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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 25, 1919
Ellis Island – FWs, Deported on “Red Special,” Held Incommunicado
From The Survey of February 22, 1919:
The Deportations
[Part II]
Who are the fifty-three men and one woman who reached New York city last week? It is difficult to tell, since they have been held incommunicado at Ellis Island since their ar rival on February 11 to noon of February 17, when this issue of the Survey went to press. All requests of friends, attorneys and representatives of the press to see them have been denied. A list giving their names, date of conviction and the reasons for deportation of each was, however, supplied to the press by Byron H. Uhl, acting commissioner of immigration at New York in the absence of Frederic C. Howe, who is in Europe.
According to this list, eleven have been found to be “members of or affiliated with an organization that advocates or teaches the unlawful destruction of property.” Eighteen were found actually “advocating or teaching the unlawful destruction of property.” Some of these are declared, also, to have been guilty of other offenses, such as advocating “the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of all forms of law.” Three are declared to be anarchists or to have taught anarchy. The remainder are charged with various offenses, most of them with being “likely to become public charges.” Several are said to be “morally unfit,” a few served prison terms before coming to this country, and one or two committed “crimes involving moral turpitude” within five years after entering.
It is no secret that many of these men are members of the Industrial Workers of the World. The letters chalked on the car windows of their train as they travelled eastward were “I. W. W.” It so happened that when they reached New York city, Caroline A. Lowe, an attorney for the I. W. W., who aided in the defense of 100 members of that organization in Chicago recently, was in New York. She at once went to Ellis Island and requested permission to see some of the men. This was denied her both by Mr. Uhl and by a deputy commissioner, George Baker. She asked for information regarding the charges against such of the men as were members of the I. W. W., and this was also denied. Mr. Baker told her that the secretary of labor had ordered the deportation of these men and that their cases were closed. When she asked for a copy of the names as given to the press, she was told there were no more copies. Mr. Baker said she could not expect the government to furnish her with information about them and advised her to apply for a writ of habeas corpus if she wanted to take action in their behalf.
Miss Lowe promptly applied for writs for forty-nine of the men. These were argued before Judge John C. Knox, of the United States District Court on February 13. Judge Knox denied Miss Lowe’s petition. His decision turned on the question of her authority to make such a petition, it being established that none of the men had personally asked her to intercede in their behalf and that she acted only as the attorney of the organization to which they belonged. As such, she said, she was employed to protect the legal interests of members on all occasions, and even produced a telegram from I. W. W. headquarters in Chicago instructing her to proceed in this instance. Nevertheless, the court held that the burden of establishing specific proof of authorization from the men themselves was upon her, and that she had not established it.
In the course of the hearing it developed that twenty of the men had addressed a letter to Walter Nelles, an attorney, asking him to take up their cases, and that Mr. Nelles had in writing authorized Miss Lowe, Charles Recht and Sidney R. Fleisher (the latter two being New York attorneys who represented Miss Lowe in her petition for a writ to act in his stead). This letter was being held up by Mr. Uhl and had only accidentally been seen, while still in Mr. Uhl’s possession, by Mr. Fleisher that morning. This did not alter the judge’s decision.
A question asked Miss Lowe, while she was on the witness stand, was what reason she had for thinking that injustice had been done to any of the men or that they were being illegally deported. She replied by giving facts from her own knowledge tending to show that injustice is repeatedly done, both by courts and immigration inspectors, to members of the I. W. W. in the West and the Middle-West, and cited the general psychological condition in those parts of the country which, she said, often made it impossible to get fair hearings. Pressed closely as to whether she had specific reasons for thinking injustice had been done to any of the men then on Ellis Island, she admitted that she had not and again called the attention of the court and government attorney to the fact that she had not been allowed to see the men or hear their stories. Ben A. Matthews, the government attorney, asked if she had appealed to the secretary of labor [William B. Wilson] on behalf of the men, and Mr. Recht replied that such an appeal might be interesting as a post mortem proceeding, but that before action could be secured upon it the men would probably be deported.
The court denied the petition “without prejudice.” This meant that if Miss Lowe should later secure evidence of injustice or illegality she could again apply for writs of habeas corpus. In the meantime, the court said, he would leave the matter of working out a suitable procedure—a modus vivendi, he called it—to her and Mr. Matthews and that he was sure opportunity would be allowed her to protect the men’s rights. There was some further discussion of this point, in which Mr. Matthews joined, and she and Mr. Recht finally left the courtroom believing that on the next day they would be permitted to see the men. The writer was present throughout the hearing and shared this belief with them.
When Miss Lowe called upon Mr. Matthews next day, however, she was told that she could not see the men. The rules of the immigration station forbade it, said Mr. Matthews. Asked what dangers lay in her seeing them, he replied: “Just this, Miss Lowe. Unscrupulous attorneys often try to go to the island to work up cases among the men held there. To prevent this, it is necessary to be very careful in granting permission to any attorneys.” Miss Lowe has been attorney for the I. W. W. for two years and is associated with George H. Vandeveer in Chicago. Mr. Recht is attorney for the New York Bureau of Legal Advice.
Despite Mr. Matthew’s statement, Miss Lowe went to the island. There Mr. Uhl again told her she could not see the men. “For the present, my instructions are that no one may see them,” he said. Asked if a brother of one of the men would be allowed to see him, he said, “ No, not at present.” Relatives would have that opportunity however, he declared, before the men were deported.
Both Mr. Matthews and Mr. Uhl advised Miss Lowe to carry her efforts to protect the men to the secretary of labor. The records of their hearings before local immigration inspectors in the West, they said, were in Washington, and they had no doubt she would be allowed to consult these. Mean
while, Mr. Matthews said that the men would not be deported without his knowledge and that he could assure her they would not leave the country for a week. Giving up hope of seeing the men themselves, Miss Lowe left Friday night of last week for Washington.What process of arrest, trial and conviction did these men pass through before reaching New York? Aliens liable to deportation are not given court trials. They are given “ hearings” before local immigration inspectors in the localities where they become suspect. Under the rules of the Bureau of Immigration, such hearings seem not arranged “to enable him to show cause, if any there be, why he should not be deported.” The burden of proof, therefore, is not upon the government, but upon him. The case is presumed to be complete before he receives a chance to answer the evidence. True, he must be allowed to inspect the warrant of arrest and all the evidence on which it is issued, but this need not be at the beginning of the hearing; it may be “as soon as such hearing has proceeded sufficiently in the development of the facts to protect the government’s interests.” In other words, it may be practically at the end of the hearing if the inspector so wills it.
Similarly, information that the alien may be represented by counsel must be given to him, but not necessarily until the hearing has made considerable headway. If the alien is unable to speak or understand English, an interpreter may be employed, but here again the inspector is allowed to exercise discretion, for interpreters are required only “where practicable.”
The inspector is in entire charge of the hearing. He is his own stenographer, informer, prosecutor and judge. Often he has worked up the case against the alien and is naturally prone to believe the evidence he has accumulated. He puts the questions, makes his own minutes and finally determines the guilt of the defendant. Deportation can actually occur only by order of the secretary of labor, but the recommendation of the inspector who conducted the case is very likely to be followed. Being his own stenographer, he can, if he is so disposed, alter his minutes in such a way as to make the record against the alien appear stronger than it actually is.
“It is of course obvious,” said Judge Holt in the case of U. S. ex rel Bosny vs. Williams, 185 Fed. 598, which, though occurring before the act of 1917 was passed, refers to the practice still in force, “that such a method of procedure disregards almost every fundamental principle established in England and this country for the protection of persons charged with an offense. The person arrested does not necessarily know who instigated the prosecution. He is held in seclusion and is not permitted to consult counsel until he has been finally examined under oath….The secretary who issues the order of deportation is an administrative officer who sits hundreds of miles away and never sees or hears the person proceeded against or the witnesses.”
In response to an inquiry from the SURVEY, Mr. Caminetti has sent the following reply by telegram:
Instructions mentioned your telegram [i. e., instructions that the men be held incommunicado at Ellis Island] were given pending receipt here report of action by court on application for writ habeas corpus and intended to prevent exactly what court had in mind, namely, irresponsible or unscrupulous persons given access to aliens and using that privilege to their own advantage and aliens disadvantage. Attorney Lowe has satisfied department she represents certain of the aliens and is being permitted to examine records here as the court was assured by district attorney she would be. The records, of course, are filed in department where cases were decided and no duplicates of such records are on file at Ellis Island, these cases having all originated in the West.
All of the cases have been handled in strict conformity with the law and due process has obtained in every instance. The evidence was taken by designated field officials and aliens allowed privilege of employing counsel; some of them did not care to employ attorneys; declined more than once to do so; others employed attorneys who were afforded full opportunity to examine records, interrogate witness and submit additional evidence. The records so formulated were transmitted to this department and each and everyone of them carefully reviewed here before decision was rendered. In a number of cases attorneys sued out writs of habeas corpus at Seattle but the writs were dismissed after the government convinced the court that due process of law has been observed.
Under these circumstances department doubtless could take position that the cases are closed and refuse to recognize the right of any attorney to interview at this time, especially as the aliens are at Ellis Island merely as an incident to their removal from the country and ought to be detained there only so long as may be necessary to arrange for their transportation, but department has concluded to permit attorney Lowe to examine records. Now that situation concerning courts action is known here instructions to commissioner at Ellis Island will be modified sufficiently to permit relatives or close friends to see detained aliens on personal business on the usual conditions.
[Part II of II.]
[Newsclip added New York Tribune of February 20, 1919.]
[Paragraph breaks and emphasis added.]
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SOURCES
Quote HOConnor, IWW Red Special Deportation Train, Stt Rev p154
https://books.google.com/books?id=ayj5zs40WtoC
The Survey, Volume 41
(New York, New York)
-Oct 1918-March 1919
Survey Associates, 1919
https://books.google.com/books?id=trRDAQAAMAAJ
The Survey of Feb 22, 1919
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=trRDAQAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA717
“The Deportations”
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=trRDAQAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA722
IMAGE
IWW Deportees, Recht & Lowe for Defense, NY Tb p18, Feb 20, 1919
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1919-02-20/ed-1/seq-18/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 24, 1919
The Red Special, Part I: “A Train Under Heavy Guard..Passed Swiftly Across the Continent from Seattle”
I.W.W. Deportation Cases
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, W. A. Blackwood
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1920
https://books.google.com/books?id=v0A7AAAAYAAJ
IWW Deportation Cases, Names of Deportees,
-Seattle to NY, Feb 7, 1919
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=v0A7AAAAYAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA13
American Deportation and Exclusion Laws
-Report Submitted by Charles Recht, Counsel,
to the N. Y. Bureau of Legal Advice, Jan 15, 1919
Published by
N. Y. Bureau of Legal Advice, NYC
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiuo.ark:/13960/t3222xh4h;view=2up;seq=4
http://debs.indstate.edu/r296a4_1919.pdf
Aliens and Dissenters:
Federal Suppression of Radicals, 1903-1933
-by William Preston
(search: “the labyrinth of deportation”)
University of Illinois Press, 1994
https://books.google.com/books?id=Jfr8RAwClZkC
A World Without War:
How U.S. Feminists and Pacifists Resisted World War I
-by Frances H. Early
Syracuse University Press, 1997
(search: “The Ellis Island Deportees”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=6Hn_yq4kxZwC
Caroline Lowe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Lowe
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