United States ex rel. Zdunic v. Uhl

56 F. Supp. 403, 1943 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1694
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 30, 1943
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 56 F. Supp. 403 (United States ex rel. Zdunic v. Uhl) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States ex rel. Zdunic v. Uhl, 56 F. Supp. 403, 1943 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1694 (S.D.N.Y. 1943).

Opinion

LEIBELL, District Judge.

The prior proceedings in this matter are stated in the following quotations from the opinion of Swan, C. J., in 137 F.2d 858, 859:

“The relator is an alien who was arrested by agents of the Department of Justice acting ttnder a proclamation of December 8, 1941, No. 2526, 6 Fed. Reg. 6323, made by the President pursuant to the Act of July 6, 1798, as amended, 50 U.S.C.A. § 21. After a hearing before an Alien Enemy Plearing Board and consideration of the evidence by the Attorney General, the latter ordered the relator to be held in custody by the respondent as an alien enemy. On June 2, 1942 the alien filed his petition for a writ of habeas corpus which was forthwith issued.”

The district judge before whom the relator’s writ had been argued “was of' the opinion that the petition, return and traverse raise no substantial issue of fact.” With this conclusion the Circuit Court of Appeals for this circuit did not agree and held as follows:

“The ultimate issue for determination is whether the relator is a ‘native, citizen, denizen, or subject’ of Germany. The meaning of those words as used in the statute, 50 U.S.C.A. § 21, presents a question of law. But whether the relator falls within one of the classes of persons to whom the statute, properly construed, is applicable involves questions of fact, including a determination of what rights and privileges
[405]*405German law accords him in view of his place of birth, his long residence in Austria, his membership in the German Labor Front, his possession of a German Work Book, and any other relevant matters. Foreign law itself is a fact to be proved. Ennis v. Smith, 14 How. 400, 426, 14 L.Ed. 472; Gunranty Trust Co. v. Hannay, 2 Cir., 210 F. 810. The respondent made proof of certain features of German law by affidavits attached to the ‘Amendment to Return to Writ.’ The relator apparently had no opportunity to traverse the amendment before the hearing, and he does not concede that under German law he possesses the rights and privileges which respondent’s expert witnesses assert. On these and any other disputed facts he is entitled to a judicial inquiry before the court can determine whether his relation to the German ‘nation or government’ brings him within the statutory definition of alien enemies.”

The appellate court then discussed the meaning of the term “denizen” and stated;

“We are not disposed to attempt a definition of ‘denizens’ which goes beyond that of Blackstone. Certainly we shall not undertake it at the present time. The rights and privileges of the relator under German law, now in dispute, should be settled before we attempt to decide whether he comes within any of the classes of persons defined as alien enemies by the statute under consideration.”

The judgment of the District Court dismissing the writ was reversed and the cause was remanded for hearing.

The Presidential proclamation, Federal Document No. 2526, issued December 8, 1941, related to German alien enemies. It is the relator’s contention that he was a native born Yugoslav citizen, but had lived in Austria since 1922 and was there residing and employed in March 1938 when the German armies entered Austria, and Austria was declared a part of Germany.

Apparently the State Department considers the German action in relation to Austria null and void. At least so the pronouncement of United States, Great Britain and Russia at the October 1943 Moscow conference, would indicate. Those three allied powers declared that “they regard the annexation imposed on Austria by Germany on March 15, 1938, as null and void.”

On November 19, 1943, a week before the dale on which relator’s matter had been set for a hearing before me, he was released from the custody of the respondent on parole. Since then he has not Deen detained as an alien enemy pursuant to any action taken under 50 U.S.C.A. § 21 and the Presidential Proclamation of December 8, 1941. But immediately after being granted his release, he was again taken into custody at Ellis Island, this time pursuant to a warrant of arrest issued November 17, 1943, by the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice, which was promptly served upon the relator. It charged that the relator, having been admitted as a visitor in the United States on June 23, 1939, “has remained in the United States for a longer time than permitted under said Act (the Immigration Act of May 26, 1924, 8 U.S.C.A. § 201 et seq.) or Regulations made thereunder,” is illegally in this country and is subject to deportation. Respondent now claims to hold the relator in custody under the aforementioned warrant of November 17, 1943, pending a hearing which will be granted him “to show cause why he should not be deported in conformity with the law.”

These new facts are set forth in a supple-menial and amended return, dated November 20, 1943, to the writ of habeas corpus. Paragraphs 18 and 19 of the said return allege:

“18. There has been no examination or hearing in connection with relator’s case and no determination thereof has yet been made, in accordance with the procedure provided for in said Immigration Act and the rules and regulations law fully issued thereunder. No warrant of deportation has been issued. Every effort will be made to expedite the case and to insure the relator a prompt determination.
“19. The relator has not yet exhausted the administrative remedies afforded by the Immigration Act of 1924, and the rules and regulations lawfully issued thereunder, and other laws of the United States applicable hereto, and accordingly it is apparent that the petition for the writ of habeas corpus is premature and the respondent prays that the writ be dismissed.”

In his traverse to the supplemental and amended return, the petitioner “alleges that he has been and still is held in custody as an alleged alien enemy under the alleged authority of Title 50, United States Code [406]*406Annotated, § 21and he also alleges “that on or about September 27, 1943 he applied for an extension of time to remain in the United States.”

At the hearing before me on November 26, 1943, the Assistant United States Attorney in charge of this matter asserted that “the only question at issue at this time is whether or not the immigration authorities are properly detaining this person not as an alien enemy but as a person illegally in this country.”

The respondent’s attorney contended “that when the government took him (the relator) into custody that it was a wrongful act because he was not a native, a citizen, or a subject of Germany, and that the government can’t take advantage of its own wrong, and that it was a wrongful act, tolling the statute. Under Mr.

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56 F. Supp. 403, 1943 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-ex-rel-zdunic-v-uhl-nysd-1943.