ID# 1526:
Manual of the Mental Examination of Aliens, United States Public Health Service
Date:
1918
Pages: (1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15)
Source:
National Park Service, Statue of Liberty National Monument, Pub Dom, JV6465.M2x

<i>Manual of the Mental Examination of Aliens</i>, United States Public Health Service

Mental Examination of Aliens. 9 mental defect may appeal his case and present one expert medical witness. Medical officers of the Public Health Service may be detailed for duty in foreign countries in connection with enforcement of the immigration law. The master of a steamship arriving with aliens on board, or the first or second below him in command, must make oath or affirmation that he has caused the ship's surgeon to make a physical and mental examination of each alien, and the surgeon is required to make oath or affirmation that he has done so and that the list or manifest is full, correct, and true in all particulars relative to the mental and physical condition of the aliens.[superior 1] If the examining surgeons certify that any alien is afflicted with idiocy, imbecility, feeble-mindedness, insanity, epilepsy, constitutional psychopathic inferiority, or chronic alcoholism and give an opinion that the condition might have been detected by a competent examination at the foreign port of embarkation, the Secretary of Labor may impose a fine of $200 on the company bringing the alien, and in addition compel it to pay to the alien a sum equal to that paid by him for his transportation from the initial point of departure to the port of arrival. If a company bring in an alien afflicted with any mental defect other than those above specifically named, a fine of $25 may be imposed, and the sum paid by the alien for his transportation must be refunded to him. These fines do not apply to railroads entering the United States from foreign contiguous territory. If a vessel carrying passengers between a port of the United States and a foreign country has on board employed thereon any alien afflicted with idiocy, imbecility, insanity, or epilepsy and a medical officer of the Public Health Service certifies that the alien was so afflicted at the time he was engaged or taken on board and that the existence of such affliction might have been detected by a competent medical examination at such time, a fine of $50 may be imposed. [hairline rule] [footnote][superior 1] If the vessel carries no surgeon, the examination must be made by some competent surgeon at the port of embarkation, and he must so record on the manifest. [end]

Copyright 1999-2004: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; American Philosophical Society; Truman State University; Rockefeller Archive Center/Rockefeller University; University of Albany, State University of New York; National Park Service, Statue of Liberty National Monument; University College, London; International Center of Photography; Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin-Dahlem; and Special Collections, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The images and text in this Archive are solely for educational and scholarly uses. The materials may be used in digital or print form in reports, research, and other projects that are not offered for sale. Materials in this archive may not be used in digital or print form by organizations or commercial concerns, except with express permission.