UNITED STATES EX REL. MENSEVICH
v.
TOD, COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK
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Mensevich, a Russian emigrant arrested in 1921 for unlawful residence in the United States, challenged his deportation order on the ground that he should be deported to Russia rather than Poland because his birthplace in Grodno was not officially recognized by the United States as part of Poland at the time the deportation warrant issued. The Supreme Court affirmed the deportation order, holding that the validity of a detention in habeas corpus proceedings is determined by the condition existing at the time of final decision, and since the Treaty of Riga had by then established Grodno as part of Poland and the United States had officially recognized this boundary, deportation to Poland was lawful.
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Mr. Justice Brandéis delivered the opinion of the Court.
In 1911 Mensevich emigrated from Russia to the United States. In 1921 he was arrested in deportation proceedings, as an alien in this country in violation of law. Act of October 16, 1918, c. 186, §§ 1 and 2, 40 Stat. 1012, as amended June 5, 1920, c. 251, 41 Stat. 1008. After a hearing, the warrant for deportation issued. Then this petition for a writ of habeas corpus was brought in the federal court. It was dismissed without opinion; the relator was remanded to the custody of the Commissioner of Immigration for the Port of New York; and a stay was granted, pending this appeal. The case is here under § 238 of the Judicial Code, the claim being that Mensevich was denied rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.
The Government moved under Rule 6 of this Court to dismiss, insisting that the appeal does not present a substantial question. - Consideration of the motion was postponed until the hearing on the merits. The grounds on which the detention was challenged in the petition are the same as those which were held to be unsound in United States ex rel. Bilokumsky v. Tod, 263 U. S.
149. That decision was not rendered until after this appeal was taken. The motion to dismiss is, therefore, denied. Sugarman v. United States, 249 U. S. 182, 183. In the traverse to the return the legality of the detention is challenged on a further ground. That ground would not have entitled the relator to bring thé case here by appeal. For the only substantial question thus presented is one of the construction of a statute. But since the case is properly here this objection must be considered. Compare Zucht v. King, 260 U. S. 174, 176, 177.
The Immigration Act, February 5, 1917, c. 29, § 20, 39 Stat. 874, 890, provides that the deportation of aliens “ shall, at the option of the Secretary of Labor, be to the country whence they came or to the foreign port at which such aliens embarked for the United States.” Mensevich was ordered deported “ to Poland, the country whence he came.” He insists that the warrant for deportation is illegal, because prior to his emigration to the United States he had been a resident of Tychny, in the Province of Grodno, then a part of Russia; that, at the time the warrant for deportation issued, Grodno had not been recognized by the United States as a part of Poland; and hence, that it should have been treated by the Secretary of Labor as being, still a part of Russia.
The facts are that, when the warrant for deportation issued and when the judgment below was entered, Grodno was occupied and administered by Poland; that there was then a dispute between Poland and the Soviet Republic concerning the boundary line, between them; and that the United States, while officially recognizing Poland, had not recognized Grodno as being either within or without its boundaries. ^
The term country is used in § 20 to .designate, in general terms, the state which, at the time of deportation, includes the place from which the alien came. Whether territory occupied and administered by a country, but not officially recognized as being a part of it, is to be deemed a part for the purposes of this section, we have no occasion to consider. For, since the entry of the judgment below, the Treaty of Riga has so defined the eastern boundary of Poland as to include Grodno; and the United States has officially recognized this boundary line. Grodno is now confessedly a part of Poland. The validity of a detention questioned by a petition for habeas corpus is to be determined by the condition existing at the time of the final decision thereon. Stallings v. Splain, 253 U. S. 339, 343. Deportation to Poland is now legal.
Affirmed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Cited By (13 total)
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Burnet v. Chicago Portrait Co., 285 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1932)…se at that time Grodno was a part of Poland. “ The term country,” said the Court, was used in the statute “ to designate, in general terms, the state which, at the time of deportation, includes the place from which the alien came.” Mensevich v. Tod, 264 U. S. 134, 136, 137. The evident purpose of the statute determined the significance to be attached to the expression. In the instant case, the question is one of credit for income taxes “ paid to any foreign country.” The word “ country ” is manifestly used…
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Rogers v. Cheng FU Sheng and Lin Fu Mei, 280 F.2d 663 (D.C. Cir. 1960)…ordinary meaning, consistent with the purposes of the legislation. Delaney v. Moraitis, 4 Cir., 1943, 136 F. 2d 129; Burnet v. Chicago Portrait Co., 1932, 285 U.S. 1, 52 S.Ct. 275, 277, 76 L.Ed. 587; cf. United States ex rel. Mensevich v. Tod, 1924, 264 U.S. 134, 44 S.Ct. 282, 68 L.Ed. 591. The Supreme Court has pointed out that “the word ‘country’ ■ * * * is ambiguous. It may be taken to mean foreign territory or a foreign government. In the sense of territory, it may embrace all the territory subject to…
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Delany v. Moraitis, 136 F.2d 129 (4th Cir. 1943)…nd that the condition in the order appealed from should be stricken from it. It is true, of course, that the term “country” as used in the statute must be construed, ordinarily, to refer to the territory from which the alien came. Mensevich v. Tod, 264 U.S. 134, 136, 44 S.Ct. 282, 68 L.Ed. 591. But a man’s “country” is more than the territory in which its people live. The term is used generally to indicate the state, the organization of social life which exercises sovereign power in behalf of the people. U…1 / 2
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- United States Ex rel. Bilokumsky v. Tod, 263 U.S. 149 (U.S. 1923)
- Stallings v. Splain, 253 U.S. 339 (U.S. 1920)
- Sugarman v. United States, 249 U.S. 182 (U.S. 1919)
- Zucht v. King, 260 U.S. 174 (U.S. 1922)