United States v. Anton Tittjung

235 F.3d 330, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 31902, 2000 WL 1843257
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedDecember 15, 2000
Docket00-2442
StatusPublished
Cited by83 cases

This text of 235 F.3d 330 (United States v. Anton Tittjung) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Anton Tittjung, 235 F.3d 330, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 31902, 2000 WL 1843257 (7th Cir. 2000).

Opinion

FLAUM, Chief Judge.

On December 14, 1990, the District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin determined that Anton Tittjung’s position as a Nazi concentration camp guard during World War II invalidated his previously issued visa. Therefore, the court revoked Tittjung’s citizenship and can-celled his certificate of naturalization. This Court affirmed that decision. On March 24, 1994, the Immigration Court ordered the deportation of Tittjung, pursuant to the Holtzman Amendment, 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(D) (formerly 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(4)(D)). The Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirmed the Immigration Court’s decision, and this Court affirmed the decision of the BIA. On January 10, 2000, almost six years after his deportation was first ordered, Tittjung filed a motion to dismiss, pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 60(b)(4), seeking to vacate the district court’s 1990 order. The district court denied Tittjung’s motion to dismiss. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the district court’s decision.

I. BACKGROUND

Anton Tittjung was born in Erdud, Yugoslavia on November 17, 1924. Beginning in October of 1942, and for the duration of World War II, Tittjung served in the Waf-fen SS, an organization of the Nazi government. Specifically, Tittjung was a member of the Totenkopf Sturmbann (Death’s Head Battalion), where he operated as an armed guard at the Mauthausen concentration camp and its subcamp Gross Ranting. 1

In 1952, Tittjung applied for and obtained a visa to enter the United States pursuant to the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (“DPA”). At no point during the application process did Tittjung disclose his association with the SS Death’s Head Battalion nor his participation in Nazi persecution as a concentration camp guard. Tittjung applied for naturalization in 1973, once again concealing his Nazi wartime service. On January 9, 1974, Tittjung was naturalized and became a citizen of the United States.

On September 1, 1989, the government filed a complaint against Tittjung asking the District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to revoke Tittjung’s citizenship. The request for revocation was based on evidence which revealed Tittjung’s history as a member of the Waffen SS and an armed concentration camp guard at Mauthausen and Gross Raming. The government moved for summary judgment, arguing that Nazi concentration camp guards were ineligible for visas under the DPA, and that as a result, Tittjung’s citizenship was illegally procured. On December 14, 1990, the district court granted the government’s motion. See Tittjung, 753 F.Supp. at 251. The court held that as a concentration camp guard, Tittjung had assisted in the *334 persecution of persons because of their race, religion, or national origin. Because the DPA, as amended in 1950, made all persons who assisted Nazi Germany in the persecution of civilian populations of countries ineligible for visas, Tittjung was ineligible for a visa when he entered the United States. To be eligible for naturalization, a person must have been lawfully admitted into the United States with a valid immigration visa. See 8 U.S.C. § 1427(a)(1). The court determined that because Tittjung’s visa was invalid, he was never lawfully admitted into the United States. Since Tittjung had not satisfied the prerequisites for naturalization, the court revoked his citizenship, set aside its January 9, 1974 order admitting Tittjung to citizenship, and cancelled Tittjung’s certification of naturalization. See Tittjung, 753 F.Supp. at 256-57. Because Tittjung’s guard service required his de-naturalization as a matter of law, the district court did not address allegations that Tittjung misrepresented his World War II service to visa officials and thereby entered the United States by means of fraud. Id. at 257. This Court affirmed the district court’s order in an opinion dated November 14, 1991, 948 F.2d 1292 (7th Cir.1991), and the Supreme Court thereafter denied certiorari, 505 U.S. 1222, 112 S.Ct. 3035, 120 L.Ed.2d 905 (1992).

As a result of the district court’s 1990 decision, Tittjung reverted to alien status and was thus removable. On May 11, 1992, the government commenced deportation proceedings against Tittjung. The Immigration Court, on March 24, 1994, ordered Tittjung’s deportation pursuant to the Holtzman Amendment. 2 Tittjung appealed the decision of the Immigration Court to the BIA. On August 13, 1997, the BIA affirmed the deportation order and dismissed Tittjung’s appeal. Tittjung then filed a motion for reconsideration, which the BIA denied on August 27, 1998. On December 2, 1999, this Court affirmed the BIA’s decision. Tittjung v. Reno, 199 F.3d at 393, reh’g denied, No. 98-3407 (Feb. 9, 2000). On June 29, 2000, the Supreme Court denied certiorari. — U.S. -, 120 S.Ct. 2746, 147 L.Ed.2d 1009.

Faced with an imminent deportation, Tittjung filed a motion with the District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, seeking to vacate the 1990 denatural-ization judgment and dismiss the complaint. Tittjung argued that the 1990 judgment was void under Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b)(4) on the ground that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. On April 27, 2000, that motion was denied by the district court. Tittjung now appeals, arguing that: (1) there is no Article III jurisdiction to redetermine visa eligibility, and on that basis find that Tittjung was not lawfully admitted when he was granted citizenship; (2) it is an unconstitutional encroachment into an executive function for the judiciary to redetermine visa eligibility; (3) since the DPA is no longer in effect, the district court cannot make a finding of visa ineligibility and unlawful admission based on that law; (4) the court had to make certain factual findings, including that Tittjung made a misrepresentation in order to obtain a visa, before it could hold that he illegally obtained a visa and was thus not “lawfully admitted.”

II. DISCUSSION

A. Rule 60(b)(4) Standard of Review

Tittjung’s present motion challenges the jurisdiction of the District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to determine that he was visa ineligible *335 when he entered the United States in 1952. No court may decide a case without subject matter jurisdiction, and neither the parties nor their lawyers may stipulate to jurisdiction or waive arguments that the court lacks jurisdiction. See Christianson v. Colt Indus. Operating Corp., 486 U.S. 800, 818, 108 S.Ct. 2166, 100 L.Ed.2d 811 (1988); Indiana Gas Co. v. Home Ins. Co., 141 F.3d 314 (7th Cir.1998);

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235 F.3d 330, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 31902, 2000 WL 1843257, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-anton-tittjung-ca7-2000.