MEXICO TO CLAMP DOWN RIGID BAN ON BORDER
Immigration Chief Hints Measure is Retaliation for American Treatment of Nationals
BY NORMAN WALKER.
[EXCLUSIVE DISPATCH]
CHIHUAHUA CITY (Mex.) Nov. 14. - Tia Juana, Mexicali, Nogales, Son., Naco, Son., and Agua Prieta may expect to have the same restrictions placed upon Americans visiting these border towns that are in effect in Juarez, Nicolas Perez, chief of the Mexican Immigration Service, said while here to meet President Calles for a conference about border affairs.
January 3 is the date the immigration chief has set for organizing the immigration offices in these ports west of Juarez including the personal identification of all applicants for border permit cards, finger printing of these applicants who must show they are of good moral character, be identified by letters or other papers as American citizens and, if accompanied by a woman, must convince the immigration department that they are married.
"It will be impossible to begin the work of reorganizing the Mexican border ports west of El Paso before January 1," Perez said. "After that date we will have completed the work of getting the Juarez port, which is the largest on the border, completely organized and working smoothly, aftr which I will make a trip along the border west to Tia Juana and make my plans for adopting the same system in each of these ports as well as at Guaymas, which is under my jurisdiction and where many of the west coast problems originate. But the plans of my department are to apply the same system of passport (border permit card) restrictions that are now working so effectively in Juarez.
"One of these rules which will be applied along the border west of Juarez is to require the applicant for a permit card to apply in person and establish that he is a desirable person to have visit our country. Doing this by proxy, as was tried in the case of the tourist permit cards, admits of too much latitude which, in turn, allows aliens not allowed to return to the United States by the American immigration officials to obtain these permit cards and also makes it impossible for us to satisfy ourselves that the applicant is not an undesirable. In other words we intend to assume the full responsibility for passing these applicants both in Juarez and along the border west of there. Then, if we make a mistake in judgment, the mistake will be our own and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
"We wish to encourage decent people to visit our border towns, but we do propose to regulate the flow of traffic in order to keep out the undesirable ones. We are not working so forcibly to do this as we did when we closed the bridges to Juarez in order to overcome such evils as the slot machines and gambling, but we are working just as effectively and hope to have the conditions satisfactory before January 1, when the work of organizing the ports west of Juarez will be undertaken. (Note: Since giving out this statement, Senor Perez has permitted the Gateway Club, a tourist bureau in El Paso, to issue an identification slip for the legitimate tourist to present at the immigration station on the Mexican side of the bridge as a way of establishing his identity. These are not accepted as complete identifications, but as information for them to use in their investigation of the applicant.)
"I understand the El Paso Chamber of Commerce has prepared a petition to be presented to Gen. Calles when he comes to Chihuahua asking that the border restrictions be modified. If this is done do you know what the result will be? It may result in the placing of a visa charge and a head tax on all persons going to Mexico. If this done from Tia Juana to Matamoras the States of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas will realize that we mean to regulate our own immigration problems in our own way and that we cannot do this in the interest of business to the detriment of our national interests."
RETALIATORY MEASURE
Perez intimated in his interview given the Los Angeles Times that one purpose of these passport or border-permit restrictions was in retaliation for the restrictions which the United States Immigration Service has placed on the free passage of Mexican citizens into the United States.
"We are asking no favors for our people who seek admission to the United States," he said. "What we do ask is that they be given their rights which are the rights of equals to courteous and fair treatment along with the aliens of every other country. Many abuses have been called to my attention on the part of American officials. What we want is for these officials or whoever is responsible for the unfair treatment of our people to stop being rude to them and treat them with the same courtesy we are trying to apply to all Americans coming to Mexico.
"One example of this rudeness was called to my attention recently. It was the case of a young girl who was seeking to immigrate to the United States from Mexico with her family. One of the questions required to be asked of all female immigrants is whether or not they have been of good moral character. Instead of putting this question tactfully to the young girl who was accompanied by her parents, or waiving it altogether because of her very apparent youth and innocence, she was asked the question in the negative in such a manner that it was an insult to her girlhood and to her parents. It is just such things as these we seek to stop and when the people of the border States realize these facts exist, they will no doubt take action to put a stop to them. Until such a time we propose to continue our own regulation of the Mexican ports and to extend it to Tia Juana and eventually to all of the ports from Matamoras to Tia Juana."