United States v. Cloutier

87 F. Supp. 848, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2134
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedNovember 4, 1949
Docket7412
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 87 F. Supp. 848 (United States v. Cloutier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Cloutier, 87 F. Supp. 848, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2134 (E.D. Mich. 1949).

Opinion

KOSCINSKI, District Judge.

Statement of Facts.

This is an action by the government to revoke and set aside the order admitting the defendant to citizenship, and to cancel the certificate of naturalization issued to her.

The facts were stipulated and no oral testimony was offered by either side.

The stipulation of facts is as follows:

Defendant lawfully entered the United States for .permanent residence on September IS, 1937, at the age of 23. The purpose of her entry was to become employed as a domestic in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Landre in Detroit, Michigan. The proceedings for the migration of Miss Cloutier were initiated by Mrs. Landre. Miss Cloutier had not met Mr. Landre at the time of her immigration to the United States.

During the period of her employment which continued until August, 1941, defendant resided at the home of the Landres. Mrs. Landre was not always well, and asked Miss Cloutier to shop and perform other services for her in the company of Mr. Landre. An infatuation developed.

The Landres had two children, a girl of six years of age, and a boy, three years of age, at the time of Miss Cloutier’s entry into the United States.

For some time after Miss Cloutier left the home of the Landres, she and Mr. Landre did not see each other. About the the year 1942, they renewed their personal acquaintance. In January, 1943, after having been employed elsewhere, she accepted a position of employment with a local firm, and at about that time rented an apartment in the City of Detroit.

In the early part of 1943, sexual relations between Miss Cloutier and Mr. Landre; in the- State- of Michigan, began and continued past the date of her naturalization in August, 1944, during which time Mr. Landre was living with his wife and family; but there is no indication that defendant went out socially with other men at any time.

After having filed a declaration of intention and waiting for the statutory two year period to pass, she filed an application for petition of naturalization on April 6, 1944. The petition was filed July 21, 1944. The application for the petition for naturalization is a form supplied by the government of the' United States. All questions on that form were answered truthfully by defendant. The petition for naturalization was prepared after an examiner of the United States Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, interviewed petitioner and two witnesses. The examiner found them qualified, and .the defendant, as well as her witnesses, were sworn to the truth of their statements. Miss Cloutier was not advised of any specific requirements for naturalization, but was merely asked questions. The Statute provides that a period of thirty days shall elapse between the filing of the petition and its presentation to the court for final judgment. 8 U.S.C.A. § 734. This thirty-day period is for the purpose of an investigation. The government recommended to the court that the petition be granted, whereupon it was granted without obj ection.

All questions which were asked were answered by defendant and the witnesses. The government had no knowledge of the past of defendant other than what appeared at the examination.

Miss Cloutier stated since her naturalization that she did not believe that having sexual relations with a married man reflects good moral character; however, she did not feel that her own actions were immoral at the time of the conduct complained of, because of her deep infatuation with the married man, nor did she so feel at the time of her naturalization.

It is the' claim of the government that the order of admission to citizenship and certificate of naturalization of the defendant were fraudulently and illegally pro *851 cured in violation of Secs. 3, and the 2nd and 4th subdivisions of Sec. 4 of the Acts of June 29, 1906, 34 Stat. 596, in that in the proceeding for admission to citizenship the defendant falsely and fraudulently represented that she was a person of good moral character, whereas in truth and in fact, she was not a person of good moral character as required by the naturalization statutes.

Defendant in her answer specifically denies any fraud or illegal procurement in the naturalization as a citizen of the United States.

Conclusions of Law

This proceeding is brought under authority of 54 Stat. 1158, § 338, Title 8 U.S.C.A. § 738, which provides for the revocation and setting aside of an order admitting a person to citizenship and cancelling the certificate of naturalization on the ground of fraud or on the ground that such order and certificate of naturalization were illegally procured.

Title 8 U.S.C.A. § 707(a) provides that no person (with exceptions not pertinent hereto) shall be naturalized unless such petitioner, for at least five years immediately preceding the date of filing of the petition for naturalization, has been and still is a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.

The provisions of this statute are specific. The requirements therein set forth must be met before an applicant for citizenship may be naturalized. It has been repeatedly held that naturalization is a privilege, not a right, and therefore no alien has the right to naturalization unless he has complied with all the statutory requirements for such naturalization.

There is no right to naturalization unless all statutory requirements are complied with and if the certificate of naturalization is procured where the required qualifications have no existence in fact, it may be cancelled by suit. — Baumgartner v. United States, 1944, 322 U.S. 665, 64 S.Ct. 1240, 88 L.Ed. 1525.

“Illegal procurement” of naturalization certificate results when there is intentional or unintentional disregard for the preliminary requirements or prohibitions fixed by this chapter.- — United States v. Kusche, D.C., 56 F.Supp. 201.

In the case of United States v. Raverat, D.C., 222 F. 1018, 1019, the court stated:

“Alices are admitted to citizenship upon their solicitation, and not of right, but of favor. They must possess the qualifications and perform the conditions for admission prescribed by Congress. Amongst these at the time of defendant’s admission were that it should be made to appear to the satisfaction of the court that the alien had resided in the United States for five years ‘and that during that time he has behaved as a man of a good moral character.’ * * * This imports that, to be qualified for citizenship, the alien must be in fact as well as in behavior of good moral character.”

A showing of good moral character for a period of five years preceding admission to citizenship was one of the conditions precedent to defendant’s admission to citizenship.

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Related

In re Naturalization of Liknes
151 F. Supp. 862 (S.D. New York, 1957)
United States v. Vander Jagt
135 F. Supp. 676 (W.D. Michigan, 1955)

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Bluebook (online)
87 F. Supp. 848, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-cloutier-mied-1949.