United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States ex rel. Claussen v. Day, 279 U.S. 398 (1929)

United States ex rel. Claussen v. Day

No. 416

Argued April 10, 1929

Decided-May 13, 1929

279 U.S. 398

Syllabus

1. Section 19 of the Naturalization Act, which makes liable to arrest and deportation "any alien who is hereafter sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one year or more because of conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude, committed within five years after

Page 279 U. S. 399

entry of the alien to the United States," extends to an alien who has declared his intention to become a citizen. § 1. P. 279 U. S. 400.

2. An alien who, after coming to this country, went to a foreign port and back as a seaman on an American vessel shipped for the round voyage, made an entry into the United States, within the meaning of § 19, when he returned here. P. 279 U. S. 401.

3. An American vessel on the high seas or in foreign waters is not a place included within the United States as defined by the Naturalization Act. Id.

4. In order that there may be an entry within the meaning of the Act, there must be an arrival from some foreign port or place. Id.

16 F.2d 15 affirmed.

Certiorari, 278 U.S. 592, to review a judgment of the circuit court of appeals affirming an order of the district court dismissing a writ of habeas corpus. The merits of the case were first passed on by the courts below in an earlier proceeding against the predecessor in office of the present respondent, which abated in this Court for want of a timely substitution. See 16 F.2d 15; 273 U.S. 688; 276 U.S. 590.