Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/353/194/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 04:44:04+00:00

Document:
Appellee was indicted under § 242(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 on the charge that, as an alien against whom a final order of deportation had been outstanding for more than six months, he had willfully failed to give information requested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service under the purported authority of clause (3) of that Section. The information he was charged with failing to furnish concerned (1) present membership in and activities on behalf of the Communist Party and other organizations, and (2) associations with particular individuals.
Held: construing clause (3) of § 242(d) in the context of the entire Section and of the scheme of the legislation as a whole, with due regard to the principle of so construing statutes as to avoid raising constitutional questions, the information an alien is required to furnish under clause (3) relates solely to his availability for deportation, and dismissal of the indictment for failure to state an offense is sustained. Pp. 353 U. S. 194-202.
140 F. Supp. 815 affirmed.
for more than six months, he had willfully failed to give information to the Immigration and Naturalization Service as required by that section. Appellee moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds, inter alia, that it failed to state an offense within the statute, and, in the alternative, if it did so, that the statute was unconstitutional. The District Court held that the statute, as construed by it, was not unconstitutional. 140 F.Supp. 815. Thereupon, the United States filed a motion for clarification of the court's opinion, and appellee filed a supplemental motion to dismiss the indictment, claiming that the statute, as construed by the district judge, did not authorize the Government to elicit the demanded information. The District Court, in a second opinion, dismissed the indictment for failure to state an offense. 140 F.Supp. at 820. The case was brought here, 352 U.S. 817, under the Criminal Appeals Act of 1907, as amended, 18 U.S.C. § 3731.
reasonable written restrictions on his conduct or activities as are prescribed by the Attorney General in his case. Any alien who shall willfully fail to comply with such regulations, or willfully fail to appear or to give information or submit to medical or psychiatric examination if required, or knowingly give false information in relation to the requirements of such regulations, or knowingly violate a reasonable restriction imposed upon his conduct or activity, shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both."
"such information as is necessary to enable the Attorney General to be certain that the alien is holding himself in readiness to answer the call to be deported when it comes."
140 F.Supp. at 819-820. The court found that the questions listed in the indictment, which are set forth in the margin, * were not relevant to appellee's availability for deportation.
The interpretation that the District Court thus placed on § 242(d) was derived from a consideration of its relation to the entire statutory scheme of deportation of which it is a part. The court below was further guided by the principle that requires courts, when construing statutes, to avoid constitutional doubts.
subject a man to criminal penalties for failure to answer absolutely any question the official may decide to ask would raise very serious constitutional questions."
Id., 140 F.Supp. at 821.
"numerous aliens who have been found to be deportable, many of whom are in the subversive, criminal, or immoral classes . . . , are free to roam the country at will without supervision or control."
The language of § 242(d)(3), if read in isolation and literally, appears to confer upon the Attorney General unbounded authority to require whatever information he deems desirable of aliens whose deportation has not been effected within six months after it has been commanded. The Government itself shrinks from standing on the breadth of these words. But once the tyranny of literalness is rejected, all relevant considerations for giving a rational content to the words become operative. A restrictive meaning for what appear to be plain words may be indicated by the Act as a whole, by the persuasive gloss of legislative history, or by the rule of constitutional adjudication, relied on by the District Court, that such a restrictive meaning must be given if a broader meaning would generate constitutional doubts.
of "reasonableness" imposed by clause (4) upon the Attorney General's power to restrict suggests that, if we are to harmonize the various provisions of the section, the same limitation must also be read into the Attorney General's seemingly limitless power to question under clause (3). For assuredly Congress did not authorize that official to elicit information that could not serve as a basis for confining an alien's activities. Nowhere in § 242(d) is there any suggestion of a power of broad supervision like unto that over a probationer. When Congress did want to deal with the far-flung interest of national security or the general undesirable conduct of aliens, it gave clear indication of this purpose, as in § 242(e). In providing for the release of aliens convicted of willful failure to depart, that subsection specifically requires courts to inquire into both the effect of the alien's release upon national security and the likelihood of his continued undesirable conduct.
to control the activities of such aliens, substituted for the House bill's detention provision the imposition of criminal penalties for failure to comply with the conditions of supervision. The report of the Senate Committee significantly states the reason for the change: "This provision in the bill, as it passed the House of Representatives, appears to present a constitutional question." S.Rep. No. 2239, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., p. 8. This history, although suggesting a desire to exercise continuing control over the activities as well as the availability of aliens whose deportation had been ordered but not effected, shows a strong congressional unwillingness to enact legislation that may subject the Attorney General's supervisory powers to constitutional challenge.
Acceptance of the interpretation of § 242(d) urged by the Government would raise doubts as to the statute's validity. By construing the Act to confer power on the Attorney General and his agents to inquire into matters that go beyond assuring an alien's availability for deportation, we would, at the very least, open up the question of the extent to which an administrative officer may inhibit deportable aliens from renewing activities that subjected them to deportation. See 70 Harv.L.Rev. 718. This is not Carlson v. Landon, supra, where the question was whether an alien could be detained during the customarily brief period pending determination of deportability. Contrariwise, and as the Senate and House Committees recognized in passing on § 242(d), supervision of the undeportable alien may be a lifetime problem. In these circumstances, issues touching liberties that the Constitution safeguards, even for an alien "person," would fairly be raised on the Government's view of the statute.
The path of constitutional concern in this situation is clear.
constitutionality is raised, it is a cardinal principle that this Court will first ascertain whether a construction of the statute is fairly possible by which the question may be avoided."
Crowell v. Benson, 285 U. S. 22, 285 U. S. 62. See also cases cited in the concurring opinion of Mr. Justice Brandeis in Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U. S. 288, 297 U. S. 348, note 8.
"(a) Q. Do you subscribe to the Daily Worker?"
"(b) Q. Mr. Witkovich, can you read in any other language other than Solvene and English?"
"(c) Q. Since the order of supervision was entered on March 4, 1954, have you at any time visited the office of the 'Narodny Glasnik,' 1413 West 18th Street, Chicago, Illinois?"
"(d) Q. Since the order of supervision was entered on March 4, 1954, Mr. Witkovich, have you ever visited the offices of the Bohemian publication 'Nova Dova' or the Slovakian publication 'Ludovy Noviny,' 1510 West 18th Street, Chicago, Illinois?"
"(e) Q. Do you know the editor of the 'Narodni Glasnik'?"
"(f) Q. Do you know Leo Fisher?"
"(g) Q. Do you know Anton Minerich?"
"(h) Q. Do you know Nick Rajkovich?"
"(i) Q. Do you know Arsenio Bartl?"
"(j) Q. Do you know John Zuskar?"
"(k) Q. Do you know Calvin Brook?"
"(l) Q. Since the order of deportation was entered in your case on June 25, 1953, have you attended any meeting of the Communist Party of the U.S.A.?"
"(m) Q. Since the order of supervision was entered on March 4, 1954, have you attended any meeting of any organization other than the singing club?"
"(n) Q. Have you addressed any lodges of the Slovene National Benefit Society requesting their aid in your case, since the order of deportation was entered June 25, 1953?"
"(o) Q. Have you distributed petitions or leaflets published by the Slovene National Benefit Society seeking aid for you, in your behalf, in your deportation case since the order of deportation was entered June 25, 1953?"
"(p) Q. Since the order of supervision, have you attended any meetings or lectures at the Peoples Auditorium, 2457 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois?"
"(q) Q. Since the order of supervision was entered against you, have you attended any meetings or socials at the Chopin Cultural Center, 1547 North Leavitt Street, Chicago?"
"(r) Q. Have you attended any movies, since your order of supervision was entered, at the Cinema Annex, 3210 West Madison Street, Chicago?"
"(s) Q. Are you acquainted with an individual named Irving Franklin?"
"(t) Q. Are you now a member of the Communist Party of U.S.A.?"
"(u) Q. Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Slovene American National Council?"
"(v) Q. Are you now or have you ever been a member of the United Committee of South Slavic Americans?"
"[g]ive information under oath as to his nationality, circumstances, habits, associations and activities, and other information whether or not related to the foregoing as may be deemed fit and proper."
8 CFR § 242.3(c)(3). This language was taken from subsection (3) of 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d), the source of the Attorney General's power of supervision. But today the Court has denied the Attorney General the right to question the deportee in regard to activities in conjunction with the deportee's prior conduct on which the deportation order was based. By its interpretation, the Court has deleted the crux of this subsection from the Act and limited this phase of the Attorney General's "supervision" of aliens under final deportation order for over six months solely to interrogation relevant to the availability of the alien for deportation. In this respect, the construction places an alien who has been under a final order of deportation for more than six months in a more favorable position than one who is under no order at all. Other aliens are obliged to report to the Attorney General when called upon to do so. Indeed, they must testify or claim their privilege. No privilege was claimed here. The Congress could not have intended the anomalous result reached today, one which is entirely foreign to its over-all plan of control over resident aliens. For the power of the Attorney General over aliens generally, see 66 Stat. 223-225, 8 U.S.C. § § 1301-1306.
within the community," United States ex rel. Potash v. District Director of Immigration and Naturalization, 169 F.2d 747, 751 (1948), was the basis on which the Congress placed this power with the Attorney General. In short, "the alien's anticipated personal conduct . . . [based on his past action] must be considered." See the dissenting opinion in Carlson v. Landon, supra, at 342 U. S. 563-564. And so here, highly relevant to the decision regarding any additional supervision that is to be placed over appellee, or the removal of any prior supervision, is information as to whether he has resumed his past activities in the Communist Party. Yet the Court does not allow inquiry into this and related areas unless it is necessary to determine appellee's availability for deportation. The Attorney General is thereby deprived of this information vital to the exercise of his supervisory duties.
"The situation has now become so serious . . . that the committee feels that the enactment of legislation of this type is a necessity not only to the proper administration of the immigration laws, but from the standpoint of the national security of the United States."
"information under oath as to his nationality, circumstances, habits, associations, and activities, and such other information, whether or not related to the foregoing, as the Attorney General may deem fit and proper."
While this substitute bill was not enacted, the same language was included within the present Act, showing that the section here involved has long been acceptable to all sides. In view of the legislative history of the forerunners of the present provision, it is surprising that the Court now reads out of the Act the identical language which has repeatedly been included by the Congress. In so doing, the Court deprives the Attorney General of a power of supervision over deportees that he possesses and exercises every day over other aliens not under deportation orders.
"would, at the very least, open up the question of the extent to which an administrative officer may inhibit deportable aliens from renewing activities that subjected them to deportation."
give the Attorney General "the unlimited right to subject a man to criminal penalties for failure to answer absolutely and question. . . ." 140 F.Supp. at 821. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the Attorney General attempted further to "inhibit" the appellee "from renewing activities that subjected [him] to deportation." It may be that the Attorney General would have tried further to "inhibit" appellee if the answers put to him had indicated any necessity therefor in the interest of national security. But that stage was never reached. All the Attorney General undertook was to question appellee. He got no answers. And the Court, in affirming, prevents the Attorney General from obtaining any answers to the questions. It is for this reason that we dissent. The scope of the Attorney General's right to inquiry is the sole issue here. The Congress, beyond any question, gave the Attorney General the authority he exercised. Whether it placed further authority in his hands to "inhibit" the alien's activities is not involved. We therefore see no necessity of invoking the rule of avoidance of constitutional questions. There are none to avoid, for the Attorney General clearly has the right to question as to activities indicated by past conduct. It will be soon enough to pass on other supervisory powers when they are here.
been finally ordered deported will from now on, due to the Court's decision today, be under virtually no statutory supervision. Still they will, in all probability, remain among us, for neither they nor the countries of which they are nationals wish them to leave. To their countries, they are potential agents. The House Committee on the Judiciary recognized this danger in its report on facilitating the deportation of aliens. H.R.Rep. No. 1192, 81st Cong., 1st Sess. 8-13. Case histories set out in this report indicate that aliens ordered deported were refused visas by their native countries so that they might remain in the United States and carry on the very activities for which they were ordered deported. See also Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary on S.1832, 81st Cong., 1st Sess. 323. Were the deportee to cease the activity, no doubt his native land would issue the requisite visa and deal with him when he was returned.
"the police establishment of fire lines during a fire . . . , the validity of the restraints . . . depends on all the conditions which obtain at the time. . . ."
Hirabayashi v. United States, 320 U. S. 81, 320 U. S. 99 (1943).
To us, jailing alien deportees on the basis of our safety pending deportation proceedings as well as for six months thereafter, admittedly valid, is largely futile if the Attorney General cannot subsequently supervise them effectively. Certainly the Congress intended no such stultification.
We regret that the Court has used the rule of avoidance of constitutional issues to strip the Attorney General of this important power so necessary in the performance of his duty to protect our internal security.
The alien registration form includes a long series of questions requiring answer under oath by the alien. It covers virtually every type of question involved here, except those directed at whether the appellee knew a specific person. One of the questions requires disclosure of the alien's participation in clubs, organizations, or societies; another is directed at any criminal convictions of the alien either in or outside of the United States; still another inquires as to the alien's affiliation or activity in organizations influencing or furthering in any way the political activities, public relations, or public policy of a foreign government.
The President, in his message to the Congress explaining his veto of the Internal Security Act of 1950, stated that he would "be glad to approve" § 23, the forerunner of the section here involved, "although the language of [§ 23] is in some respects weaker than is desirable." H.R.Doc. No. 708, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. 3.
S. 4130, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. This substitute was proposed by Senators Benton, Douglas, Graham, Humphrey, Kefauver, Lehman, and the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Kilgore. For a discussion of the effect of the bill on the problem here presented, see the remarks of Senator Humphrey at 96 Cong.Rec. 14486.

References: § 242
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 § 23