But an
ounce of prevention is worth--several tons of cure. Petrosino
claimed--not boastfully--that he could, with proper
deportation laws behind him, exterminate the Black Hand
throughout the United States in three months.
But, as far as the future is concerned, a solution of the
problem exists--a solution so simple that only a statesman
could explain why it has not been adopted long years ago. The
statutes in force at Ellis Island permit the exclusion of
immigrants who have been guilty of crimes involving moral
turpitude in their native land, but do not provide for the
compulsory production of the applicants' "penal certificate"
under penalty of deportation. Every Italian emigrant is
obliged to secure a certified document from the police
authorities of his native place, giving his entire criminal
record or showing that he has had none, and without it he can
not obtain a passport. For several years efforts have been
made to insert in our immigration laws a provision that every
immigrant from a country issuing such a certificate must
produce it before he can be sure of admission to the United
States.
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