Opinion ID: 758325
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Immigration Act of 1952

Text: 54 The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, Pub.L. No. 82-414, 66 Stat. 163, was Congress' first attempt to bring within one cohesive and comprehensive statute the various laws relating to immigration, naturalization, and nationality. H.R.Rep. No. 82-1365 (1952), reprinted in 1952 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1653, 1952 WL 3082, at  24. The committee report on the 1952 Act expressed the understood implication of the Supreme Court decisions described above, namely that [t]he power and authority of the United States, as an attribute of sovereignty, either to prohibit or regulate immigration of aliens are plenary and Congress may choose such agencies as it pleases to carry out whatever policy or rule of exclusion it may adopt, and, so long as such agencies do not transcend limits of authority or abuse discretion reposed in them, their judgment is not open to challenge or review by courts. Id. at  2 (emphasis added) (citing Yamataya v. Fisher, 189 U.S. 86, 23 S.Ct. 611, 47 L.Ed. 721 (1903)). Similarly, a committee report for a predecessor bill expressed Congress' understanding of the constitutional backdrop as established by the case law, namely that: 55 Once the order and warrant of deportation are issued, the administrative process is complete. Under the fifth amendment to the Constitution, the due process provision, the alien may, however, petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In a habeas corpus proceeding, based on a deportation case, the court determines whether or not there has been a fair hearing [and] whether or not the law has been interpreted correctly . ... 56 S. Rep. No. 1515, 81st Cong., 2d Sess., at 629 (1950) (quoted in Shaughnessy v. Pedreiro, 349 U.S. 48, 56, 75 S.Ct. 591, 99 L.Ed. 868 (1955) (Minton, J., dissenting)) (emphasis added). 57 Although the 1952 Act also contained a finality provision, this provision was held by the Supreme Court not to preclude direct judicial review of INS decisions under the APA. See Shaughnessy, 349 U.S. at 51-52, 75 S.Ct. 591 (citing legislative history indicating that Congress intended APA review to be available under the 1952 Act). Accordingly, the scope of review of immigration decisions--particularly executive factual findings--was substantially broadened by the 1952 Act. See Heikkila, 345 U.S. at 236 & n. 11, 73 S.Ct. 603 (contrasting the due process some evidence test applied on habeas in, e.g., Bridges v. Wixon, 326 U.S. 135, 149, 65 S.Ct. 1443, 89 L.Ed. 2103 (1945), with the APA test of substantial evidence on the record as a whole). 58