Gregorio Arciaga Mesina v. George K. Rosenberg, District Director of Immigration and Naturalization

278 F.2d 291
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 1, 1960
Docket16448_1
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 278 F.2d 291 (Gregorio Arciaga Mesina v. George K. Rosenberg, District Director of Immigration and Naturalization) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gregorio Arciaga Mesina v. George K. Rosenberg, District Director of Immigration and Naturalization, 278 F.2d 291 (9th Cir. 1960).

Opinion

JAMESON, District Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment denying declaratory and injunctive re *293 lief under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2201 and 5 U.S. C.A. § 1009. Appellant, Gregorio Arciaga Mesina, sought (1) a declaratory judgment vacating and declaring void a deportation order executed in 1936 and declaring that appellant is a permanent resident of the United States; and (2) an injunction against enforcement of a deportation order entered in 1958 and now outstanding against appellant.

Appellant was born in the Philippines in 1903 and at birth was a national of the United States. He first came to the United States in 1924 and lived continuously in continental United States or Puerto Rico from 1924 until 1936.

On June 25, 1935 a warrant of arrest was issued charging that appellant was deportable in that he was “found managing a house of prostitution, music hall, or other place of amusement where prostitutes gather.” In February, 1936, the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld appellant’s deportability. On February 27, 1936, a warrant of deportation was issued, charging that he was deportable under the Act of 1917, in that he “had been found managing a house of prostitution, and had been found receiving, sharing in, or deriving benefits from the earnings of a prostitute.” 1 Appellant was deported to the Philippines on April 18, 1936.

On December 31, 1956, appellant entered the United States as a crewman. His original “Crewman’s Landing Permit” required his departure from the' United States on or before January 30, 1957. This was extended to February 27, 1957.

Appellant was not in the United States at any time between his deportation in 1936 and sometime in 1946, when he entered as a seaman. Thereafter he made several trips to the United States as a seaman before his arrival in 1956. Prior to his 1956 entry he made no effort to remain in the United States, made no attempt to obtain the consent of the Attorney General to his applying for admission pursuant to Section 212(a) (17) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of June 27, 1952 (8 U.S.C.A. § 1182(a) (17)), 2 and did not otherwise seek admission.

On June 11, 1957, appellant was served with an order to show cause why he should not be deported as a non-immigrant who had remained in the United States longer than permitted. On June 28, 1957, after a hearing, 3 a special inquiry officer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service determined that appellant was deportable under Section 241(a) (-2) of the 1952 Act (8 U.S.C.A. § 1251(a) (2)). 4

*294 The order to show cause did not contain any charge of deportability under Section 242(f) of the 1952 Act (8 U.S. C.A. § 1252(f)), entitled “Unlawful reentry.” 5

On December 12, 1957, the Board of Immigration Appeals ordered a reopened hearing in order to include the record of the 1935 deportation hearing. On February 17,1958 the special inquiry officer again found the appellant deport-able under the charge in the order to show cause. A deportation order was issued, and this order was confirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals on August 7, 1958. On October 13, 1958, appellant was granted nine days within which to effect a voluntary departure. On October 16, 1958, this action was instituted.

When appellant landed in the United States on December 31, 1956, he was a nonimmigrant alien crewman under § 101(a) (15) (D) of the 1952 Act (8 U.S.C.A. § 1101(a) (15) (D)). 6 He. was admitted as an alien crewman under § 252 of the 1952 Act (8 U.S.C.A. § 1282). 7 The present deportation order is *295 based on Section 241 (a) (2) of the 1952 Act (8 U.S.C.A. § 1251(a) (2)) and charges appellant as an alien crewman who was admitted as a nonimmigrant and failed to comply with the conditions of this status by overstaying his leave. It is well settled that an alien crewman who overstays his permitted time in the United States or fails to comply with the conditions of his crewman’s landing permit is subject to deportation. 8

It is appellant’s first contention that the “only appropriate charge” is under Section 242(f) (8 U.S.C.A. § 1252(f)), 9 charging unlawful reentry after a previous lawful deportation, with a reinstatement of the previous order of deportation. Appellant argues that the reinstatement of the 1936 deportation order was mandatory and, in effect, that appellee must rely upon the 1935-36 proceedings to sustain the present deportation order.

This court held adversely to appellant’s contention in De Souza v. Barber, 9 Cir., 1959, 263 F.2d 470, 474, certiorari denied 359 U.S. 989, 79 S.Ct. 1118, 3 L. Ed.2d 978. In that case an alien deported from the United States in 1930, who reentered in 1957 without a visa, sought through habeas corpus proceedings to attack the 1930 order of deportation. While the previous order of deportation had been reinstated pursuant to Section 242(f) (8 U.S.C.A. § 1252 (f)), it was held that De Souza “was a deportable alien within the meaning of 8 U.S.C.A. § 1251(a) (1) by reason of his lack of a visa or other document permitting entry”, and that this was “the basic and substantive ground of deportation.” 10 The fact that the Attorney General in the instant case did not proceed under § 242(f) (8 U.S.C.A. § 1252(f)) is immaterial, if appellant were properly deportable under § 241(a) (2) (8 U.S.C.A. § 1251(a) (2)), 11 which is the substantive section under which the 1957 deportation proceedings were instituted.

Appellant contends however, that the 1935 order of deportation was void, that appellant “never legally interrupted his United States residence”, that his arrival in 1956 was a continuation of his1 previous legal residence and not an “entry”, and that accordingly he was never subject to the limitations of § 241(a) (2) of the 1952 Act. Counsel argue that De Souza v. Barber is distinguishable by reason of the fact that De Souza was an alien at the time of his original deportation, whereas Mesina was an American national and not an alien.

It is admitted that appellant was an American national when he was deported in 1936, but that did not in itself render the order of deportation void; and appellant clearly was an alien when he entered in 1956. 12 With re *296 spect to the power to exclude Filipinos between 1934 and 1946, the Supreme Court in Rabang v. Boyd, 1957, 353 U.S. 427, 433, 77 S.Ct.

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278 F.2d 291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gregorio-arciaga-mesina-v-george-k-rosenberg-district-director-of-ca9-1960.