United States v. Jonas Stelmokas, A/K/A Jonas Stelmokevicius

100 F.3d 302

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Decided: January 21, 1997
• Docket: 95-1894
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

GREENBERG, Circuit Judge.

I. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL HISTORY

Defendant Jonas Stelmokas appeals from a final judgment entered August 2, 1995, in favor of the government on six counts of its seven-count complaint seeking judgment on seven discrete bases revoking Stelmokas’s citizenship and ordering him to surrender his certificate of naturalization. The court entered judgment in favor of Stelmokas on a seventh count of the complaint.

The government initiated this action on June 15,1992, by filing the complaint against Stelmokas in the district court pursuant to section 340(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended (“INA”). 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a). The government sought judgment revoking and setting aside the judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania which admitted Stelmokas to citizenship in 1955. It further sought judgment canceling Stelmokas’s certificate of naturalization.

In its complaint, the government alleged that Stelmokas was born in Moscow, Russia, and resided in Lithuania commencing in 1930. From 1936 until 1939 Stelmokas attended the Lithuanian army officers’ school in Kaunas, Lithuania, from which he graduated in 1939. From August 1989 until July 1940 Stelmokas was an officer in the Lithuanian army.

The complaint alleged that in June 1941 the armed forces of Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania, which occupation continued until August 1944. During the occupation, the Germans organized armed Lithuanian units known as Schutzmannschaft to assist the Germans in the occupation and in the persecution of Jews and other unarmed persons on the basis of their race, religion, national origin, or political opinion. The Germans also organized Schutzmannschaft in other countries who arrested, detained, assaulted, and murdered victims in Poland, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and other areas. The Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft in Kaunas assisted the Germans in confining and murdering Jews. The government contended that Stelmokas was a voluntary member and officer of the Schutzmannschaft and advocated, assisted, participated, and acquiesced in the murder and persecution of Jews and other unarmed civilians in Lithuania. Around August 1944, at the time the German occupation of Lithuania ended, Stelmokas entered the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) in the 91st Light Flak Replacement Unit.

The complaint further alleged that in July 1949 Stelmokas sought a determination from the United States Displaced Persons Commission (“DPC”) that he was a displaced person as defined in the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (“DPA”), Pub.L. No. 80-774, eh. 647, 62 Stat. 1009 (1948), and therefore was eligible to immigrate to the United States. In connection with his application, a DPC analyst interviewed Stelmokas. He did not inform the analyst that he had served in the Schutzmannschaft or the Luftwaffe. Rather, Stelmokas falsely claimed that he had been a teacher in Seda, Lithuania, from July 1940 until August 1943. He claimed that he then was unemployed in Kaunas until July 1944, and was a laborer in Dresden, Germany, from 1944 until March 1945. The complaint alleged that in 1949 the DPC regarded the Schutzmannschaft to be “inimical” to the United States, meaning it was a hostile movement.

The complaint further stated that, in reliance on Stelmokas’s misrepresentations, the DPC analyst concluded that Stelmokas was eligible for displaced person status, and that the DPC so certified him on July 8, 1949. On or about August 10, 1949, Stelmokas applied for a visa to enter the United States. In connection with that application, Stelmo-kas repeated to an American vice-consul in Hamburg, Germany, the benign wartime history that he had related to the DPC analyst and omitted his actual wartime employment history. Based on Stelmokas’s false representations, the vice-consul approved Stelmo-kas’s application for a visa. Stelmokas then entered the United States as a displaced person and permanent resident on August 31,1949.

The complaint asserted that on or about November 12,1954, Stelmokas filed an application for naturalization with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Again, Stelmokas misrepresented under oath his personal history by claiming that the only organization to which he belonged before 1945 was the Lithuanian Boy Scouts. Thus, he concealed his membership in the Schutz-mannschaft and the Luftwaffe. On April 11, 1955, the district court granted his petition for naturalization.

The government requested that the court revoke Stelmokas’s naturalization for the following reasons: (1) he illegally procured his naturalization because he was ineligible for a visa to enter the country as he had assisted in persecuting civilian populations (Count I); (2) he illegally procured his naturalization because he was ineligible to enter the country as he voluntarily had assisted enemy forces during World War II in their operations against the United Nations (Count II); (3) he illegally procured his naturalization because as a member of the Schutzmanns-chaft and the 91st Light Flak Replacement Unit he was ineligible to enter the country because he had been a member of and participated in movements hostile to the United States (Count III); (4) he illegally procured his naturalization because he had misrepresented his wartime service to the DPC and to the vice-consul and thus was ineligible to enter the country (Count IV); (5) he illegally procured his naturalization because he was ineligible for a visa as he had advocated or acquiesced in activities or conduct contrary to civilization and human decency on behalf of Axis countries during World War II and thus was ineligible to enter the country (Count V); (6) he illegally procured his naturalization as his participation in the Nazi program of persecution demonstrated that he was not of good moral character and thus he was ineligible to enter the country (Count VI); and he illegally procured his naturalization by concealing and misrepresenting material facts, ie., his service in the Schutzmannschaft and the 91st Light Flak Battalion when he filed his petition for naturalization (Count VII).

Stelmokas filed an answer to the complaint in which he admitted thé historical facts regarding the German occupation of Lithuania and admitted that he had applied for entry into the United States as a displaced person. However, he refused to answer the allegations in the complaint regarding his wartime activities as he claimed “that his answers could be used against him in criminal proceedings in the United States and other countries.” The government then moved to compel Stelmokas to answer the complaint on the ground that Stelmokas could not rely on the Fifth Amendment to refuse to answer.

On April 16, 1993, the district court granted the government’s motion as it concluded that either the sections of federal law under which Stelmokas feared prosecution were inapplicable to him or the statute of limitations barred prosecutions under them. Thus, the court concluded that Stelmokas did not face a real and substantial threat of prosecution in the United States. The court also found that Stelmokas did not face a real and substantial threat of prosecution in “other countries,” and thus it had no need to determine whether the Fifth Amendment applied to foreign prosecutions. The court, however, protected Stelmokas by ordering that his answer be filed under seal. Stelmokas never complied with the order and did not file an amended answer. Furthermore, at a deposition on August 4, 1993, Stelmokas pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions germane to this ease.

The court conducted a bench trial from February 27, 1995, until March 3, 1995. At the outset of the trial Stelmokas’s attorney pointed out that Stelmokas had pleaded the Fifth Amendment. He then indicated that he wanted to keep his options open and that he did not know what he would advise Stel-mokas to do. He said that Stelmokas “may waive the privilege.” Stelmokas, however, did not waive the privilege and did not testify at the trial.

The district court decided the case in a comprehensive memorandum opinion dated August 2, 1995. In its opinion the court set forth the background of Stelmokas’s application to come to the United States and his obtaining citizenship. The court noted that citizenship is a precious right which once conferred may not be revoked lightly. Consequently, the government in a denaturalization proceeding must prove its case by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence so as not to leave the issue, i.e., the basis for denaturalization, in doubt. Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759, 772, 108 S.Ct. 1537, 1547, 99 L.Ed.2d 839 (1988); Fedorenko v. United States, 449 U.S. 490, 505, 101 S.Ct. 737, 747, 66 L.Ed.2d 686 (1981). The court noted, however, that aliens have no right to naturalization unless all statutory requirements are complied with. Consequently, every certificate of citizenship is granted on the condition that the government may revoke it if it was not issued in accordance with the applicable requirements. Fedorenko, 449 U.S. at 506, 101 S.Ct. at 747.

The court pointed out that section 340(a) of the INA provides the statutory bases for revocation of citizenship: that the citizenship had been “illegally procured” or “procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.” 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a). The court then indicated that citizenship is “illegally procured” when obtained without compliance with the statutory requirements for naturalization. Fedorenko, 449 U.S. at 506, 101 S.Ct. at 747. When Stelmokas was naturalized in 1955, the INA required that he reside continuously in the country for at least five years after being lawfully admitted for permanent residence. 8 U.S.C. § 1427. See United States v. Osidach, 513 F.Supp. 51, 63 & n. 4 (E.D.Pa.1981).

The court then observed that the DPA authorized the issuance of immigration visas to eligible European “displaced persons” without regard to immigration quotas, but that persons who “assisted the enemy in persecuting the civilian populations” of countries that were members of the United Nations or voluntarily assisted the enemy forces since the outbreak of World War II in their operations against the United Nations were not displaced persons. DPA § 2(b), 62 Stat. 1009, 3051-52 (incorporating by reference International Refugee Organization Constitution’s definition of displaced person). See Fedorenko, 449 U.S. at 495 & n. 3, 101 S.Ct. at 741 & n. 3. Additionally, DPA § 13 prohibited the issuance of visas to “any person who is or has been a member of, or participated in, any movement which is or has been hostile to the United States or the form of government of the United States.” 62 Stat. 1014. Section 10 of the DPA provided that any “person who shall willfully make a misrepresentation for the purpose of gaining admission into the United States as an eligible displaced person shall thereafter not be admissible into the United States.” 62 Stat. 1013.

The court further noted that at the time of Stelmokas’s immigration in 1949, a State Department regulation forbid the issuance of a visa to any alien who had “advocated or acquiesced in activities or conduct contrary to civilization and human decency on behalf of the Axis countries” during World War II. The court also indicated that when Stelmokas was naturalized in 1955, the law provided that citizenship could be conferred only on persons “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.” 8 U.S.C. § 1427(a)(3). Finally, the court pointed out that the INA provided that citizenship procured by willful concealment or misrepresentation of a material fact must be revoked. 8 U.S.C. § 1451.

The district court made an evidentiary ruling in its opinion that Stelmokas challenges on this appeal. It noted that Stelmokas had pleaded the Fifth Amendment in his answer and had refused on Fifth Amendment grounds tó answer questions at his deposition. Furthermore, Stelmokas had not testified at trial. The court held that Stelmokas’s attorney’s statement at the outset of the trial that Stelmokas “may waive the privilege” was not a waiver of the privilege against self-incrimination, but was the opposite, since it was not a statement that the privilege was waived. The court then held that since the case was civil rather than criminal it, as the finder of fact, could infer from Stelmokas’s invocation of the privilege against self-incrimination that his testimony would have been unfavorable. See Baxter v. Palmigiano, 425 U.S. 308, 318, 96 S.Ct. 1551, 1558, 47 L.Ed.2d 810 (1976). The court indicated, however, that while it could draw adverse inferences from Stelmokas’s claim of the privilege against self-incrimination, it would not base its findings of fact on adverse inferences. Rather, the court would use Stelmo-kas’s invocation of the Fifth Amendment for “independent and additional support” for its findings of fact.

In its findings of fact, the court preliminarily noted that the government had called four witnesses, two experts on the Holocaust, Dr. Raul Hilberg and Michael MacQueen, and two survivors of the Holocaust in Lithuania, David Levine and Abe Malnick. In addition, the government introduced numerous documents into evidence. Stelmokas did not call any witnesses but did introduce three documents into evidence. The court pointed out that Hilberg was a particularly credible witness with a remarkable knowledge of the documents placed into evidence.

The court noted that many of the documents in evidence had been stored in the archives of the former Soviet Union. While Stelmokas argued that the documents were not trustworthy, the court rejected this contention because Hilberg’s and MacQueen’s testimony established that they were authentic. Indeed, Hilberg testified that he was not aware of a single World War II Soviet Union archival document that was a forgery. The court concluded that the government “amply established the authenticity and trustworthiness of the documents in evidence.”

The court then related Stelmokas’s personal history prior to the German invasion, including his graduation from military academy and his service as an officer in the Lithuanian Army and the Soviet Red Army when the Soviet Union annexed Lithuania in 1940. The court explained that the Germans took over Lithuania within a few days of their attack on June 22,1941, and that the German army was followed by a police unit known as Einsatzgruppen, which implemented the German policy of murdering the Jews. The court related that a segment of the indigenous Lithuanian population cooperated with the Einsatzgruppen in the murder of the Jews.

Starting in late June 1941, the Germans began organizing Lithuanians who had fought against the Soviet Union into volunteer police battalions. The Germans controlled these units, which became known as the Schutzmannschaft. Their function was to guard installations and prisoners, and they guarded the Kaunas ghetto. The Schutz-mannschaft assisted in the murder of Jews and other persons.

The court found that on July 28, 1941, Stelmokas voluntarily enlisted in the Schutz-mannschaft and was appointed platoon commander in the 7th Company. The court traced Stelmokas’s various assignments in the Schutzmannschaft, a process made possible by the meticulous record keeping of the Schutzmannschaft units, which court opinions demonstrate was consistent with the Germans’ practice during World War II of recording their murderous conduct in specific detail. See, e.g., United States v. Koziy, 540 F.Supp. 25, 27 (S.D.Fla.1982), aff'd, 728 F.2d 1314 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 835, 105 S.Ct. 130, 83 L.Ed.2d 70 (1984). By August 30, 1944, Stelmokas had been transferred to Germany where he served in the 91st Light Flak Replacement Unit of the Luftwaffe. The records in evidence show that Stelmokas was in a military hospital in Germany on February 12,1945.

The court found that on September 15, 1941, Stelmokas was a guard commander at Vilijampole, which was the ghetto in Kaunas. The evidence showed clearly, unequivocally, and convincingly, that Stelmokas served as the commander of the ghetto guard for at least a 24-hour period commencing on September 16,1941, at 1:00 P.M., and, accordingly, that he participated in confining the Jews to an area in which they were regularly subjected to extreme deprivation, brutality, and arbitrary shootings. The court then found, through a painstaking analysis of the Schutzmannschaft records, that Stelmokas’s battalion took part in the Grosse Aktion of October 28 and October 29, 1941, which involved the murder of precisely 9,200 Jews, and that Stelmokas was on duty at that time. Levine and Malnik, who were children in the ghetto at the time, supported the documentary evidence with eye-witness testimony. While Levine and Malnick did not identify Stelmokas, both testified that armed Lithuanians took part in the murders. The court also made findings that Stelmokas participated in anti-partisan actions and served in the Luftwaffe.

The court found that when Stelmokas applied for displaced person status he did not inform the DPC analyst of his Schutzmanns-chaft and Luftwaffe service, and that he misrepresented his employment and places of residence for the period of July 1940 until March 1945. The court also noted that the Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft appeared on a “List of Organizations Considered Inimical to the United States” issued by the DPC Headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. The court found that Stelmokas made false statements under oath when he sought his visa application, because he misrepresented his wartime residences and did not reveal his Schutz-mannschaft or Luftwaffe service. The court found that he' obtained his visa because of the misrepresentation. The court did not find, however, that Stelmokas made false statements when he was naturalized.

The court then discussed the adverse inferences to be drawn from Stelmokas’s claim of the privilege against self-incrimination. It emphasized, however, that the findings of fact we have described did not depend on the drawing of inferences from Stelmokas’s claim of the privilege. The court said that it inferred that Stelmokas’s testimony would have revealed that he voluntarily joined the Schutzmannschaft and served in it from July 1941 until mid-1944, when he was transferred to Germany to serve in the 91st Light Flak Battalion; he was commander of the ghetto guard at Kaunsas in September 1941; he participated in the murdering of Jews in the Grosse Aktion and in fighting against anti-German partisans; and he made false representations to both the DPC analyst and the vice-consul regarding his wartime activities, particularly his service in the Schutz-mannschaft and the Luftwaffe, to facilitate his immigration to the United States.

The court then set forth its conclusions of law. It reiterated that the government had to prove its case by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence, but that under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a) Stelmokas’s certificate of naturalization must be canceled and his citizenship revoked if his citizenship was “illegally procured” or “procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.” It also pointed out that Stelmokas could not have procured his citizenship lawfully in 1955 if his admission to permanent residence in 1949 had not been lawful. 8 U.S.C. § 1427; Fedorenko, 449 U.S. at 514-16, 101 S.Ct. at 750-52.

The court held that under the DPA § 2(b), 62 Stat. 1009, Stelmokas had been ineligible to immigrate to the United States because his actions in the Kaunas ghetto assisted the enemy in persecuting civilian populations. Consequently, Stelmokas’s entry into the United States as a permanent resident was unlawful and he had procured his citizenship unlawfully. See Fedorenko, 449 U.S. at 512, 101 S.Ct. at 750 (“an individual’s service as a concentration camp armed guard — whether voluntary or involuntary — made him ineligible for a visa”). The court then held that Stelmokas also had been ineligible for a visa because he voluntarily had assisted enemy forces during World War II. See United States v. Kowalchuk, 773 F.2d 488, 496-97 (3d Cir.1985) (in banc), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1012, 106 S.Ct. 1188, 89 L.Ed.2d 303 (1986). Thus, for this additional reason, his entry as a permanent resident was unlawful and he had procured his citizenship unlawfully. The court next held that the Schutzmannschaft was a movement hostile to the United States, so that Stelmokas was barred from entering the United States because of his membership in it under DPA § 13, 62 Stat. 1014. Consequently, he had procured his citizenship illegally.

The court held that DPA § 10, 62 Stat. 1013, barred Stelmokas from entering the country for permanent residence because he willfully had misrepresented material facts to gain admission. In particular, he concealed his Schutzmannschaft and Luftwaffe service from the DPC analyst and the vice-consul. These concealments were material because they misrepresented the facts that he had assisted the enemy in the persecution of civilians, voluntarily assisted the Axis powers in their military operations, and had been a member of a movement hostile to the United States and its form of government. The court found that these misrepresentations would have a natural tendency to influence the DPC and the vice-consul in making their decisions to classify Stelmokas as a displaced person and to admit him to the United States. Consequently, Stelmokas’s entry into the United States as a permanent resident was unlawful so he had procured his citizenship unlawfully. See United States v. Kowalchuk, 773 F.2d at 493.

The court next held that Stelmokas had procured his citizenship unlawfully because he was not entitled to a visa to enter the country as a permanent resident as he had advocated or acquiesced in activities or conduct contrary to civilization and human decency on behalf of the Axis countries contrary to the regulations then in effect. The court also held that he did not qualify for naturalization because he lacked good moral character when he was naturalized, so that he had procured his citizenship unlawfully. 8 U.S.C. § 1427(a)(3); 8 U.S.C. § 1101(f). The court held that Stelmokas lacked good moral character because he voluntarily joined the Schutzmannschaft, enforced the confinement of the Jews in the brutal conditions of the Kaunas ghetto, and was on duty when his battalion assisted in the Gross Aktion. •

The court held that the government had not established its case in only one respect. Under the INA, procuring citizenship “by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation” is grounds for denatural-ization. 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a). The court held, however, that concealment must be made in order to obtain naturalization for that charge to apply, as distinguished from concealment made to obtain a visa. Accordingly, the court held that the misrepresentations to the DPC analyst and to the vice-consul could not apply to the concealment count with respect to procuring citizenship. The court therefore held that the concealment count failed because the government did not establish that Stelmokas’s statements in connection with his naturalization willfully concealed facts or included material misrepresentations of fact.

The court ended its opinion by reiterating that Stelmokas’s citizenship could be revoked only on the basis of clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence. Consequently, the government had a heavy burden in the ease. The court then emphasized that there was no doubt but that Stelmokas voluntarily joined the Schutzmannschaft in 1941 and served in it until mid-1944, when he was transferred to a Luftwaffe unit in Germany. The court noted that he was the commander of the ghetto guard and was on duty in Kaunas during the Gross Aktion, when his battalion assisted in the massacre of 9,200 Jews. Furthermore, the court stated that there was no doubt that he fought anti-German partisans later in the war, and that he willfully misrepresented his wartime activities when he applied for admission to this country. For all these reasons, the court revoked his citizenship. Stelmokas then appealed.

- II. DISCUSSION

Stelmokas raises four issues on this appeal. He contends that: (1) the district court erred in drawing adverse inferences based on his Fifth Amendment plea; (2) the district court erred in admitting as ancient documents records made- during the German occupation of Lithuania and certain other wartime documents; (3) the government failed to establish its ease by clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence so aS not to leave its allegations regarding his wartime activities in doubt; and (4) his alleged misrepresentations regarding his wartime employment and residence were not shown to be material. We will discuss these contentions in the order presented.-

A. The privilege against self-incrimination

We are perplexed by aspects of Stel-mokas’s Fifth Amendment argument. He initially contends that the district court erred when it held that he did not face a real and substantial threat of domestic and foreign prosecution. Yet we do not understand how the alleged error prejudiced him because the district court, though overruling his plea of the privilege against self-incrimination, did not sanction him for persisting with that plea. The court did not strike Stelmokas’s answer, deem the allegations of the complaint admitted, enter a default judgment against him, preclude him from presenting witnesses including even himself, or hold him in contempt. See S.E.C. v. Gray stone Nash, Inc., 25 F.3d 187, 189-91 (3d Cir.1994).

Quite to the contrary, the district court merely drew inferences against Stelmokas with respect to what his testimony would have revealed had he testified. . Of course, as we shall demonstrate, the court could have drawn these inferences even if it had upheld Stelmokas’s claim of the privilege against self-incrimination. Thus, while the court overruled Stelmokas’s plea of the Fifth Amendment, its ruling had no consequence because the court acted as if it had upheld the plea. It thus appears that to the extent the parties’ briefs address whether the court correctly overruled the claim of the privilege against self-incrimination, they focus on a non-issue. Therefore, we will not consider whether the court correctly held that Stelmo-kas could not plead the privilege against self-incrimination.

Stelmokas argues, however, that the court was not justified in drawing inferences against him for two reasons. First, he suggests that, in view of his attorney’s statement at trial that Stelmokas “may” waive the privilege, it is not clear that he, indeed, did claim the privilege. Second, he argues that “no penalty may-be imposed on a witness asserting the privilege” against self-incrimination. Br. at 19.

We reject both of these contentions. First, the court was justified in treating the case as though Stelmokas never retreated from his claim of the privilege against self-incrimination. Indeed, it hardly could have done otherwise. After all, Stelmokas claimed the privilege in his answer and at his deposition and he never filed an amended answer as the court ordered, or indicate that he would make himself available to complete his deposition by answering all the questions asked. Rather, his attorney merely said at the trial that he “may” waive the privilege, which he never did.

In S.E.C. v. Gray stone Nash, Inc., we pointed out that “because the privilege [against self-incrimination] may be initially invoked and later waived at a time when an adverse party can no longer secure the benefits of discovery, the potential for exploitation is apparent [because abuse may cause] unfair prejudice to the opposing litigant.” 25 F.3d at 190. At the very least, therefore, if a party initially claims the privilege against self-incrimination and then intends to waive it, he should do so clearly. If Stelmo-kas had waived the privilege clearly at the outset of the trial, the government could have asked for an opportunity to take a meaningful deposition. Stelmokas’s maneuvering precluded that possibility. Indeed, Stelmokas’s attorney at the trial, without apparent recognition of the significance of his statement, essentially admitted that he was abusing the claim of the privilege by indicating that he was keeping his options open and that he did not know what he would advise Stelmokas to do. We will not reward such manipulation. Rather, Stelmokas must bear its consequences.

Second, Stelmokas’s argument that he cannot be penalized for claiming the privilege relies on such cases as Lefkowitz v. Cunningham, 431 U.S. 801, 97 S.Ct. 2132, 53 L.Ed.2d 1 (1977), and Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493, 87 S.Ct. 616, 17 L.Ed.2d 562 (1967). But those cases dealt with the imposition of a substantial penalty for the exercise of the privilege against self-incrimination, e.g., the loss of public office. As we have pointed out, in this case the court did not impose any sanction on Stelmokas because of his refusal to answer questions.

Thus, this case is controlled by the principles set forth in Baxter v. Palmigiano, 425 , 96 S.Ct. 1551, 47 L.Ed.2d 810 (1976). There, a prisoner at a disciplinary hearing was advised that he had a right to remain silent but that, if he did so, his silence would be held against him. He remained silent and his silence was given evidentiary value against him. The Supreme Court held that the use of his silence in this manner was proper. It distinguished the line of cases, including Lefkowitz and Garrity, that did not allow the imposition of a penalty for pleading the privilege because those cases involved the loss of employment or the opportunity to contract with the state for exercising Fifth Amendment rights. Id. at 316-17, 96 S.Ct. at 1557. The Court also distinguished Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609, 85 S.Ct. 1229, 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965), which held that in a criminal case a jury could not be instructed that it could draw an inference of guilt from the defendant’s failure to testify. Baxter, 425 U.S. at 317, 96 S.Ct. at 1557.

The Supreme Court in Baxter held that the case was controlled by the principle that, in civil cases, “the Fifth Amendment does not forbid adverse inferences against parties ... when they refuse to testify in response to probative evidence offered against them.” Id. at 318, 96 S.Ct. at 1558. Thus, as long as there was independent evidence to support the negative inferences beyond the invocation of the privilege against self-incrimination, the inferences could be drawn. See also United States v. Local 560 of the Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters, etc., 780 F.2d 267, 292 n. 32 (3d Cir.1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1140, 106 S.Ct. 2247, 90 L.Ed.2d 693 (1986). In this case, there was a plethora of independent evidence to support the inferences that the district court drew based on Stelmokas’s claim of the privilege, so the court was justified in drawing the inferences it did.

We recognize that even though this is a civil case, see United States v. Osidach, 513 F.Supp. 51, 57 (E.D.Pa.1981), it may have drastic consequences for Stelmokas. After all, at oral argument the attorneys told us that an affirmance probably will lead to-his deportation. But the severity of the consequences do not alter the legal determination of whether the court may draw inferences against a person pleading the privilege against self-incrimination. Baxter itself was a disciplinary ease and had penal overtones. We also note that the Supreme Court recently has adhered to the sharp distinction between proceedings which, though possessing what might be regarded as a punitive impact, are civil, and traditional criminal proceedings. Thus, in United States v. Ursery, — U.S. -, -, 116 S.Ct. 2135, 2138, 135 L.Ed.2d 549 (1996), the Court held that civil forfeitures in general do not constitute punishment for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause. Accordingly,- the Court would not regard a civil forfeiture action as a criminal proceeding, even though the proceeding resulted in an owner losing his property. This case cannot be regarded as more punitive than Ursery. In sum, a case is either civil or criminal and in the present context this case is civil.

We make one final point on the self-incrimination argument. In this case, there was a bench trial. Thus, unlike a jury trial in which a jury will return a general verdict or answer specific interrogatories, the district court had an opportunity to explain the bases in the evidence for its factual findings. It did so by making it crystal clear that, even if it had not drawn any inferences from Stelmo-kas’s claim of the privilege, it would have made the same factual findings. Accordingly, even if the district court erred in drawing the inferences, its error would have been harmless for, as we explain below, the evidence without the inferences supported the court’s findings.

B. The ancient documents

Stelmokas argues that the district court erred by admitting into evidence occupation documents obtained from Lithuanian archives and other sources as ancient documents pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 803(16) which, as an exception to the hearsay rule, allows the admission of “Statements in a document in existence twenty years or more the authenticity of which is established.” The challenged documents demonstrated Stelmokas’s employment and activities during World War II. In particular, Stelmokas argues that these documents “lack any assurance of trustworthiness.” Br. at 22.

Stelmokas' focuses his objection on two groups of documents, principally those recovered from the records of the Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft that were located at Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, and secondarily those recovered from German records found at other locations. While Stelmokas recognizes that Germans or Lithuanians purportedly wrote the Schutzmannschaft documents, he observes that the Vilnius documents were kept from public inspection by the Soviet Union until 1990. Though he also acknowledges that the government did not have to demonstrate a strict chain of custody for the documents to be admitted, in his view the documents cannot be treated as authentic because it is unclear how they were moved to the Vilnius archives. Thus, he argues that the documents were not found in a place where, if authentic, they “would likely be” as set forth in Fed.R.Evid. 901(b)(8).

Stelmokas further argues that the documents are suspicious because the Germans destroyed many documents demonstrating their criminal conduct, but “preserved] evidence of Lithuanian misconduct.” Br. at 27. Furthermore, he regards the documents as questionable because they came from Soviet sources, and he claims that it was Soviet policy to discredit the Baltic states. Id. Finally, he argues, though with less particularly, that the government did not establish the chain of custody and authenticity of the second group of documents, i.e., those from German sources.

We review the district court’s ruling that admitted the evidence over a challenge to its authenticity under an abuse of discretion standard. See United States v. McGlory, 968 F.2d 309, 328 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 956, 113 S.Ct. 415, 121 L.Ed.2d 339 (1992). Federal Rule of Evidence 901(a) provides that the requirement of “authentication ... as a condition precedent to admissibility is satisfied by evidence sufficient to support a finding that the matter in question is what its proponent claims.” Rule 901(a) is written, of course, in general terms, but is followed by Rule 901(b) which includes examples of methods by which to authenticate evidence. Rule 901(b)(8) provides that authentication of an ancient document may be supplied by a demonstration that a document is in such condition as to create no suspicion concerning its authenticity, was in a place where, if authentic, it likely would be, and has been in existence 20 years or more at the time it is offered. Ancient documents are admissible into evidence as an exception to the hearsay rule. See United States v. Goickman, 547 F.2d 778, 784 (3d Cir.1976).

We cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in admitting the documents in question. Initially, we observe that Stelmokas’s argument in part is self-defeating because his contention that the Germans destroyed documents demonstrating their own criminal conduct, but preserved documents incriminating the Lithuanians, supports rather than undermines the district court’s conclusions that the documents incriminating him were legitimate. Furthermore, the documents were certified by competent Lithuanian archival personnel. Hilberg, who has testified in many eases regarding eastern European Holocaust records and whose expertise cannot be doubted, testified that the documents he examined were authentic and that the documents found in Soviet possession are as reliable as documents from western countries. He said that he found the documents to be reliable and not to be forgeries. He also testified that one would expect to find documents relating to the Lithuanian Schutz-mannschaft in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

MacQueen testified that he personally searched archives in Lithuania and that the documents he found were authentic and reliable. In particular, he had found Schutz-mannschaft records implicating Stelmokas in Vilnius, which is where they were likely to be found. Stelmokas simply has not produced any evidence or forwarded any reason to impeach the validity of the documents. See Sokaogon Chippewa Community v. Exxon Corp., 805 F.Supp. 680, 711 n. 34 (E.D.Wis.1992), aff'd, 2 F.3d 219 (7th Cir.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1196, 114 S.Ct. 1304, 127 L.Ed.2d 655 (1994).

We also point out that German records demonstrate that while Stelmokas was in the Luftwaffe, he was hospitalized in Germany. We cannot conceive that any rational person would believe that someone set out to incriminate Stelmokas and planted fake documents in widely-scattered places for that purpose. If anyone created the documents to injure Stelmokas, the fabricator most peculiarly placed the bulk of the documents in a location where they were not accessible to the public and from which, in fact, they were not released for decades. There certainly is no evidence in the record that anyone hatched such a bizarre plot. Indeed, Stelmokas does not explain what motivation- any person would have had to fabricate documents so as to attribute responsibility to him for the atrocities in Lithuania or how that could have been accomplished. Stelmokas was hardly a prominent figure in the war and it is difficult to conceive why someone would go to the lengths he suggests in order to frame him. Stelmokas’s attack on the authenticity of the documents is not substantial.

C. Sufficiency of the evidence

Stelmokas next argues that the government failed to establish its ease by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence so as to leave no doubt as to its allegations regarding Stelmokas’s wartime activities. In considering this allegation, we determine whether the district court’s findings are clearly erroneous. Oberti v. Board of Ed., 995 F.2d 1204, 1220 (3d Cir.1993). Of course, they will not be clearly erroneous if supported by clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence.

We have reviewed the record and have concluded that the district court’s findings are not clearly erroneous, as the evidence in the record fully supports them. The ultimate factual issue for resolution in this case was whether Stelmokas resided in the United States for five years “after being lawfully admitted for permanent residence.” 8 U.S.C. § 1427. If he was not lawfully admitted, he was not eligible for citizenship. Resolution. of this issue in turn depends on whether the district court’s findings that Stelmokas should have been barred for six different reasons from entering the country were clearly erroneous as to all six. We thus emphasize that even if we upheld the findings on only one of the six bases, we would affirm.

In fact, the government demonstrated beyond all doubt that Stelmokas was not lawfully admitted for permanent residence for all six reasons. The evidence against Stel-mokas was overwhelming, even without the inferences the court drew from Stelmokas’s Fifth Amendment plea and, as Stelmokas called no witnesses, the evidence was not rebutted. In the circumstances, we would serve no useful purpose in detailing all the evidence to support each of the charges against him.

We highlight two examples of how Stelmo-kas argues his case. He contends that there is no proof that he joined the Schutzmanns-chaft voluntarily. While it is true that no person testified that he recalled seeing Stel-mokas sign up for the Schutzmannschaft, his contention that there is no proof that he joined voluntarily ignores the record. The evidence shows that when Stelmokas joined the Schutzmannschaft, service of all its officers was voluntary as there was an ample supply of candidates and conscription was not necessary. Indeed, for at least several months after Stelmokas joined the Schutz-mannschaft, its members could be released at their own request. Obviously, if the evidence demonstrated that service of all Schutzmannschaft officers was voluntary, then a finding that a particular officer served voluntarily is supported in the record. We also point out that in addition to this positive proof that Stelmokas joined the Schutz-mannschaft voluntarily, the court drew the entirely justified inference from Stelmokas’s claim of the privilege against self-incrimination that he joined voluntarily.

Another example of the weakness of Stelmokas’s factual arguments is his claim that he did not misrepresent his wartime employment by concealing his membership in the Schutzmannschaft. This contention is frivolous, for he acknowledges that he represented to the DPC analyst and the vice-consul that from 1940 until 1943 he was a teacher in Seda. It is difficult to understand how Stelmokas can argue that he did not misrepresent his status as a Schutzmanns-chaft officer when he represented that he was a teacher for most of the time that he was in reality such an officer.

Stelmokas, however, takes a different approach to what constitutes a misrepresentation. In a post-argument brief that he filed at our direction, he recites that “[a] relevant concealment would have occurred if the government had produced evidence that Stelmo-kas was asked if he had been a member of the Schutzmannschaft and said no.” Br. at 3. Thus, Stelmokas would require that the examiner have a reason to ask about a specific narrowly defined matter. We reject his approach. In our view, if you falsely represent that your employment is one thing when your actual employment is completely different, then you have concealed your true employment. In these circumstances, it is perfectly clear that Stelmokas himself demonstrates that he made a material misrepresentation when he sought displaced person status and a visa. Surely the misrepresentation that Stelmokas was a teacher was material because it hid his true employment as a Schutzmannschaft officer.

Notwithstanding Stelmokas’s failure to mount a substantial attack on the court’s findings, we focus on two aspects of the government’s case: Stelmokas’s participation in the Schutzmannshaft as a movement hostile to the United States and his false statements to the DPC analyst and to the vice-consul. As we indicated, section 13 of the DPA prohibited issuance of a visa to any person “who is or has been a member of, or participated in, any movement which is or has been hostile to the United States or the form of government of the United States.” 62 Stat. 1014. It is beyond doubt that Stel-mokas was an officer in the Schutzmanns-chaft. It is also clear that the Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft was on the State Department “List of Organizations Considered Inimical to the United States.” The inimical list states that members of the Schutz-mannschaft “are considered collaborators except for those members ... who can produce evidence that they were conscripted and did not commit atrocities or otherwise persecute civilian populations.” See exhibit 4.242, app. 1672.

Stelmokas did not produce any such evidence. Indeed, except for a small number of exhibits, he did not produce any evidence at all. It is clear that Stelmokas voluntarily joined the Schutzmannschaft and, while there is no eye-witness testimony identifying him as a person who committed atrocities or otherwise persecuted the civilian population, the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the record is that he did exactly that. In any event, with or without the reasonable inferences to be drawn from the record, Stel-mokas’s service as an officer in the Schutz-mannschaft disqualified him from obtaining displaced person status and a visa, as the Schutzmannschaft was a movement hostile to the United States. See United States v. Kowalchuk, 773 F.2d at 497 n. 11; United States v. Koziy, 540 F.Supp. at 34; United States v. Osidach, 513 F.Supp. at 78-79.

In his post-argument brief, Stelmokas makes disturbing contentions with respect to the inimical list. He indicates that “there is no evidence of record as to what, if any [inimical] list, was in use in July and August of 1949 when [he] made his applications to the [DPC] and the consulate.” He then adds that the “government has placed the so-called inimical list in evidence but it is undated and there is no testimony'as to when it was published and whether the Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft was on the list as early as the summer of 1949, and if so, what effect it might have had, if any, on the decision of the DPC examiner or vice consul.” Br. at 22.

While we agree that there was no testimony at trial as to what effect the presence of the Schutzmannschaft on the inimical list might have had on the decisions of the examiner or the vice-consul, we regard the balance of the quoted statements in Stelmokas’s brief as material misrepresentations. Near the end of the trial, after the government’s witnesses had testified and shortly before the government rested, the following proceedings took place:

THE COURT: Fine. What remains to be done today?

MS. SLAVIN [the government attorney]: Well, we would like to move Exhibit 4.242, which is the mimical list, into evidence. We have reached a stipulation.

THE COURT: Let me ...

(Pause in proceedings.)

THE COURT: Okay. It was not received yesterday. Is it being received—

MS. SLAVIN': We are moving it in—

THE COURT: — in evidence by agreement or is there a stipulation that you want to read into the record?

MS. SLAVIN: The stipulation we have arrived at that was — that the list was in effect during the relevant period of Mr. Stelmokas’ immigration in 1949.

MR. CARROLL [Stelmokas’s attorney]: And I’m withdrawing my objection to that exhibit, your Honor, for that reason.

THE COURT: Exhibit 4.242 will be received in evidence.

(Government Exhibit 4.242 is admitted into evidence.)

In the circumstances, it obviously is disingenuous for Stelmokas’s attorney on this appeal, who was trial counsel as well, to challenge the use of the inimical list on the theory that the evidence did not show it was in effect when Stelmokas sought displaced person status and a visa. Of course, Exhibit 4.242 included the Lithuanian Schutzmannschaft on the list.

In any event, it would not matter if the Schutzmannschaft was added to the inimical list after Stelmokas obtained displaced person status and a visa and entered the country. Stelmokas was barred from entering the country because he was a member of the Schutzmannschaft, which was a movement hostile to the United States. The date that the Schutzmannschaft was placed on the inimical list is not significant for purposes of determining if it was a movement hostile to the United States because its placement on the list established that it was such a movement during World War II when Stelmokas was one of its officers. The inimical list did not operate prospectively so that a movement would be regarded as hostile to the United States only after it was placed on the list. After all, the list enumerated movements that existed during the Nazi era which ended before the list’s promulgation. Therefore, Stelmokas was unlawfully admitted to the United States because, regardless of when the Schutzmannschaft first appeared on the inimical list, when Stelmokas served as a Schutzmannschaft officer it was a movement hostile to the United States.

The second aspect of the evidence on which we comment is Stelmokas’ misrepresentations to the DPC analyst and the American vice-consul in Hamburg. Neither the analyst nor the vice-consul testified, but it is beyond dispute that when they interviewed Stelmokas he told them nothing about his Schutzmannschaft and Luftwaffe service. Rather, he told them that during the war he was a teacher in Seda, Lithuania, and was then a laborer in Dresden, Germany. There simply can be no doubt but that the district court’s findings demonstrate that Stelmokas was not eligible to immigrate to the United States.

D. The materiality of Stelmokas’s misrepresentation

Stelmokas’s final argument is that the government did not establish that his misrepresentations regarding his wartime employment and residence were material. He contends that the “government has usually attempted [to establish] proof of materiality in these cases by calling consular or INS officials to testify that their decisions would have been different if they had known the truth.” Br. at 48. See, e.g., United States v. Kowalchuk, 773 F.2d at 496. He then correctly points out that the government did not present any such evidence in this case.

Stelmokas’s claim for relief on this basis faces the insurmountable barrier that even if he is correct, we still must affirm. The district court found for six different reasons, all fully supported by evidence in the record, that Stelmokas was ineligible for displaced person status and for a visa and thus that he had not entered the United States lawfully and had not been eligible for citizenship. Five of these reasons were predicated on his conduct and associations during World War II, and only one was based on his misrepresentations to the DPC analyst and the vice-consul. Thus, even if Stelmokas had made no misrepresentations to the DPC analyst or the -vice-consul, we would affirm because he procured his citizenship illegally as he was not eligible for displaced person status and for a visa.

We recognize that a party might contend that if a court of appeals rejected any of the bases for a district court’s conclusion that a defendant should be denaturalized, it should remand the case so that the district court then could consider whether to grant relief predicated on the findings the court of appeals has upheld. In that event, a finding that a defendant had not made material misrepresentations in connection with his visa application could be significant. The problem with such an argument is that the courts do not have equitable discretion to deny the government a judgment of denaturalization to which it otherwise would be entitled. Fedorenko, 449 U.S. at 517-18, 101 S.Ct. at 752-53. Thus, even if we held that Stelmo-kas’s misrepresentations were not material and, indeed, even if he made no representations at all to obtain the visa, his appeal is doomed, as he was not eligible for a visa, and we' must uphold the district court even if we sustain only one of the bases for its conclusion that he had been ineligible to enter the United States. Of course, we are sustaining the district court’s conclusions on all six counts that Stelmokas was ineligible to enter the United States. Nevertheless, we will address the materiality argument on its merits, as it does relate to one of the bases for relief.

Initially, on this appeal Stelmokas and the government agreed that Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759, 108 S.Ct. 1537, 99 L.Ed.2d 839 (1988), set the standard for materiality in this case, even though that case concerned materiality in citizenship applications under the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a), rather than materiality under section 10 of the DPA. Thus, in his opening brief, Stelmo-kas said that the “current test of materiality is found in Kungys.” Br. at 47. Indeed, in his “Statement of Issues” he included the following: “Were the defendant’s misrepresentations concerning his former occupation and residence ‘material’ as defined in Kungys v. United States, 485 U.S. 759, 108 S.Ct. 1537, 99 L.Ed.2d 839 (1988).” Under Kun-gys, a misrepresentation is material if it has a natural tendency to affect the officers’ decisions, in this case the decisions of the DPC analyst and the vice-consul. 485 U.S. at 770-72, 108 S.Ct. at 1546-47. Furthermore, it is clear from Kungys that a misrepresentation can be material even where if the truth had been told, the decision maker ultimately would have reached the same result. Under Kungys, the materiality of a misrepresentation in a denaturalization proceeding is a legal rather than a factual question. Id. at 772,108 S.Ct. at 1547.

While the government continues to rely on Kungys, Stelmokas changed his position in his post-argument brief in which he now contends that “Kungys simply did not deal with the visa or DPA issues.” Br. at 1. Furthermore, he cites United States v. Gaudin, — U.S. -, 115 S.Ct. 2310, 132 L.Ed.2d 444 (1995), for the -first time on this appeal in that brief, pointing out that the Supreme Court held there that materiality was a factual rather than a legal matter in the circumstances of that case. We would be justified in refusing to entertain Stelmokas’s post-argument change in position, for we do not think that a party should be able to change his legal contentions after oral argument. But, mindful of the importance of this case to Stelmokas, we nonetheless will discuss his new position.

While we cannot predict the ultimate implications of Gaudin, we do know that Gaudin did not affect the Kungys holding that, in a denaturalization proceeding, materiality of a misrepresentation is a legal issue. Quite the contrary is true because the Gaudin court discussed Kungys at length and made it clear that it was distinguishing Kungys because that case dealt with whether “an appellate court must remand to a district court for a determination of materiality in a denaturalization proceeding,” whereas Gaudin was concerned with a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to have a jury determine materiality in a criminal proceeding. Gaudin, — U.S. at -, 115 S.Ct. at 2319.

Of course, Gaudin followed a familiar track because it is not unusual for the Court to extend more extensive procedural protections to a defendant in a criminal case than to a party in a civil ease. Indeed, as we point out above, the Court in Baxter v. Palmigiano distinguished Griffin v. California on the ground that Griffin, unlike Baxter, was a criminal case. Baxter, 425 U.S. at 317, 96 S.Ct. at 1557. Thus, while Gaudin may cause courts to cabin Kungys to the extent that it holds that a determination of materiality is a legal issue, Kungys’s treatment of materiality as a legal issue remains applicable here.

Stelmokas now also seems to contend that because the procedure in an application for citizenship differs from that under section 10 of the DPA, the definition of what is material in Kungys is inapplicable here. In particular, in his post-argument brief, he contends that “Kungys simply did not deal with the visa or DPA eligibility issues.” Br. at 1. This argument is distinct from Stelmo-kas’s contention that materiality is a factual question. We reject this attempt to distinguish Kungys. While the procedures followed and questions asked when an applicant seeks a visa differ from those applicable when an applicant seeks citizenship, we see no reason why the test of materiality under Kungys would not apply in DPA eligibility cases. Materiality, after all, refers to the effect of a representation on a decision maker regardless of the nature of the decision. In other words, no matter what is being decided, the misrepresentation is material under Kungys if it has the natural tendency to affect the decision. We see no reason not to apply that test here. Thus, Kungys is doubly significant here, for it establishes that the resolution of materiality is a legal undertaking and it sets forth the test of what is material.

Inasmuch as under Kungys the materiality of a misrepresentation in a denatu-ralization proceeding is a matter of law, not fact, there cannot possibly be a need for the government to produce evidence from officials that if the truth had been told the officers would have reached a different result. Kungys, 485 U.S. at 772, 108 S.Ct. at 1547. After all, evidence is not needed for a court to make a legal determination. Thus, while the government frequently has produced evidence of that character, the effect of Kungys in 1988 has been to eliminate the need for such evidence, if it ever was required.

We do not go so far as to suggest that evidence of what a consular or DPC official would have done if given the correct information is not admissible because we have no need to reach that point. Indeed, we even will assume that in a close case evidence of that character would be useful for the court in making a legal determination concerning the materiality of a misrepresentation. After all, the Supreme Court, prior to Kungys in Fedorenko v. United States, quoted and relied on such evidence produced by the government, though it noted that it was proffered and accepted by the court “[w]ithout objection” from the defendant. 449 U.S. at 498-501, 101 S.Ct. at 148-44. Yet, in Fedorenko the court did say that the defendant was ineligible for a visa “as a matter of law.” Fedorenko, 449 U.S. at 509, 101 S.Ct. at 749.

Though we thus acknowledge that in a close case evidence of whether or not the consular official’s decision would have been different if he knew the truth might be helpful to the court in deciding a materiality issue, this case is not close. In our view, it cannot reasonably be argued that Stelmo-kas’s misrepresentation that he was a laborer and a school teacher when in fact he was an officer in the Schutzmannschaft and served in the Luftwaffe could not have had a natural tendency to influence the DPC analyst and the vice-consul. Indeed, probably without recognizing the implications of his statement, Stelmokas admits as much, for in his post-argument brief he describes his, fabricated wartime employment as a “neutral” factor in the decision to admit him to the United States. Br. at 3. He hardly could contend that a revelation of his real Schutzmanns-chaft and Luftwaffe service would have amounted to the disclosure of a “neutral” factor.

We have no doubt that if Stelmokas had told the truth about his service on behalf of Germany during World War II he never would have obtained his visa for permanent residency in the United States, and he never would have been naturalized. After all, we have found that these activities disqualified him from securing displaced person status and from obtaining a visa. Thus, the misrepresentations surely were material. Of course, there is a certain irony in Stelmokas’s contention that his misrepresentations were not material, because when he made them he must have recognized the need to hide the truth so that he could be admitted to this country. At least we can discern no other motive that he might have had to conceal his wartime activities. The truth is inescapable: he invented his wartime history out of thin air so that he could be admitted to the United States and ultimately obtain citizenship.

We make an additional observation with respect to the custom of the government of calling consular or INS officials to testify that their decisions would have been different if they had known the truth. As we have indicated, Stelmokas seems to believe that the materiality of a misrepresentation is a factual issue and reasons that the fact of materiality cannot be established without testimony as to what the consequence of the provision of truthful information to the decision maker would have been. Yet, even treating materiality as a factual question, we see no reason why the district court as the trier of the fact could not conclude, without such testimony, that the misrepresentation had a natural tendency to affect the decision and thus was material. We will not convert the government’s custom in producing consular or INS testimony to establish the materiality of a misrepresentation into a requirement that it must do so, for we are not aware of any case which holds that the government must establish the materiality of a misrepresentation with testimony from a consular or INS officer that a truthful disclosure would have produced a different result.

We point out that our conclusion that evidence on materiality of a misrepresentation is not necessary is in harmony with our treatment of materiality in other contexts. Bethel v. McAllister Bros., Inc., 81 F.3d 376 (3d Cir.1996), is a recent example. In Bethel, the plaintiff obtained a substantial verdict on a defamation claim. Subsequently, the defendant moved for relief from the judgment entered on the verdict based on the plaintiffs testimony at an arbitration proceeding after the trial in the defamation case which was inconsistent with his earlier testimony at trial. The district court granted relief and ordered a new trial on the defamation action. The plaintiff appealed, and we affirmed.

Bethel is significant to this ease because the district court and this court in Bethel were concerned with whether the “misrepresentation” was “material” to the plaintiffs case. Id. at 385. We held that it was not merely material, it was crucial. In entertaining the motion for relief from judgment, the district court developed a record establishing the misrepresentation by comparing the testimony at the trial and the arbitration. But no witness testified that the misrepresentation was material. Rather, the district court, predicated on its own view of the record, concluded that it was material, and we reached the same conclusion using an identical methodology. Thus, without citing Kungys, both courts in Bethel followed the Kungys formula of basing a determination of “the materiality of a statement ... upon a factual evidentiary showing” and then making “an interpretation of substantive law.” Kungys, 485 U.S. at 772, 108 S.Ct. at 1547 (omitting citation). That procedure is exactly what the district court did here, and it is exactly what we do on this appeal. In fact, materiality frequently is treated as a legal question, sometimes in a trial context as in Kungys, see In re Cohn, 54 F.3d 1108, 1115 (3d Cir.1995), and sometimes in other proceedings. See, e.g., United States v. Pelullo, 14 F.3d 881, 886 (3d Cir.1994); United States v. Gray, 878 F.2d 702, 714 (3d Cir.1989).

E. Comments on the dissent

We close the discussion portion of our opinion with comment on two aspects of Judge Aldisert’s dissent, sections VII and VIII. We do not address the rest of the dissent as our opinion adequately explains the bases for our conclusions and we do not regard the dissent as detracting from them. We comment on his discussion in section VII of the dissent on Count IV of the complaint in which the government charged that Stel-mokas illegally procured his naturalization because he misrepresented his wartime record to the DPC and to the vice-consul and thus was ineligible to enter the country. We focus our attention on this point because Judge Aldisert includes in his dissent a concession which causes the dissent to self-destruct, namely “that Stelmokas’ failure to disclose his wartime military status would have had a natural tendency to influence immigration decisions.” Dissent typescript at 29.

Initially on this point we reiterate that 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a) provides in the disjunctive for a certifícate of naturalization to be revoked if it was “illegally procured” or was “procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.” In an “illegally procured” case, the alien obtains his naturalization illegally, in this ease the illegality being that Stelmokas was not eligible for naturalization as he was not admissible into the United States. In a “procured by” case, the alien obtains his naturalization by concealment of a material fact or by misrepresentation. While Judge Aldisert asserts that the government attempted in Count IV to rely on the “procured by” language, in that count the references to Stelmokas’s misrepresentations to the DPC analyst and the vice-counsel were germane only to the “illegally procured” component of section 1451(a). Thus, Judge Aldisert’s suggestion that Count TV of the complaint related in any way to the “procured by” language of section 1451(a) is simply not true. Furthermore, while the government unsuccessfully did use Stelmo-kas’s misrepresentations to the DPC analyst and the vice-consul in the only count of its complaint asserting a “procured by” charge, Count VII, the government does not pursue its ease on that count on this appeal.

Judge Aldisert then indicates, quite correctly, that the government’s case on Count IV begins with the major premises that DPA § 10, 62 Stat. 1013, barred from immigration any person who willfully misrepresented ma-ferial facts to gain entry as a displaced person. He then correctly indicates that the government argues that Stelmokas made material misrepresentations so that his entry was unlawful and he thus illegally procured his naturalization. He then indicates that the “critical inquiry is whether the government met its important threshold burden of proving a misrepresentation as defined in the Displaced Persons Act.” Dissent typescript At 27. (Emphasis added.)

The problem with the foregoing statement is inclusion of the word “threshold” for if the government established that Stelmokas made material misrepresentations to the DPC analyst and the vice-consul the case is over and the government wins. Why is this so? The answer is quite clear. DPA § 10 provides that any “person who shall willfully make a misrepresentation for the purpose of gaining admission into the United States as an eligible displaced person shall thereafter not be admissible into the United States.” Of course, as we already have explained, that person is thus ineligible for naturalization.

Rather, as Judge Aldisert acknowledges, the test of materiality comes from Kungys, i.e., does the misrepresentation have a natural tendency to influence or was it capable of influencing the decision of the decision making body to which it was addressed? While it appears that Judge Aldisert is reluctant to acknowledge that Stelmokas’s lies to the DPC analyst and the vice-consul about his wartime activities were material, we reiterate that he does concede “that Stelmokas’ failure to disclose his wartime military status would have had a natural tendency to influence immigration decisions.” Dissent typescript at 29. Under Kungys the misrepresentations were therefore material without any showing of their effect on the DPC analyst or the vice-consul.¹

Notwithstanding the clear statutory scheme, Judge Aldisert either tries to add more elements to the definition of materiality or to demonstrate that the government had to show that the misrepresentations led to Stelmokas’s admission into the country. As we have indicated, the government has demonstrated the Stelmokas’s misrepresentations led to his admission into the United States but it did not have to do so. Nevertheless we address the point Judge Aldisert makes. Judge Aldisert fails in this effort to demonstrate that the government had to demonstrate anything beyond the conceded fact that Stelmokas’s misrepresentations had a natural tendency to influence the immigration decisions. The reason he fails is that he relies on principles inapplicable in a case under the “illegally procured” clause of section 1451(a) when the ease is predicated, as is this case in Count IV, on an alien' having made a material misrepresentation under DPA § 10 for the purpose of gaining admission into the United States. Thus, Judge Aldisert makes the following statement which is simply wrong in this “illegally procured” case under section 1451(a): “In denaturalization cases, equally important to establishing a material statement is the presentation of evidence that the misrepresentation, procured the order and certificate of naturalization.” Dissent typescript at 29. The problem with the statement is that in “illegally procured” cases there is no requirement that a misrepresentation enabled the alien to procure anything. Rather, in an illegally procured case dependent on a misrepresentation made when the alien sought admission into the United States, under DPA § 10 the government merely need prove that the misrepresentation for the purpose of obtaining admission into the United States was material. Furthermore, Judge Aldisert’s statement is wrong for the additional reason that Stelmo-kas did not make his misrepresentations to procure the order and certificate of naturalization. He made them to obtain. displaced person status and to be admitted into the United States.

We reiterate that Stelmokas’s misrepresentations to the DPC analyst and the vice-consul are significant because under DPA § 10 an alien who makes a material misrepresentation thereafter is not admissible into the United States. Thus, if an alien who made a material misrepresentation is admitted and is naturalized, he has illegally procured his naturalization without regard for whether he procured anything by the misrepresentation. We further emphasize that DPA § 10 in the clearest possible terms speaks prospectively, i.e., “thereafter” an alien making misrepresentations is not admissible into the United States. Accordingly, it is clear beyond doubt that once Stelmo-kas made his misrepresentations to the DPC analyst and the vice-consul, he was ineligible to enter the United States, because, in Judge Aldisert’s words, his “failure to disclose his wartime military status would have had a natural tendency to influence immigration decisions.” Accordingly, Stelmokas could not be naturalized and he illegally procured his citizenship. Nothing in DPA § 10 requires that the alien procure his admission into the United States or anything else by his misrepresentations for even if the misrepresentations are uncovered immediately, so that the alien does not obtain displaced persons status or is not admitted to the United States, he is ineligible for admission to the United States after he makes his misrepresentations.

For reasons that must be driven by Judge Aldisert’s sense that there is something unfair in the prosecution of this ease he continues to develop his dissent along the same erroneous lines that we have described. Thus, he points out that in Kungys “the government was obligated to demonstrate that Kungys’ citizenship status was procured by his material misrepresentations.” Dissent at 338. He then inferentially acknowledges that Kungys was not an “illegally procured” case but was a case where the naturalization was “procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation,” for he recites that the “Government seems to ask this court to apply different meanings to the term ‘procured’ in the two clauses of § 1451(a).” Id. at 338. He argues that “[t]here is no rational support for the suggestion that Congress intended such an anomal-istic reading of the same word in the same section of the same statute. There is absolutely no rational support for the notion that the government is not required to produce evidence showing precisely how Stelmokas was ‘unlawfully admitted’ and whether his naturalization was in fact ‘illegally procured.’ ” Id. at 338. “If under the second clause in § 1451 the government must show that the naturalization was ‘procured by’ the alleged misrepresentation, as the Court held in Kungys, then under the first clause certainly the government must demonstrate that Stelmokas was ineligible and therefore unlawfully admitted.” Id. at 338-39.

The problem with the foregoing quoted language from the dissent is obvious. The government did demonstrate, in Judge Aldi-sert’s words, that Stelmokas “was ineligible and therefore unlawfully admitted.” The government demonstrated that Stelmokas made a material misrepresentation under DPA § 10, which representation we' once again point out did not have to result in Stelmokas procuring anything to violate that section. Thus, Stelmokas illegally procured his naturalization. Nothing could be clearer.

It is also clear that in the “illegally procured” and “procured by” clauses, “procured” has the same meaning and the government does not contend otherwise. We repeat the distinction between the two types of eases. In a “procured by” case the alien obtains his naturalization by his misrepresentation. In an “illegally procured” case the alien obtains his naturalization illegally, in Stelmokas’s case by entering the country when he could not be admitted. Thus, “procured” means the same thing in “illegally procured” and “procured by” cases. What differs is the interdicted conduct by which the alien procured his naturalization.²

Of course, there is a good reason why the “procured by” clause in section 1451(a) requires that the government demonstrate more than that an alien made a material misrepresentation for naturalization to be revoked because, unlike DPA § 10 which applies prospectively so as to render an alien inadmissible to the United States, section 1451(a) always applies in a situation in which the alien already has procured his naturalization. Thus, Judge Aldisert’s emphasized quotation of Kungys that “the naturalized citizen must have procured citizenship as a result of the misrepresentation or concealment,” 485 U.S. at 767, 108 S.Ct. at 1544, dissent at 339, does not support his position because there the Court was discussing a “procured by” not an “illegally procured” case. Judge Aldisert goes further in misusing the plain language of Kungys. First, he correctly says that Kungys indicates that in a denaturalization proceeding there are “four independent requirements.” Dissent at 339. In fact, the Court said the following with respect to a “procured by” case under section 1451(a):

So understood, the provision plainly contains four independent requirements: the naturalized citizen must have misrepresented or concealed some fact, the misrepresentation or concealment must have been willful, the fact must have been material, and'the naturalized citizen must have procured citizenship as a result of the misrepresentation or concealment.

Kungys, 485 U.S. at 767, 108 S.Ct. at 1544-45.

Yet this language does not help Stelmokas for in the quotation the Court was not discussing an “illegally procured” case. Rather, it set forth the elements of a “procured by” case. Furthermore, the Court emphasized that the requirements were “independent.” Thus, it is impossible to read the statement in Kungys that the naturalized citizen have procured citizenship as a result of the misrepresentation into the materiality requirement of a misrepresentation under DPA § 10. The materiality and procurement considerations are “independent” of each other and cannot be fused. Furthermore, the requirement in a “procured by” case that the misrepresentation have resulted in the alien obtaining citizenship cannot be attached to the government’s burden to show that Stel-mokas’s misrepresentations to obtain displaced person status and a visa in this “illegally procured” ease were material. Thus, Judge Aldisert’s concession that Stelmokas’s misrepresentations would have had a natural tendency to influence the immigration decisions should-lead him to vote to affirm even if he rejects, as he' does, the rest of the government’s case, for as we explained above, if the government establishes that Stelmokas illegally procured his naturalization for a single reason we must affirm the district court.

Judge Aldisert discusses the possibility of the government producing evidence of what consular officials would have done if Stelmo-kas had not deceived them but we will not discuss this point as we have addressed it above. Eventually he gets back to his central theme on Count IV but at that point he inexplicably compounds his errors for he says that “the government has not met its high burden of proof in this case because it failed to produce evidence that Stelmokas’ misrepresentations procured the decision of the DPC analyst and th'e naturalization officials.” Dissent at 341. (Emphasis added.) Of course, the “naturalization officials” have nothing to do with this case on Count IV and thus the government does not contend that any misrepresentation to them is germane to that count. Furthermore, the government did not have to show that Stelmokas’s misrepresentations to the DPC analyst and the vice-consul procured the decision of the naturalization officials to' grant naturalization as the misrepresentations were critical as they led to his admission into the United States.

The second aspect of Judge Aldisert’s dissent on which we comment is part VIII in which he expresses due process and fairness . concerns. We point out that Stelmokas does not contend that the prosecution of the case has denied him due process of law. Accordingly, this court should not be concerned with Judge Aldisert’s observation that with the passage of time “witnesses disappear and memories fade.” Dissent at 343. In any event, lest too many tears be shed for Stel-mokas, we point out that one witness has not disappeared and we have no reason to believe his memory has faded. That witness, of course, is .Stelmokas himself who with so much at stake persisted in his plea of the privilege against self-incrimination notwithstanding the order of the district court overruling the plea.

III. CONCLUSION

After a careful examination of this matter, we have concluded that the district court made no errors of law and that the record fully supports and, in fact, compels the district court’s conclusion that Stelmokas did not qualify for admission to this country as a displaced person. Thus the district court correctly revoked his citizenship and ordered him to surrender his certificate of naturalization. While many years have passed since his admission to the country and his obtaining of citizenship, it is not too late to remedy the wrong done when he was admitted. Accordingly, we will affirm the judgment of August 2,1995.

1 , Moreover, the Supreme Court made clear in Fedorenko v. United States that a certificate of naturalization is "illegally procured" whenever the naturalized citizen failed to comply with a statutory prerequisite for naturalization at the time that he procured his citizenship. Once the absence of a statutory prerequisite has been shown, no causation element need be proved. Fedorenko v. United States, 449 U.S. at 514, 101 S.Ct. at 751 ("[O]ur cases have established that a naturalized citizen's failure to comply with the statutory prerequisites for naturalization renders his certificate of citizenship revocable as 'illegally procured’ under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a).”); id. at 515, 101 S.Ct. at 752 ("[I]nasmuch as petitioner failed to satisfy a statutory requirement which Congress has imposed as a prerequisite to the acquisition of citizenship by naturalization, ... petitioner’s citizenship must be revoked because it was 'illegally procured.' "). Thus, once the Government proved that Stelmokas was not “lawfully admitted” to the United States under the DPA because his misrepresentations, regardless of their effect, made him "thereafter not ... admissible,” DPA § 10, Stelmokas's certificate of naturalization was "revocable as ‘illegally procured.' ” Id. at 514, 101 S.Ct. at 751.

2 . See Kungys, 485 U.S. at 800 n. 11, 108 S.Ct. at 1561 n. 11 (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment) (“Although the illegally-procured provision [of section 1451(a)] may reach some conduct encompassed within the material misrepresentation provision, the illegally-procured provision- has an independent and broader reach.”).