A-9635850
Decided by the Board February 5, 1953
Subversive organization — Communist Party of United States: Voluntary membership.
(1) An alien who became a member of the Communist Party at the urging of friends, with the intention of learning all he could about the organization, but who was not under any misapprehension about the identity of the organization, is deemed to have been a voluntary member thereof, notwithstanding that he terminated his membership and withdrew from the party after 3 months upon becoming acquainted with its program and principles.
(2) Once it is established that an alien voluntarily joined an organization he knew was the Communist Party, the requirements of the statute (act of October 16, 1918, as amended) pertaining to deportability have been met and inquiry into other factors becomes unnecessary to the determination of this issue.
CHARGES:
Warrant: Act of 1929 — Arrested and deported — No permission to reapply.
Act of 1918 — Prior to entry, alien member of organization that believes in overthrow, by force or violence, of Government of the United States.
Lodged: Act of 1924 — No immigration visa.
Act of 1917 — Convicted of crimes prior to entry — petit theft; theft and transportation of automobile from Dubuque, Iowa, to San Francisco, Calif.; and larceny.
Act of 1918 — Prior to entry, alien who was member of, or affiliated with, the Communist Party of the United States.
BEFORE THE BOARD
Discussion: This is an appeal from an order dated March 7, 1952, by the Acting Assistant Commissioner finding the respondent deportable on the first warrant charge set forth above and each of the lodged charges, and finding the respondent legally ineligible for discretionary relief.
The issues presented are whether the record establishes that the respondent was a member of the Communist Party of the United States in 1933, and if so, whether such membership was voluntary.
The hearing officer concluded that the respondent had been a member of the Communist Party; that such membership was a result of a "mistake" on the part of the respondent; that he did not know the kind of organization he joined; and that economic reasons may have also induced the respondent to join. The hearing officer found the respondent not deportable on the charges based on the act of October 16, 1918, as amended. He found the respondent deportable on the other charges set forth above.
Counsel contends that respondent was never a member of a Communist Party; that the organization joined by the respondent was a labor organization; and that if it is found that the respondent was a member of the Communist Party, it should be concluded that the membership was involuntary for he joined under a mistake and for the purpose of gaining employment.
Respondent's testimony concerning his joining of an organization in 1933 was given at hearings in 1936 and subsequently at hearings in 1951. There is a conflict between the earlier and later testimony.
The testimony in 1936 reveals that about August 1933, some friends who were members of the Communist Party induced him to join the organization. He stated that at the time, he did not know it was the kind of organization that it was in fact, and that he had been motivated in joining "largely through desire to see what sort of an organization it was and to learn all (he) could about it." He stated that after he found out what the organization was and what its intentions were, he ceased his association with it.
He testified that he had signed a membership card of the Communist Party about the middle of August 1933 and that he had been a member of a unit in district 13 for about 3 months thereafter. He was in possession of a membership book. He paid dues once a month for about 3 months and attended meetings about four times altogether. He also circulated literature of the Communist Party to induce others to become members of the Communist Party in connection with an election then going on. He was accompanied to all but the last meeting by his then wife.
At his hearing in 1951, the respondent testified that as far as he knew, he had never been a member of the Communist Party. He stated that at one time he had joined a labor organization to get a job and that he himself had no idea at any time that the organization was actually the Communist Party. He furnished the information that he had previously testified that he had been a member of the Communist Party because he was induced to believe that the organization whose meetings he had attended was a Communist Party by the hearing officer who had conducted hearings in his case in 1936.
The respondent's recent testimony is not wholly clear or consistent as to whether the organization he joined was a Communist organization. This testimony reveals that he attended meetings of the organization several times; that at these meetings they spoke of different labor troubles; that they collected a fee of about 10 cents which he paid; that when he learned the organization was called the Communist Party, he withdrew; and that he came to the organization for the purpose of obtaining employment since he had been promised a job if he joined the organization.
At the hearings in 1951, he denied taking an active part in the organization by distributing any of the literature. He denied having ever been issued an identification card or membership book in the organization; and he denied having attended meetings with his wife.
The first question for determination is whether the organization joined by the respondent in 1933 was the Communist Party. We believe that on the basis of the testimony given by the alien in 1936, it is proper to conclude that the organization was the Communist Party. First we note that in 1936 the respondent was given a hearing on August 11, 1936, on September 28, 1936, and on October 20, 1936. The last two hearings were conducted by an immigrant inspector who was not the same person that conducted the first hearing. We note that at all three hearings, the respondent mentioned the fact that he had been a member of the Communist Party. Furthermore, we note that the very first mention of the Communist Party was volunteered by the alien himself as a nonresponsive answer to a question concerning a newspaper subscription. This is shown in the following testimony.
Q. At or about the time you registered to vote in San Francisco, were you then a subscriber of the newspaper known as the Western Worker?
A. No; I never was. Yes, I may have been getting the Western Worker at that time because at that time I joined the Communist Party and I joined it for about 4 months and when I found out what it was and what their intentions were I stopped it.
Q. What unit of the Communit Party were you a member?
A. I cannot remember that.
Q. Is it not a fact that you were a member of the unit No. 13?
A. I was a member of district No. 13 not unit No. 13.
The following testimony is also deemed pertinent.
Q. How did you happen to join the Communist Party?
A. I met some friends that belonged to the Communist Party and they induced me to join. I did not know it was the kind of organization it was. I am making a living in this country and I don't see any reason to make any changes in this government. President Roosevelt is a good man and I think is doing everything he possibly can.
The alien voluntarily mentioned the Communist Party. It was an organization in which he had friends. He joined at the request of these friends. He knew the unit he had joined was one in a certain district of the Communist Party; he knew that it advocated changes in this Government. A period of 2 months elapsed from the time he first furnished the information that he was a member of the Communist Party until the last hearing. We conclude, therefore, that he knew what he was talking about when he voluntarily stated that he had joined the Communist Party, and that in fact, the organization he had joined in August 1933 was the Communist Party.
The next question presented is whether at the time of joining, the respondent knew he was joining the Communist Party. At the time the respondent joined, he had been residing in the United States for 13 years. He had entered the United States at the age of 17 in 1920. There is nothing to indicate that his understanding of English was other than good. His friends were members of the Communist Party. He joined at their request. Admittedly within 2 weeks after joining, he signed a membership card. We, therefore, conclude that if at the very moment of joining the respondent did not know he was joining the Communist Party, he had such knowledge when within two weeks after joining, he signed a membership card. Moreover, on the basis of the record, we feel it reasonable to conclude that at the time of joining, the respondent actually knew that the organization he was joining was the Communist Party.
Deportation of the respondent is sought on the ground that at the time of entry, he was a person who had been a voluntary member of the Communist Party of the United States (the act of October 16, 1918, as amended by title I of the Internal Security Act of 1950). Public Law 14, act of March 28, 1951, provided that membership in a proscribed organization must be voluntary to be the basis for deportation. It expressly provided that membership which was solely when the person involved was under 16 years of age, or by operation of law, or for the purposes of obtaining employment, food rations or other essentials of living, and were necessary for such purposes, should not be considered voluntary.
From the respondent's testimony, and there is nothing in the record to contradict him, it appears that he joined the Communist Party at the urging of friends and more with the desire of learning of its nature than of supporting its program. There is nothing to indicate that he had an awareness at the time he joined of the program of the Communist Party. Other than attendance at about four meetings; the payment of dues of 10 cents a month; and the passing of literature on one occasion, it does not appear he took an active part in the organization. He terminated his membership upon learning of the program and principles of the organization. Neither prior to the time he joined the Communist Party nor subsequent to his leaving does it appear that he was active on behalf of the Communist Party or its principles. He has denied belief in the principles of the Communist Party at any time. While he now urges that one of the reasons for joining the Communist Party was the desire to obtain employment, although no such reason was given in 1936 when he explained his reasons in joining the Communist Party, we will assume for the sake of this discussion that one of the reasons which induced him to join was the thought that by so doing he could obtain employment. Is such an alien the voluntary member contemplated by law? We are forced to the conclusion that he is.
It is, we believe, now settled that membership in the Communist Party will make an alien deportable although it be membership without knowledge of the principles the party stood for or sympathy with those principles. ( Harisiades v. Shaughnessy, 342 U.S. 580; Latva v. Nicolls, 106 F.Supp. 658 (D.C.Mass., 1952); Matter of O----, A-4690122, 3 IN Dec. 736; Matter of Y----, A-4512777, 4 IN Dec. 752).
The alien in the Latva case ( supra) had joined the Communist Party in ignorance of its aims and practices. He was "ignorant of our laws and of the precise political, economic, and social character of the different groups contending for his support. He was largely dependent for information on other aliens with the same background and many of the same limitations of knowledge. On learning more of our ways, he separated himself from evil companions, promptly and sincerely, not because he feared reprisals or planned to retain a secret connection. * * * He has a long record of faithful adherence to our Constitution and democratic policies. He reared his children to serve America in the most patriotic and self-disregarding manner. Without pressure from any public or private authority, he freely bared his undiscovered and undiscoverable past, for the sole purpose of assuming the further burdens, as well as the precious advantages, of citizenship." ( Latva v. Nicolls, supra, p. 663.) Such an alien was held deportable by the court on the ground of his former membership in the Communist Party. We deduce from the cases, that once it is established that an alien voluntarily joined an organization he knew was the Communist Party, our inquiry must stop and the requirements of the statute must be deemed met.
We have previously ruled that joining the Communist Party in the United States in hope of obtaining or retaining employment was not the type of duress contemplated by Congress in enacting Public Law 14 ( supra) so as to make the membership involuntary ( Matter of D----, A-5668628, 4 IN Dec. 675).
We, therefore, find the respondent deportable on the charge lodged under the Act of 1918, as amended. This being so, he is ineligible for the benefits of the seventh proviso to section 3 of the Immigration Act of 1917, as amended by the expressed terms of section 6(a) of the Act of October 16, 1918, as amended by the Internal Security Act of 1950. He is ineligible for suspension of deportation under the Immigration Act of 1917, as amended, and since he last entered in 1945, he is ineligible for suspension of deportation under Public Law 414.
We take note of the many favorable factors in this case; the fact that there is nothing to establish that the respondent has been a Communist sympathizer since at least 1933, and little to indicate sympathy prior to that date; we note his devotion to his family and the love and respect his son who appeared as a witness bears him. We note the fact that his son is a veteran of service in the United States Navy and was at the time of the last hearing inducted into the United States Army where he is presumably now serving. We note these factors but they cannot affect the liability to deportation which resulted when the respondent failed to heed the standing admonition of Congress "to aliens, on pain of deportation, not to become members of any organization that advocates overthrow of the United States government by force and violence, a category repeatedly held to include the Communist Party" ( Harisiades v. Shaughnessy, supra).
Deportation of respondent on the 1918 charge lodged at the hearing will be ordered in addition to those charges which the hearing officer sustained. (Since the 1918 lodged charge is sustained, we need not discuss the 1918 charge in the warrant of arrest.)
Order: It is ordered that the appeal be and the same is hereby dismissed, and that the alien be deported from the United States, pursuant to law, on the lodged charges and the following additional charge:
The act approved March 4, 1929, as amended, and the act of February 5, 1917, in that he entered in violation of section 1(a) of said act of March 4, 1929, being an alien who had been arrested and deported in pursuance of law and to whom the proper authority had not granted permission to reapply for admission.