56071/14
Decided by the Board April 18, 1942.
Fines — Section 20, Immigration Act of 1924 — Failure to detain on board.
When an alien seaman has been inspected by an immigration official and granted shore leave, there is no liability for fine for failure to detain on board, as section 20 of the Immigration Act of 1924 provides for detention until inspection and detention of such crew members as may be ordered detained after inspection.
Mr. Thomas H. Walsh for the respondent.
Mr. George W. Stilson, Board attorney-examiner.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE: This is a fine proceeding under section 20 of the 1924 act against the master of the S.S. Favorit, which arrived at Boston March 2, 1941, for failure to detain the aliens named (K---- K---- and two others) on board after being ordered to do so by an officer of this Service. The matter is now before this Board to determine whether fine should be imposed.
DISCUSSION: Section 20 requires the imposition of a fine of $1,000 against the owner, charterer, agent, consignee, or master of any vessel arriving in the United States who fails to detain on board an alien seaman after being ordered to do so by an officer of this Service. The S.S. Favorit arrived at Boston March 2, 1941. In a report by Inspector Franklin K. Riley, dated March 24, 1941, to the District Director at East Boston, the inspector states that the vessel arrived at that port March 2, 1941, and was duly examined. He states that those members of the crew who had not been previously fingerprinted under Executive Order 8429 were fingerprinted and granted shore leave. The statement evidently means that the vessel was duly and fully inspected and that all members of the crew were granted shore leave. He then continues to state that on the following day information reached the office that three members of the crew, the aliens named in the caption hereof, were about to desert and remain permanently in the United States. He states that on March 3, 1941, an inspector from the office went to the ship and placed a detention order on these three men.
In a letter from the district director, dated April 8, 1942, it is stated that the captain of the S.S. Favorit complained to the Finnish vice consul that the three seamen named intended to leave the vessel and requested him to ask this Service to detain the aliens on board, whereupon the detention order was placed, it being believed that the aliens intended to remain in the United States. Although not of importance in the matter of this fine proceeding, it may be stated that the aliens were not intending to remain permanently in the United States but instead desired to join a vessel of their own nationality, which they did in less than 60 days thereafter, except that one of the three failed to depart, and the record indicates that his failure to do so may have been because he did not have in his possession the necessary seaman's documents. He left the United States by shipping foreign several months later after deportation proceedings had been instituted in his case. Section 20 of the 1924 act provides as follows:
The owner, charterer, agent, consignee, or master of any vessel arriving in the United States from any place outside thereof who fails to detain on board any alien seaman employed on such vessel until the immigration and naturalization officer in charge at the port of arrival has inspected such seaman * * * or who fails to detain such seaman on board after such inspection or to deport such seaman if required by such immigration and naturalization officer or the Secretary of Labor [now the Attorney General] to do so, shall pay to the collector of customs of the customs district in which the port of arrival is located the sum of $1,000 for each alien seaman in respect of whom such failure occurs.
This language is clearly a requirement to detain the crew of the vessel on arrival until inspected by an officer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and to detain after inspection such members of the crew as may at the time of inspection be ordered detained by the inspecting officer. The section does not authorize an order to detain a seaman except on the decision of the inspecting officer on the arrival of the vessel from foreign. It does not authorize a detention order at a later time than the time of first inspecting the vessel at the port of arrival. Accordingly, the requirement of a fine also applies only when a detention order was issued at the time of the inspection required upon the arrival of the vessel from a foreign port or place. If at that time the seaman is adjudged to be a bona fide seaman in pursuit of his calling and therefore is granted shore leave, it is not competent for an officer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to subsequently order him detained under section 20 of the 1924 act, and a fine may, therefore, not be imposed if the alien is not detained. Accordingly, the detention order in this case, which was served on the day after the vessel arrived and after the seaman had been granted shore leave on the preceding day, was not an order to detain under the authority of section 20 of the 1924 act. Accordingly, a fine proceeding does not lie in reference to the seaman herein named.
FINDINGS OF FACT: Upon the basis of all the evidence adduced at the hearing and upon the entire record in this case, it is found:
(1) That the S.S. Favorit arrived at Boston March 2, 1941, having on board the alien seamen hereinbefore named and others;
(2) That the alien seamen named were inspected and granted shore leave;
(3) That on March 3, 1941, an officer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service ordered the three aliens named detained on board the vessel.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW: Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, it is concluded:
(1) That the order to detain these aliens issued on March 3, 1941, was not such an order as is authorized by section 20 of the 1924 act;
(2) That under section 20 of the 1924 act fines have not been incurred.
ORDER: It is ordered that fines be not imposed. The amount involved, $3,000, should be returned to the depositor.