Athanasios Patsis, A/K/A Thomas Nickas v. Immigration & Naturalization Service

337 F.2d 733, 1964 U.S. App. LEXIS 4045
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedOctober 29, 1964
Docket17316
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 337 F.2d 733 (Athanasios Patsis, A/K/A Thomas Nickas v. Immigration & Naturalization Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Athanasios Patsis, A/K/A Thomas Nickas v. Immigration & Naturalization Service, 337 F.2d 733, 1964 U.S. App. LEXIS 4045 (8th Cir. 1964).

Opinion

BLACKMUN, Circuit Judge.

Athanasios Patsis petitions for review of a final order of the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissing his appeal from an order of the Special Inquiry Officer. The exclusive jurisdiction of a court of appeals to review this administrative determination is now established by Foti v. Immigration & Naturalization Service, 375 U.S. 217, 229-232, 84 S.Ct. 306, 11 L.Ed.2d 281 (1963), and by § 106(a) of the Immigration & Nationality Act, 1 8 U.S.C. § 1105a, as added September 26, 1961, effective October 26, 1961, Pub.L. 87-301, § 5(a), 75 Stat. 651. Inasmuch as the proceedings before the Special Inquiry Officer were conducted in Kansas City, Missouri, and Patsis’ present residence is in that city, venue is in this court. Section 106(a) (2).

Patsis, a paint shop employee, was born in February 1904. He is a native and citizen of Greece. He has had a wife in that country since 1926 and has two children there. The children are now adults. The chronology is not in dispute:

1. Patsis first arrived in the United States on January 24, 1936, as a member of the crew of the steamship “Mount Para” inbound from Buenos Aires. He was temporarily admitted as a crewman pursuant to § 3(5) of the Immigration Act of 1924, 43 Stat. 154.

2. He promptly deserted his ship and' remained in this country. He assumed, the name of Thomas Niekas. He was-taken into custody on a deportation warrant in January 1943. After a hearing he was ordered deported and, in fact, was deported from San Francisco aboard' the steamship “Hellenic Beach” on April 6, 1947.

3. He returned to the United' States-as a member of the crew of the same ship-on October 21, 1948, and was again admitted temporarily under the 1924 Act-as a seaman. He deserted his ship once-more and remained here. He possessed no immigration visa or other document authorizing his admission for permanent-residence.

4. In April 1962 he was served' with, an order to show cause why he should, not be deported, pursuant to § 241(a) (1) of the Immigration & Nationality Act, 8; U.S.C. § 1251(a) (1), in that “at the-time of entry”, October 21, 1948, he “was within one or more of the classes of aliens excludable by the law existing at the-time of such entry”, that is, he was ex-cludable at the time of that entry under § 1(a) of the Act of March 4, 1929, as-amended, 45 Stat. 1551 and 47 Stat. 166-This latter Act provided that “if any alien has been arrested and deported in. pursuance of law, he shall be excluded' from admission to the United States”' unless “prior to his reembarkation at sc place outside the United States * * *- the [Attorney General], in his discretion, shall have granted such alien permission to reapply for admission”.

His deportation hearing was held in; March and April 1962. It was there-conceded that Patsis had not, before the-1948 reentry, received permission to apply or reapply for subsequent admission, to the United States. Counsel, however, would not admit that Patsis was subject to deportation because “this admission would be a conclusion of law”.

*736 At the hearing Patsis applied (a) for suspension of deportation, under § 244(a) of the Act in its 1952 form, 8 U.S.C. § 1254(a), that is, as the statute read prior to the amendment effected October 24, 1962, by Pub.L. 87-885, § 4, 76 Stat. 1247; (b) for a waiver, under § 211(b), 8 U.S.C. § 1181(b), of documents otherwise required, on the ground that “I did not intend to remain in U.S. when I entered” ; (c) for permission, under § 212 (a) (17), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a) (17), to reapply for admission, nunc pro tunc as ■of the date of his last entry, on the ground that “It would be an extreme hardship to have to return to Greece. I have lived and worked in U.S. for 25 yrs. .and own property here. I could not live nor find work in Greece”; and (d), in the alternative, for voluntary departure at his own expense in lieu of deportation, under § 244(e), 8 U.S.C. § 1254(e).

The Special Inquiry Officer, by his ■decision dated November 30, 1962, found Patsis was deportable, granted his request for voluntary departure in lieu of ■deportation, ordered deportation in the ■event he failed to depart voluntarily, and •denied all other requested relief. In so ■doing the Officer concluded that:

1. Patsis was deportable because, un•der the 1929 Act, as amended, he had been deported before and had reentered without permission to reapply for ad■mission.

2. Patsis’ application for waiver of entry documents under § 211(b) could not be granted because: his only entries into this country were as a crewman; he had never acquired the status of a lawful permanent resident of the United States; the provisions of § 211(b) are discretionary and have application only to '“otherwise admissible aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence who depart from the United States temporarily” ■and were therefore not available to him; there is no other statutory authority for the admission of an alien for permanent residence unless he has an immigration visa; and the discretionary adjustment •of status provisions of § 245(a), 8 U.S.C. •§ 1255(a), by their very terms, have not been applicable to “an alien crewman” since the section’s amendment in 1960 by Pub.L. 86-648, 74 Stat. 505.

3. Patsis’ application for nunc pro tunc permission to reapply under § 212 (a) (17) could not be granted because the only basis for such permission “is to remove a ground of inadmissibility except for which an alien would not be deportable”, and such was not the situation here.

4. Patsis’ application for suspension of deportation under § 244 could not be granted inasmuch as:

a. This statute, by its paragraph (f), added in October 1962, flatly provides “No provision of this section shall be applicable to an alien who (1) entered the United States as a crewman; * *
b. The fact Patsis’ application for suspension was filed on April 25, 1962, before the October enactment of § 244 (f), and at a time when the statute did not specifically exclude a crewman from its discretionary suspension benefits is of no significance where the Officer’s decision is made subsequent to the adoption of the statute.
e. Anyway, Patsis did not qualify for suspension under § 244 as it read prior to the 1962 amendment and the addition of paragraph (f).

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Bluebook (online)
337 F.2d 733, 1964 U.S. App. LEXIS 4045, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/athanasios-patsis-aka-thomas-nickas-v-immigration-naturalization-ca8-1964.