Vasquez v. Brownell

113 F. Supp. 722, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2637
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedJuly 27, 1953
DocketCiv. No. 1468
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 113 F. Supp. 722 (Vasquez v. Brownell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vasquez v. Brownell, 113 F. Supp. 722, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2637 (W.D. Tex. 1953).

Opinion

THOMASON, District Judge.

The plaintiff herein filed suit in the nature of a declaratory judgment for a determination that he is now a citizen of the-United States, alleging jurisdiction under Section 1503 of Title 8, United States Code Annotated. The Government, acting in defendant’s behalf, filed a motion to dismiss for the reason that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, and for the reason that this Court had no jurisdiction in this matter. Said motion was granted and an order was entered dismissing this cause of action. The defendant’s motion alleged that this suit came within the prohibitive wording of the aforementioned Section 1503, which reads as follows: “except that no such action may be instituted in any case if the issue of such person’s status as a national of the United States (1) arose by reason of, or in connection with any exclusion proceeding under the provisions of this or any other act, or (2) is an issue in any such exclusion proceeding.”

Filed contemporaneously with defendant’s motion to dismiss was an affidavit by the Acting District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, El Paso, Texas, stating that the records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service disclose “that the issue as to the status of said Felix Vasquez, plaintiff in the above cause, as a national of the United States, arose for the first time in connection with a hearing before a Board of Special Inquiry at the Port of El Paso, Texas, on October 12, 1951; that nothing in said records indicates or shows that the issue as to plaintiff’s status as a national of the United States ever arose or was questioned at any time prior to the aforementioned hearing before the Board of Special Inquiry at El Paso, Texas”.

The facts are not disputed and are as follows:

Plaintiff was a native of Mexico who was naturalized in the United States on June 4, 1943 while a member of our Armed Forces. On October 12, 1951, he applied for admission to the United States at El Paso, Texas,tand was ordered held for a Board of Special Inquiry. Testimony at this hearing developed the fact that since April 10, 1948, plaintiff had been living and residing in Juarez, Mexico, commuting daily to his employment in El Paso, Texas, continuously until October 12, 1951.1 No final decision was entered by the Board of Special Inquiry in plaintiff’s case on that date, but same was deferred for further evidence. The plaintiff, however, was not [724]*724allowed entry into the United States at that time. The hearing was closed on January 18, 1952, as an abandoned application, inasmuch as the plaintiff had taken no further action in that regard. Subsequent to the aforesaid hearing date, plaintiff entered the United States at El Paso, Texas, on May 18, 1952, by claiming American citizenship. Thereafter, deportation proceedings were instituted against him. The uncontroverted affidavit of the Acting District Director indicates that the information received by the Immigration Service from the Board of Special Inquiry Hearing of October 12, 1951, furnished the basis for the lodging of these deportation charges. The present suit was filed immediately following this action by the Immigration Service.

Since the facts show that no exclusion proceedings are presently in existence or pending, the second exception to jurisdiction under Section 1503 is not relied on. The question for determination here is the construction of the first exception to jurisdiction of the court under the aforementioned statute. This question is apparently before the Courts for the first time, said statute having only recently been passed by 'Congress.

A review of the history of the statute involved herein sheds much light on the Congressional intention in its passage. Prior to the Nationality Act of 1940, no specific statutory provisions^ existed for the declaratory judgment procedures to try issues of nationality such as the one presented here.

The leading case of Perkins v. Elg, 1939, 307 U.S. 325, 59 S.Ct. 884, 83 L.Ed. 1320, allowed a litigant to successfully invoke the general Declaratory Judgment Act of 1934 in matters of this nature. With this exception, however, habeas corpus was the traditional remedy employed by persons claiming to be citizens but who were detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This habeas corpus procedure was vastly limited as to the scope of review and de novo hearings on the nationality feature were wholly denied. The Nationality Act of 1940, 8 U.S.C.A. § 903, radically enlarged the remedy of claimants such as the plaintiff herein. It not only provided for judicial trial and determination, de novo, of nationality issues for claimants within the United States, but also set up means whereby persons abroad could litigate their claims, and, in some instances, obtain the right to come to this country for such litigation. This statute specifically allowed such de novo hearings, even though an excluding decision of a Board of the Immigration Service had been previously sustained by the Courts on habeas corpus. Mah Ying Og v. McGrath, 1950, 88 U.S.App.D.C. 87, 187 F.2d 199. See also Wong Wing Foo v. McGrath, 9 Cir., 1952, 196 F.2d 120.

The Court is well acquainted with the general world situation which resulted in the recent passage of the McCarran Walter Act, which act substantially amended all Immigration laws, including former Section 903, now Section 1503 of Title 8, United States Code Annotated. Present Section 1503 is obviously more restrictive than the former section and contains the specific exceptions to jurisdiction and right, as heretofore set forth.

The report of the Senate Judiciary Committee investigating the Immigration System showed good cause for amending the prior statute in the use of these words:

“In spite of the definite restrictions on the use and application of Section 503 to bona fide cases, the subcommittee finds that the section has been subject to broad interpretation, and that it has been used in a considerable number of cases, to gain entry into the United States where no such right existed. The subcommittee also feels that the statute should be limited as to time within which such an action may be brought. The subcommittee therefore recommends that the provisions of Section 503 as set out in the proposed bill be modified to limit the privilege to persons who are in the United States, and that any such action shall De brought within 5 years after the finding that the person is not a national of the United States.” (Sen.Rep. 1515, 81 Cong., 2d Sess., p. 777).

[725]*725Accordingly, the proposed Omnibus Bill •(S. 3455, 81st Cong., 2d Sess.) which was presented with this report, provided in Section 359- for declaratory judgment of citizenship solely in the cases of persons within the United States and contained no remedy for claimants abroad. When the revised bill was reintroduced as S. 716, 82nd Cong., 1st Sess., it contained the following additional restriction in Section 360:

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Bluebook (online)
113 F. Supp. 722, 1953 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vasquez-v-brownell-txwd-1953.