration, whose action shall be subject to review by the Secretary of the Treasury.
It shall be the duty of the aforesaid officers and agents of such vessel to adopt due precautions to prevent thePrevention of landing before inspection. 1086 landing of any alien immigrant at anyplace or time other than that designated by the inspection officers, and any such officer or agent or person in charge of such vessel who shall either knowingly or negligently land or permit to land any alien immigrant at any place or time other than that designated by the inspection officers, shall be deemed Penalty for violation.guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
That the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe rules for inspectionRules for border transit. along the borders of Canada, British Columbia, and Mexico so as not to obstruct or unnecessarily delay, impede, or annoy passengers*Proviso*. in ordinary travel between said countries: *Provided*, That not Inspectors.exceeding one inspector shall be appointed for each customs district, and whose salary shall not exceed twelve hundred dollars per year. All duties imposed and powers conferred by the second section ofDuties of inspection Officers.
Vol. 22, p. 214. the act of August third, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, upon State commissioners, boards, or officers acting under contract with the Secretary of the Treasury shall be performed and exercised, as-occasion may arise, by the inspection officers of the United States. Sec. 9. That for the preservation of the peace and in order thatJurisdiction extended to State authorities to preserve peace, etc. arrests may be made for crimes under the laws of the States where the various United States immigrant stations are located, the officials 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 purposes of this section the jurisdiction of such officers and of the local courts shall extend over such stations.
Sec. 10. That all aliens who may unlawfully come to the UnitedReturn of unlawful immigrants. States shall, if practicable, be immediately sent back on the vessel Cost.by which they were brought in. 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 vessel on which such aliens came: and if any master, agent, consignee, or owner of such vessel shall refuse to receive back on board the vessel such aliens, or shall neglect to detain them thereon, or shall refuse or neglect to return them to the port from which they came, or to pay the cost of their maintenance while on land, such master, agent, consignee, or owner Penalty for failure to return.shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine not less than three hundred dollars for each and every offense; and any such vessel shall not have clearance from any port of the United States while any such fine is unpaid.
Sec. 11. That any alien who shall come into the United States inReturn in one year of alien unlawfully here, etc. violation of law may be returned as by law provided, at any time within one year thereafter, at the expense of the person or persons, vessel, transportation company, or corporation bringing such alien into the United States, and if that can not be done, then at the expense of the United States; and any alien who becomes a public charge within one year after his arrival in the United States from causes existing prior to his landing therein shall be deemed to have come in violation of law and shall be returned as aforesaid.
Sec. 12. That nothing contained in this act shall be construed toPending actions not affected. affect any prosecution or other proceeding, criminal or civil, begun under any existing act or any acts hereby amended, but such prosecution or other proceedings, criminal or civil, shall proceed as if this act had not been passed. Sec. 13. That the circuit and district courts of the United StatesJurisdiction of courts. are hereby invested with full and concurrent jurisdiction of all causes, civil and criminal, arising under any of the provisions of this act; and this act shall go into effect on the first day of April,, eighteen hundred and ninety-one.
Approved, March 3, 1891.