A-7808001
Decided by Board September 22, 1952.
Communist Party of Canada — Labor Progressive Party of Canada — Membership prior to entry as ground for deportation under Internal Security Act of 1950 amending act of October 16, 1918.
(1) Alien who was a voluntary member of Communist Party of Canada from 1933 or 1934 until 1938 and its successor organization, the Labor Progressive Party of Canada, from 1941 until 1944, was a member of a class barred from entry in June 1950, since the effect of the amendment of June 28, 1940, to the act of October 16, 1918, was to make deportation mandatory for all aliens who at any time past have been members of proscribed organizations.
(2) Such alien who last entered United States on June 24, 1950, is deportable under the act of October 16, 1918, as amended, by the act of June 28, 1940, and the Internal Security Act of 1950, because of his past membership in the organizations named.
(3) Under the provisions of the act of October 16, 1918, as amended, it is not necessary in a deportation proceeding to prove that the organizations mentioned advocated the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States, since the amendment to the 1918 act by the Internal Security Act of 1950 specifically proscribes the Communist Party of any foreign state or the successor of such Party.
CHARGES:
Warrant: Act of October 16, 1918, as amended — Prior to entry, member of the Communist Party of Canada.
Lodged: Act of October 16, 1918, as amended — Prior to entry, member of organization that advocates the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States.
Act of October 16, 1918, as amended — Prior to entry, member of organization that distributes printed matter advocating the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States.
BEFORE THE BOARD
Discussion: The case comes forward on appeal from the order dated February 12, 1952, of the Assistant Commissioner ordering the respondent deported on the charge stated in the warrant of arrest.
The facts of the case are fully set forth in the order of the Assistant Commissioner. The record relates to a native and citizen of Canada, 38 years old, whose last and only entry into the United States occurred at Eastport, Idaho, on June 24, 1950 when he was admitted as a student under the provisions of section 4 (e) of the Immigration Act of 1924 for a period of 1 year. The respondent has by his own testimony admitted membership in the Communist Party of Canada from 1933 or 1934 until 1938 and has also admitted membership in the Communist Party of Canada and its successor organization, the Labor Progressive Party of Canada, from 1941 until 1944. During the first period of membership the respondent was active in his local unit as secretary and treasurer and delegate. During the second period of his membership from 1941 to 1944 he was not a member of any particular branch but was a member at large and paid dues on at least two occasions in the form of donations. He claims not to have been a member since 1944 although unaware whether he was ever formally dropped from the rolls of the Labor Progressive Party of Canada. The evidence clearly establishes that the respondent's membership in these organizations was entirely voluntary, and the fact that respondent has gone to great lengths in expounding his views as to these organizations and as to the reasons for his reformation and disassociation in recent years does not alter the conclusion that during the period of his membership he was a voluntary member of the organizations named.
At the time of the respondent's entry into the United States on June 24, 1950, there was in force the act of October 16, 1918, as amended by the act of June 28, 1940 ( 54 Stat. 673; 8 U.S.C. 137), which provided that any alien who, at any time, shall be or shall have been a member of any one of the following classes shall be excluded from admission into the United States. The amendment of the act of June 28, 1940, was to remedy the defect or omission in the prior act of October 16, 1918, as amended by the act of June 5, 1920, which had been construed by the Supreme Court in the case of Kessler v. Strecker, 307 U.S. 22, as authorizing deportation only in the case of contemporaneous membership. The statute as amended by the act of June 28, 1940, made deportation mandatory for all aliens who at any time past have been members of the proscribed organizations. Harisiades v. Shaughnessy, 342 U.S. 580, 589. The respondent was, therefore, a member of a class barred from entry at the time he entered the United States on June 24, 1950. The subsequent amendment to the act of October 16, 1918, by the Internal Security Act of 1950, effective September 23, 1950, makes no material or significant change in the prior act except to specifically provide that membership in the Communist Party of the United States or of any foreign state or the successor of such party regardless of what name such organization may use, should be inadmissible or deportable without the necessity of proving that the Communist Party is an organization, association, society or group which believes in the overthrow of government by force and violence.
SEC. 22 of the Internal Security Act of 1950 amends the act of October 16, 1918, as amended, to read as follows:
"That any alien who is a member of any one of the following classes shall be excluded from admission into the United States:
* * * * * * *
"(2) Aliens who, at any time, shall be or shall have been members of one of the following classes: * * *
"(C) Aliens who are members of or affiliated with
"(iv) The Communist or other totalitarian party of any state of the United States, of any foreign state * * *;
"(vi) The direct predecessors or successors of any such association or party, regardless of what name such group or organization may have used * * *
Respondent has candidly and without equivocation admitted his membership in the Communist Party of Canada and in its successor organization, the Labor Progressive Party of Canada. There is no contention that these organizations do not fall within the proscription of the Anarchist Act of October 16, 1918, as amended by the act of June 28, 1940, and by the Internal Security Act of 1950. As was stated by the court in Martinez v. Neelly, membership in the Communist Party, present or past, is as a matter of law, ground for deportation; the time has passed when it can be successfully contended that proof is required that the Communist Party is or has been an organization which advocates "the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States." We accordingly find the respondent to be subject to deportation on the charge stated in the warrant of arrest as found by the Assistant Commissioner.
197 F. (2d) 462, 465 (C.A. 7, May 21, 1952).
Order: It is ordered that the appeal be and the same is hereby dismissed.