To discuss the issue of the political prosecution of the foreign born
residing in the United States it is necessary to refer back to the McCarthy
witchhunt of the 1950's. This mass hysteria was promoted and sustained by
the mainstream newspapers, television and radio. It was aimed at the labor
unions, senior citizens, groups, and certain liberal grass roots organizations.
But particularly, it is my opinion, the real target of this process was
the labor unions.

President Truman led the process by mandating through his executive order
that all government employees take a loyalty oath.

Loyalty or disloyalty is a very private matter because there is no way,
with or without oaths, that the secrecy of one's inmost thoughts can be
known. Therefore, it is obvious that the sole purpose of the loyalty oath
was to intimidate people into suppressing their ideas on controversial issues.

Those who refused to conform were punished by loss of employment, by
expulsion from their union or other organizations. The progressive leadership
of these organizations, particularly the leadership of the unions, was purged,
leaving the power in the hands of compromising, do-nothing bureaucrats.

The most vulnerable section of our population is the foreign born. They
are the newcomers seeking a better life, or to avoid compulsory military
service in their native land.

The reason they are exceptionally vulnerable is that immigration proceedings
are held under civil not criminal law. The Bill of Rights does not extend
to civil cases. Hence, the Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS)
had a field day during the McCarthy period.

A similar situation had existed just after World War I when the INS conducted
what was known as the Palmer Raids. In the middle of the night thousands
of foreign born were routed out of bed and without hearings they were loaded
onto ships and returned to their native lands. There was very little resistance
from the general public as little was known about what was going on.

Fortified by the passage over President Truman's veto in 1952 of the
infamous Walter McCarran Act, the INS brought proceedings for either deportation
or denaturalization against hundreds of foreign born.

However, in the 50's things were different. There was a great increase
in the technology of communication. People did know what was going on and
they sprung into action to protect the foreign born.

There were some 400 persons arrested on political charges and held for
deportation. Fourteen of them were in California, Oregon and Washington,
five in Washington.

One of the most noted person under attack was the president of the longshoremen's
union, Australian-born Harry Bridges. The INS did not succeed in deporting
him because almost the entire labor movement came to his defense.

The cannery workers, most of whom were Filipinos, were a special target
of the INS. Their leaders fought corruption in their union and on the job.
Among them were Ernesto Mangaoang, Chris Mensalvos, Ponce Torres, and others.
They as well as many Mexican workers were continually harassed by the INS.

The gifted singer and actor, Paul Robeson, wrote in his book Here
I stand: "Those who tell the world that racism in American life
is merely a fading hangover from the past... cannot explain away the infamous
Walter-McCarrlan Act...no decree of Nazi Germany was more foully racist
than this American law. . . "

I was one who came under the gun of the INS. I was born in Canada and
came to the United States in 1923. I was a member of the Communist Party
during the Great Depression of the 30's. Thirteen years after I left the
Party I was arrested and charged with trying to overthrow the government
by force and violence. My friends bailed me out for $500.

I understand that bail is usually set so high that the bailee will not
attempt to leave the country. They must have known that I was the last person
who would want to leave the country. After you get home tonight just try
to see the logic of that. But don't ask me to explain this during the question
period.

There were others who were charged with trying to overthrow the government.
Among them was James Crane, born in Ireland. He also was a member of the
Communist Party.

Julius Blickfeldt, a Danish Farm boy, came to the United States to work
on his uncle's farm near Seattle. He, too, was a member of the Communist
Party.

Norwegian born Tora Rystad was never a Communist, but allegedly her husband
was. This would seem to be a case of "guilt by association."

Boris Sasief escaped to the United States from Georgia in Russia to avoid
military conscription. His "crime" was to work in a bookstore
that carried Marxist and other political writers' books.

Gunnar Paulson, Swedish born house painter, and his Russian born wife,
Clara, were the victims of the INS who sought to denaturalize them and then
deport Gunnar to Sweden and Clara to Russia.

David Hyun was saved from deportation to South Korea where he would have
faced certain death by the brutal dictatorship then in power.

Citizen groups were created to defend these deportees. Nationally, Abner
Green, chairman of the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign
Born, spent six months in prisoner for refusing to give the names of contributors
to the Committee.

Very few of those arrested were ultimatly deported. Two in the West were
Hamish McRay, who earned a precarious living after having been expelled
from his carpenter's union, was sent to Canada. He was met at the border
by a delegation from the Canadian carpenters' union, given a job and a place
to live. He and his wife lived out their lives there in peace and comfort.

The other was Bill Mackie , who within two years after being deported
was returned to his home and family by Congressional action.

Throughout all this legal turmoil in the courts the victims, almost all
of whom were poor people, were represented by pro bono attorneys. Prominent
among them were John Caughlan and C.T. Hatten. I was John's secretary for
the last twenty years of my gainful employment. He was my pro bobo attorney.
We still argue. I say I worked for John and he says he worked for me. Attorneys
all over the country worked without, or with very little, pay.

Without these attorneys, all would have been deported. Deportation is
another word for "exile." Shakespear's Romeo said "Be merciful,
say, death,. For exile hath more terror in his look, much more than death;
do not say "banishment." I agree with Romeo. It would be a bad
trip.

I want to leave the past now (even though it is always with us) and examine
what is going on today.

Today there are thousands of immigrants who are being prosecuted under
the Immigration Reform Act passed by Congress in 1997. The critics say the
new rules could tear apart families with legitimate claims to U.S. residency.
Many immigrants in the Puget Sound area believe their lives and futures
are hanging in the balance.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer of September 25, 1998, devoted more than
a page to individual cases under the headline "Millions of families
may be broken apart as the new immigration law kicks in.. Several case histories
were given.

The article stated: "Pedro, a U.S. citizen, has two sons, 21 and
24, who support him. They live with him in a small two-bedroom apartment
(in Seattle) where the sons are awaiting their green cards. Under old immigration
laws they could stay in Seattle while waiting. Now, however, that provision
ends. The two young men will be required to return to Mexico and wait for
their permanent residence. There is no way they can support their father
from Mexico. The wait could take years.

"A 50-year-old Chinese woman says she would rather die than return
to Hong Kong.

"Cele Rodriquez with husband, Noel, and son, Francisco, is among
300,000 Central American refugees whose future will be in limbo unless Congress
acts. Returning to Nicaragua without her family frightens Cela.

These are examples of what face thousands of immigrants under the new
Immigration Reform Act.

Things happen fast in a vacillating Congress. Help may be forthcoming;
but, then, maybe not. But for me, now a U.S. citizen, I am spared anxiety.
I will never fail to be grateful to the many, many concerned citizens and
pro bono lawyers who prevented my deportation to a country of strangers,
and who made it possible that I am living here in the comfort of my family
and friends.