In re Warhol

84 F. Supp. 543, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2702
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedMay 13, 1949
DocketNo. 17103
StatusPublished

This text of 84 F. Supp. 543 (In re Warhol) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Warhol, 84 F. Supp. 543, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2702 (mnd 1949).

Opinion

NORDBYE, Chief Judge.

The following pertinent factual matters may be recited. The petitioner was served with a warrant in a deportation proceeding on September 11, 1947. After a hearing in March, 1948, findings were made sustaining the charges filed in the deportation proceeding, and on January 7, 1949, the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization approved the charges. The findings were based on Warhol’s admitted membership from 1935 to 1938 in an organization, to wit, the Communist Party, which advocates the overthrow of this Government by force and violence. Warhol contends that he has not been a member of, or affiliated with, the Communist Party since 1938. An appeal from the order of the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization is now pend-< [544]*544ing before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Warhol was inducted on April 24, 1944, into the Army of the United States during the last war and served overseas. He was honorably discharged from the Army on January 4, 1946. On June 1, 1948, Congress passed Section 724a, Title 8 U.S.C.A., which permitted alien veterans honorably discharged in either World War to petition for naturalization in any court exercising naturalization jurisdiction, regardless of petitioner’s residence, provided that the petition was supported by the affidavit of witnesses who would testify to the qualifications on the date of the petition, but not necessarily for any previous period of time. It is under this section that Warhol filed his petition for naturalization in this Court on March 16, 1949.

On the day the petition for naturalization was filed, he appeared at a preliminary hearing before a designated examiner, and after the petitioner and his witnesses were examined and after he had made a formal compliance with the requirements for citizenship under Section 724a, the examiner, read into the record a prepared statement setting forth his views as to the reasons which prompted him to recommend a continuance, and at that time filed prepared findings of fact and conclusions of law and recommendation to this Court in conformance with Section 733, Title 8 U.S.C.A. They are as follows:

“Findings of Fact
“1. The petitioner is an alien and a citizen of Czecho-Slovakia.
“2. The petitioner entered the United States Military Service, while in the United States, on April 24, 1944, and was honorably discharged on January 4, 1946.
“3. That the petitioner is a respondent in an administrative action instituted September 11, 1947, entitled: In re: ‘Peter John Warhol, A-2256223’. That such action is brought by the United States and seeks to effect the petitioner’s deportation for the alleged violation of the Act of October 16, 1918 (8 USC 137 [8 U.S.C.A. § 137]). That a hearing was held on March 2, 1948, and the charges sustained and a warrant of deportation issued on January 7, 1949, from which an appeal has been filed which is now pending and in process of determination.
“4. That the parties to this action and the deportation action are identical.
“5. That the material issues are identical in the following particulars:
“1. By the Act of October 16, 1918 (8 USC 137 [8 U.S.C.A. § 137]) certain classes of aliens are subject to deportation and Sec. 304 [305] (8 USC 705 [8 U.S.C.A. § 705]) prohibits the naturalization of these identical classes, and in the deportation action the petitioner is alleged to be within such classes.
“2. That the petitioner in this action is required to plead and prove his intention to reside in the United States permanently, and in the deportation action his residence is alleged to be unlawful, and the warrant of deportation, when executed, will terminate his residence.
“6. That the evidence that would tend to prove or refute the allegations in both cases is identical, and such evidence has already been taken and is of record and now being considered in the deportation action. That the final determination in the deportation action may determine the issues in this-action and leave nothing at issue in this action.
“7. That the subject matter and relief sought in the two actions is not identical.
“And in accordance with the foregoing Findings of Fact, the Designated Examiner makes the following:
“Conclusions of Law
“1 The petitioner has filed a valid petition for naturalization under the provisions of Sec. 324-A, Nationality Act (Act of June 1st, 1948 [8 U.S.C.A. § 724a]). That the petitioner is entitled to the exemptions provided by such section.
“2. The deportation action pending between the parties to this action is not a judicial proceeding, and this action, the naturalization action, will not be barred or suspended by reason of pendency of the other administrative action.
“3. That the determination of this action, during the pendency of the deportation action, would be prejudicial and detrimental [545]*545to the rights of the parties to such action, in that it could quash the warrant of deportation indirectly and terminate such action indirectly and prematurely.
“4. That the final determination of the deportation is evidence that is necessary and essential to a full and final determination of the matters at issue in this action.
“5. That the discretionary powers and authority of the Court should be invoked, and final hearing and determination of this naturalization cause should be deferred until the termination of the deportation action, and the status quo of both parties maintained.
“And in accordance with the foregoing Findings and Conclusions, the Designated Examiner makes the following:
“Recommendation
“It is recommended by the undersigned Designated Examiner that the petition for naturalization of Peter John Warhol be continued until the final determination and conclusion of a certain pending deportation action entitled: ‘In re Peter John Warhol A-2256223.’
“It therefore would appear to be a proper procedure to adjourn hearing, furnish counsel with this memorandum including the reasons, allow views and objections to be filed, and then present the entire record to the Court for the Court’s consideration.”

At the hearing before this Court on the Examiner’s recommendation for continuance, the petitioner made a motion to strike the recommendation on several grounds, including the alleged denial of due process. Primarily, the motion is based on the Examiner’s alleged failure to accord petitioner a hearing on the recommendation for continuance, and it is urged that the Examiner had prepared findings and conclusions and recommendations before the time of the preliminary hearing and that therefore the action of the Examiner was an ex parte determination of the issues as to continuance adversely to the petitioner. However, it does not seem necessary to pass upon petitioner’s motion to strike because the hearing before this Court constituted a hearing de novo on the question of the continuance of Warhol’s petition for naturalization.

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Bluebook (online)
84 F. Supp. 543, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-warhol-mnd-1949.