Navigazione Generale Italiana v. Elting

89 F.2d 31, 1937 U.S. App. LEXIS 3375, 1937 A.M.C. 768
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Navigazione Generale Italiana v. Elting. Read the opinion of the Court — 77 F.2d 270
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided April 5, 1937·No. No. 285·Published

Opinion

MANTON, Circuit Judge.

On each of the five causes of action here considered, recovery has been had for a fine imposed by the Secretary of Labor, pursuant to section 6 of the Quota Act of 1921 (42 Stat. 5), as added by Act May 11, 1922, § 3, 42 Stat. 540. Each fine was imposed upon the appellee, a carrier of passengers from a foreign country, for bringing in an alien excludable under the quota.

Twelfth Cause of Action.

The alien concerned in this cause of action arrived at the Port of New York July 10, 1923, in excess of the monthly quota allowed to Greece, which was exhausted July 5, 1923. Pie embarked on ap-pellee’s vessel June 26, 1923, a few 'days before the start of the fiscal year and the opening of the new yearly quota of 3065, which was restricted to 613 for the month of July. The alien had never been to the United States and the visa on his passport bore the information that he was born in Greece. He was ordered excluded by the Board of Special Inquiry. His appeal to the Secretary of Labor resulted in a confirmation of the order of exclusion. The protest of the appellee against the imposed fine was based on the claim that there was no indication at the time of the sailing of its vessel that the quota for July would be exceeded upon the vessel’s scheduled arrival in New York. No evidence was submitted by the appellee of any investigation to ascertain the number of aliens who had sailed or were about to sail applying for admission under the quota. The vessel took IS days for the voyage and normally the quota would be exhausted within a few days' after the first of the month. No claim is advanced that the appellee could not have ascertained the number of aliens en route to this country or who had already been issued visas. The Secretary held that the aliens whose admission would exhaust the monthly quota were either en route to this country or awaiting entry at the borders at the time the appellee’s vessel sailed with this alien aboard. He found that the appellee failed to show that this fact could not have been ascertained prior to the alien’s embarkation.

Thirteenth Cause of Action.

This alien arrived at the Port of New York May 20, 1924, in excess of the annual quota allotted to Italy which was exhausted December 6, 1923. The visa on his passport read: “Exception to quota, returning to domicile in U. S.” He was returning after an absence of two years and nine months. Although he had lived in the United States from 1912 until his departure August, 1921, he had never declared his intention to become a citizen. He testified before the Board of Special Inquiry that he was returning to resume employment with añ uncle with whom he was in partnership in a butcher shop and that he had been a member of the firm for a year prior to his departure for Italy, but had no money in[33]*33vested in the business. He said he expected to remain abroad only six months but his wife, who had accompanied him, was sick and his father had become paralyzed. He worked as a butcher in Italy. The alien’s uncle testified that the alien had invested a thousand dollars in the butcher shop and that he had been employed for three years before he became a partner.

After exclusion, he appealed to the Secretary of Labor who affirmed the order holding that because of his long absence he was not entitled to enter as one returning from a temporary visit abroad. A fine was imposed upon the appellee who was not shown to have made a proper investigation.

Fifteenth Cause of Action.

The alien involved in this cause of action arrived at the Port of New York April 10, 1924, in excess of the annual quota allotted to Italy which was filled December 6, 1923. Unmarried, her parents resided in Italy, and she was returning after an absence of a year and a half. She claimed to have resided in the United States at least from December, 1915, until she departed in November, 1922. Testifying before the Board of Special Inquiry, she claimed she was going to remain permanently to take up a restaurant business as a partner with her deceased sister’s husband. The visa on her passport noted: “Born in Italy; exception to quota; return to domicile in U. S.”

The alien had not declared her intention to become a citizen during her residence here. Although claiming her business was worth $10,900, she had received no profits while in Italy. She said she had a joint account with her brother-in-law. This was contradicted by her alleged brother-in-law, who testified that she had left the United States because she was not well and because her father had sent for her. On being recalled, the alien testified that her alleged brother-in-law did not in fact bear this relationship; that she had written to him and asked him to represent himself as her brother-in-law believing it would expedite her landing.

In asking for a return of the fine, the appellee contended that it had relied on the notation on the visa; that the alien must have made similar fraudulent misrepresentations to the American Consul and its embarking agent as to her prior residence and business interest here, but ap-pellee established no examination or investigation whatsoever as to the alien’s admissibility prior to embarkation. A fine was imposed.

Nineteenth Cause of Action.

' This alien was a one year old child who arrived with its mother March 22, 1924, at the Port of New York. The annual quota allotted to Italy was exhausted December 6, 1923. The mother was certified upon arrival as suffering from trachoma, a contagious disease which the examining public health surgeon said might have been detected by a competent medical examination at the foreign port of embarkation. The mother testified she was born in the United States but since she was two years old had lived in Italy with her parents; that she was coming to join her husband, a native of Italy who lived here. Her passport bore the notation, “claims born in U. S. A.” Before the Board of Special Inquiry, she testified she had been married in Italy 22 months before her arrival but could not remember the year; that her husband had been here 10 months; that he came here about 18 months after they were married. Her husband testified that he had been in the United States ten months and had not declared his intention to become a citizen. The child’s mother was excluded because of her disease and the infant as likely to become a public charge and as coming in excess of the quota allotted to Italy. On appeal to the Secretary of Labor, the exclusion was affirmed. The fine imposed for the alien child is the one here in issue. The appellee argued that the Board failed to find that the alien child was in excess of the quota, but ruled merely that it was excluded as likely to become a public charge and that the Act of 1922 does not impose a penalty for transporting aliens who are excluded for this cause. But the Secretary of Labor held that the mother had been married, as claimed, to one not a citizen of this country, and that she therefore became an alien even if prior to such marriage she had a claim to American citizenship and that the contention as to the error in the cause of exclusion of the child was ill-founded for he was excluded as one coming in excess of the quota who was not within any exempted class, and that there was no adequate evidence presented to show that the inadmissibility of the alien could not have been ascertained prior to his embarkation by the exercise of reasonable diligence. A fine was accordingly imposed.

[34]*34Twenty-Seventh Cause of Action.

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Navigazione Generale Italiana v. Elting, 89 F.2d 31, 1937 U.S. App. LEXIS 3375, 1937 A.M.C. 768 (2d Cir. 1937).

89 F.2d 31 (Navigazione Generale Italiana v. Elting) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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