1. The crime of counterfeiting obligations of the United States
involves moral turpitude. P.
289 U. S.
423.
2. In § 19 of the Immigration Act of February 5, 1917, the
provision that any alien who was convicted, or who admits the
commission, "prior to entry," of a crime involving moral turpitude
shall be deported applies to an alien who committed the crime in
this country while lawfully here, and who afterwards went abroad
and returned. P.
289 U. S.
424.
3. The second coming of an alien from a foreign country into the
United States is an entry. P.
289 U. S.
425.
Page 289 U. S. 423
4. The fact that an immigration officer to whose custody an
alien was remanded for deportation, in a habeas corpus proceeding,
had been moved to another station
held not to have caused
the proceeding to abate, it appearing that he remained attached to
the Department of Labor, presumably with authority to execute the
order of deportation, and the question of abatement not having been
raised until long after his transfer and after the case had reached
this Court. P.
289 U. S. 426.
62 F.2d 808 affirmed.
Certiorari to review the affirmance of a judgment dismissing a
proceeding in habeas corpus.
MR. JUSTICE McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.
In 1906, when sixteen years old, petitioner, Volpe, entered the
United States from Italy as an alien. He has resided here
continuously since that time, but has remained an alien.
In 1925, he pleaded guilty and was imprisoned under a charge of
counterfeiting obligations of the United States -- plainly a crime
involving moral turpitude.
During June, 1928, without a passport, he made a brief visit to
Cuba. Returning, he landed from an airplane at Key West, Florida,
and secured admission by Immigrant Inspector Phillips.
December 15, 1930, Volpe was taken into custody under a warrant
issued by the Secretary of Labor which charged him with being
unlawfully in this country because
"he has been convicted of, or admits the commission of a
Page 289 U. S. 424
felony, or other crime or misdemeanor, involving moral
turpitude, to-wit: possessing and passing counterfeit U.S. War
Savings Stamps prior to his entry into the United States."
Following a hearing, a warrant of deportation issued, and he was
taken into custody. Claiming unlawful detention, he instituted
habeas corpus proceedings in the District Court of the United
States at Chicago. That court dismissed the petition and remanded
him to the custody of S.D. Smith, District Director of Immigration
at Chicago, for deportation. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed
the judgment (62 F.2d 808), and the matter is here by
certiorari.
The only substantial point which we need consider is this: was
the petitioner subject to deportation under the provisions of the
Immigration Act of February 5, 1917, c. 29, 39 Stat. 874, 875, 889,
890 (U.S.C. Title 8, §§ 136, 155, 173) because he reentered the
United States from a foreign country after conviction during
permitted residence in the United States of a crime committed
therein which involved moral turpitude? Relevant provisions of the
act of 1917 are in the margin.
*
Page 289 U. S. 425
Upon this question, federal courts have reached diverse views.
The cases are cited in the opinion announced below in the present
cause.
We accept the view that the word "entry" in the provision of §
19 which directs that
"any alien who was convicted, or who admits the commission,
prior to entry, of a felony or other crime or misdemeanor involving
moral turpitude; . . . shall, upon the warrant of the Secretary of
Labor, be taken into custody and deported,"
includes any coming of an alien from a foreign country into the
United States, whether such coming be the first or any subsequent
one. And this requires affirmance of the challenged judgment.
The power of Congress to prescribe the terms and conditions upon
which aliens may enter or remain in the United States is no longer
open to serious question.
Turner v. Williams, 194 U.
S. 279;
Low Wah Suey v. Backus, 225 U.
S. 460,
225 U. S. 468;
Bugajewitz v. Adams, 228 U. S. 585,
228 U. S.
591.
That the second coming of an alien from a foreign country into
the United States is an entry within the usual acceptation of that
word is clear enough from
Lewis v. Frick, 233 U.
S. 291;
Claussen v. Day, 279 U.
S. 398.
An examination of the Immigration Act of 1917, we think, reveals
nothing sufficient to indicate that Congress did not intend the
word "entry" in § 19 should have its ordinary meaning. Aliens who
have committed crimes while permitted to remain here may be
decidedly more objectionable than persons who have transgressed
laws of another country.
Page 289 U. S. 426
It may be true that, if Volpe had remained within the United
States, he could not have been expelled because of his conviction
of crime in 1925, more than five years after his original entry;
but it does not follow that, after he voluntarily departed, he had
the right of reentry. In sufficiently plain language, Congress has
declared to the contrary.
With hesitation, the Solicitor General suggested here that
possibly the cause had abated, since S.D. Smith is no longer
District Director of Immigration at Chicago, where he formerly held
the petitioner in custody. The record indicates that Smith has
continued to be an officer in the Department of Labor, although not
presently stationed at Chicago. So far as we are advised, under
existing regulations, he may carry into effect the order of
deportation. Moreover, the cause was permitted to proceed without
question, as instituted, long after Smith is said to have left
Chicago, and the petitioner insists that no cause has been shown
for abatement. The point, we think, lacks merit.
The judgment is
Affirmed.
*
"Section 1. That the word 'alien' wherever used in this
subchapter shall include any person not a native-born or
naturalized citizen of the United States."
"
* * * *"
"Section 3. That the following classes of aliens shall be
excluded from admission into the United States: . . . Persons who
have been convicted of or admit having committed a felony or other
crime or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude."
"
* * * *"
"Section 19. That at any time within five years after entry, any
alien who at the time of entry was a member of one or more of the
classes excluded by law; any alien who shall have entered or who
shall be found in the United States in violation of this
subchapter, or in violation of any other law of the United States;
. . . except as hereinafter provided, any alien who . . . is
hereafter sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one year or more
because of conviction in this country of a crime involving moral
turpitude, committed within five years after the entry of the alien
to the United States, or who is hereafter sentenced more than once
to such a term of imprisonment because of conviction in this
country of any crime involving moral turpitude, committed at any
time after entry; . . . any alien who was convicted, or who admits
the commission, prior to entry, of a felony or other crime or
misdemeanor involving moral turpitude; at any time within three
years after entry, any alien . . . who enters without inspection,
shall, upon the warrant of the Secretary of Labor, be taken into
custody and deported. . . ."