Deportation

Uncle Sam’s boot kicks a Chinese immigrant off a dock as part of an anti-Chinese immigration campaign. Vignettes show how the Chinese can possibly emigrate to the United States, by coming as “a cup-challenger” in yacht races, “as an industrious anarchist,” or “disguised as an humble Irishman,” or “as an English wife-hunter” with “pedigree” in his pocket, or wielding knife and handgun, as a mean-looking “peaceful, law-abiding Sicilian.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

A 1905 Puck cartoon by J. S. Pughe might seem on the surface merely to be a humorous, if stereotype-laden, treatment of immigration issues of the day, particularly the difficulty of Chinese immigration leading to comic subterfuge. It would be that; but there were deeper, longer-lasting, and core consequential aspects to the problem. A modern version might have immigrants wishing to enter the United States to pose as Mexicans, whose ease of border crossings has been legendary; that would be upside-down as a cartoon concept, but relates to the larger issue.

President Roosevelt concludes, based on the statement from Representative Alexander, that the German government is to blame for the mistaken deportation of the girl, and there is no evidence of wrong-doing by Commissioner General of Immigration Frank P. Sargent.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-15

President Roosevelt thanks William H. Moody for his letter and agrees with his position. Although it is J. Pierpont Morgan and James Jerome Hill who perpetrate the wrong, it is the small folk who pay most heavily. Roosevelt believes everything is going well for the election. James D. Ritchie, who had been acquitted of murder, has been deported.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-15

President Roosevelt has received several complaints from prominent members of the Jewish community on the manner of deportation of aliens from Ellis Island. Roosevelt supports the need for deportation but stresses the need to avoid “unnecessary harshness” and prevent discrimination against immigrants of a particular race or creed.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-01-23

F. M. Hammond attaches a clipping about Ardel Selfang, who came from Syria to join her father in the United States. She was deported a week after she arrived due to a severe case of trachoma. Her father could not afford to admit her to the hospital. She will likely lose her eyesight and never see her father. Hammond asks Theodore Roosevelt if it is possible to bring her back to her father and raise the money for medical care.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-09

Walter E. Davenport writes to Theodore Roosevelt concerning an emergency with an Italian immigrant who is being unfairly treated by the authorities on Ellis Island and the Department of Commerce and Labor. The Italian immigrant is facing deportation because of economic depression and high congestion of other immigrants in the area. Davenport asks Roosevelt for his assistance in this matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-08

Acting Secretary of State Bacon responds to a letter from William Loeb by sending President Roosevelt information on the exclusion of Chinese laborers from Japan. He also encloses a memorandum which includes the Imperial Ordinance under which Chinese laborers were deported from Japan and is held to also apply to Americans.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-06

This report gives the numbers of Chinese arrivals and deportments in the United States in the month of July 1905 and breaks them down into subcategories.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-07-31

Commissioner of Labor Wright discusses the investigation and the deportation of miners.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-16

Agent Palmer reports on a pamphlet with information about the deportation of non-union miners by the union, most likely referring to the Western Federation of Miners. Elmer Ellsworth Rittenhouse, the author of the pamphlet, says that he took care to ensure the accuracy of the information since the pamphlet will be used for campaign purposes. Rittenhouse believes that the strike at Cripple Creek “had no connection with the eight-hour question.” James C. Craig, the president of the Citizens’ Alliance, says that there are no records of any deportations of non-union men that are not mentioned in the pamphlet.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-03

H. B. Wessel and William O’Neill of the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly urge President Roosevelt to protect the miners in Colorado who are being deported as part of an ongoing labor dispute.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-06-21

This newspaper article written by Walter E. Davenport speaks about labor congestion in New York, dwindling demand for immigrant labor, and subsequent deportations. The first half of the article focuses on the experiences of Italian immigrant Giuseppe Pissaro trying to find employment and being ordered for deportation by the Board of Inquiry.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-06

Apolinario Mabini has taken the oath of allegiance to the United States. However, Artemio Ricarte did not take the oath and was deported to Hong Kong. In light of Mabini’s decision to take the oath, Governor Taft requests that his endorsement of January 12 not be made public.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-28

Gebhard Willrich suggests that immigrants be screened at the consular office in the immigrant’s home country. This policy would limit the problems related to deportation. Willrich also finds fault with the methods of examination and the detention quarters.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-06

Max Lowy is pleased with the removal of Terence Vincent Powderly, the former Commissioner General of Immigration. Lowy recounts a negative experience with the Bureau of Immigration in 1897, when 47 of his employees were deported and he was swindled by George O. Glavis out of $5,150.00 in fees.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-04-04

Senator Hoar requests that President Roosevelt intervene to prevent the deportation of two children that contracted an eye disorder on the passage to the United States. The children’s father is a “respectable man” that has made a “preliminary declaration of citizenship.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-01-01

Barbara Namer and her two children are being detained at Ellis Island and will be sent back to Beirut. The children have been diagnosed with trachoma and cannot be admitted to the hospital due to overcrowding. Senator Hoar wants their deportation stopped and has public support for treating the children. He requests Senator Lodge’s attention to the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-12-30

Charles Mifflin Hammond was horrified by the unexpected death of William McKinley but hopes for President Roosevelt’s success. Hammond suggests that violence against the president be punishable by death and that anarchists and socialists be forced to return to their place of origin.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-15