Owen J. Roberts

“ The opening clause is that 'At any time within five years after entry, any alien who at the time of entry was a member of one or more of the classes excluded by law;' and the predicate or final clause is, 'shall, upon the warrant of the Secretary of Labor, be taken into custody and deported.' Inserted between these, and separated from the first and from each other by semicolons, are eleven subject-clauses each referring to variously described aliens, as 'any alien who,' etc., and each having as its predicate the clause above quoted, 'shall be taken into custody,' etc. ”

“ If more were needed, the legislative history of section 19 shows that it is a compilation of earlier acts specifying different grounds for deportation; that in the prior legislation affecting aliens managing houses of prostitution, etc., no time limitation was included, and that, in combining those acts to form the present section, Congress did not intend to impose a period of limitation with respect to this cause for deportation. ”

“ It has often been said that punctuation is not decisive of the construction of a statute. Hammock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., 105 U.S. 77, 26 L.Ed. 1111; Ford v. Delta & P. Land Co., 164 U.S. 662, 17 S.Ct. ”