In re Aldecoa, 832.

• Decision Date: 21 February 1938
• Docket Number: No. 832.,832.
• Parties: In re ALDECOA.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Idaho

22 F. Supp. 659

In re ALDECOA.

No. 832.

District Court, D. Idaho, S. D.

February 21, 1938.

Dean Driscoll, of Boise, Idaho, for Alien.

John A. Carver, U. S. Dist. Atty., and E. H. Casterlin and Frank Griffin, Asst. U. S. Dist. Attys., all of Boise, Idaho, for the United States.

CAVANAH, District Judge.

John Domingo Aldecoa, a native of the Republic of Spain who arrived in the United States in 1889, made declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States on October 7, 1908. Thereafter, on May 6, 1935, he made another declaration of intention to become a citizen, and on August 2, 1937, he filed the present petition to become naturalized as a citizen.

On October 26, 1918, he made an affidavit which was presented to the Bureau of Naturalization in which he withdrew his intention to become a citizen of the United States and there stated, "which withdrawal I understand shall operate and be held to cancel my declaration to become a citizen of the United States and shall forever debar me from becoming a citizen of the United States, in accordance with the Act of Congress approved July 9, 1918; that I herewith surrender my original duplicate copy of my declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States; * * * and I do hereby claim relief from liability to military service in accordance with the law and regulation." Upon that affidavit and request of John Domingo Aldecoa, the Chief Naturalization Examiner of the United States filed in the state district court his petition "In the Matter of the cancellation of the declaration of intention of Domingo Aldecoa," praying "that in pursuance of said Act of July 9, 1918, a declaration of intention filed by the said alien in this court as above stated, be cancelled and held for naught, and an order be entered in and upon the records of this Court forever debarring said alien from citizenship."

On May 24, 1919, the state district court entered an order upon the petition of the examiner to the effect: "Upon consideration of the foregoing petition, it is hereby ordered and decreed that the declaration of intention of the alien named in the records of this Court be cancelled and held for naught, and that he is forever debarred from becoming a citizen of the United States; and it is further Ordered that the Clerk of this Court shall forward a copy of this Order to the Bureau of Naturalization, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington D. C. and shall attach a copy thereof to the declaration of intention of record in this Court."

It appears that the United States was engaged in the "World war" at the time the affidavit was made withdrawing and canceling the first declaration of intention and claiming relief from military service, 42 Stat. 105. Under the declarations of intention and the law, the alien asserts that it is his intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States and to permanently reside therein, and in the petition for naturalization, which is required by law, he further asserts that he is attached to the principles of the Constitution and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.

The alien's right of naturalization is a privilege to be given and it must come from congressional legislation. The right conferred is a culmination of a number of acts of Congress from the earliest period of the government. Congress has made provision concerning the requirements when such alien has made declaration of his intention and petitions to become a citizen, and among them, before he is admitted he must declare on oath in open court that he will support the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and that he is attached to the principles of the Constitution and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States. U.S.C.A. title 8, §§ 381, and 382.

It is a fundamental principle of the Constitution that it is the duty of a citizen by force of arms, when called upon by the government, to defend it against all enemies.

The Constitution empowers Congress to provide for the common defense, which was one of the purposes for which the people of this country ordained and established it. This principle and the interpretation of the Constitution has been repeatedly recognized, and the right of an alien to acquire citizenship is purely statutory, will not be granted unless there has been strict compliance with statutory requirement. United States v. Schwimmer, 279 U.S. 644, 49 S.Ct. 448, 73 L.Ed. 889; United States v. Macintosh, 283 U.S. 605, 51 S.Ct. 570, 75 L.Ed. 1302.

With this thought in mind, the essential qualification of citizenship is a willingness to bear arms when called upon by the government of the United States. The duty of the...