In re Krajcirovic, Misc. Civ. No. 7530.

• Decision Date: 22 December 1949
• Docket Number: Misc. Civ. No. 7530.
• Citation: 87 F. Supp. 379
• Parties: In re KRAJCIROVIC.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

87 F. Supp. 379

In re KRAJCIROVIC.

Misc. Civ. No. 7530.

United States District Court D. Massachusetts.

December 22, 1949.

James J. Leibman, New York City, for petitioner.

George F. Garrity, United States Attorney, Boston, Mass., Edward O. Gourdin, Asst. U. S. Atty., Boston, Mass., for respondent.

WYZANSKI, District Judge.

This case involves the power of an official of the Department of Justice to confine for an extended period of time at a port of entry an alien who arrived as a stowaway without a passport, travel documents or an immigration visa.

Krajcirovic was born a Czech citizen in Moravia in 1920. During World War II as a member first of the Czech partisan forces and later of the Czech Army he fought the Germans. For these services the President of Czechoslovakia awarded him a distinguished service cross. After the fighting was over he became a full-time paid secretary of a branch of the National Revolutionists, a patriotic society of war veterans in Czechoslovakia engaged in giving ex-service men and their families assistance in getting food, shelter, clothing and employment.

Following the cessation of hostilities the Communists tried for some time to get control of the National Revolutionists. After the death of Jan Masaryk in March 1948, they succeeded. Without warning, a Communist leader, August Schramm, put Krajcirovic out of office and took over the National Revolutionists. Krajcirovic fled to Regensburg in the American Zone of Occupation in Germany which was his headquarters from March to May 1948. In May or June Krajcirovic and all the other refugees who were at Regensburg were transferred to another camp in the American Zone at Wegscheide near Bad Orb. While in the American Zone Krajcirovic joined an anti-Communist refugee group known as the First Czechoslovakian Brigade of Jan Zizka. From Regensburg and Wegscheide Krajcirovic made three trips as a courier to Czechoslovakia to carry anti-Communist messages.

On one occasion in connection with a plan for creating an anti-Communist uprising in Czechoslovakia he carried orders from his superior Captain Starik, formerly of the Czech Army, directing one Choc to shoot Schramm. Upon receipt of the orders, Choc did kill Schramm on May 27, 1948. Choc appears to have been apprehended but Krajcirovic returned to Germany. In June 1948 the refugees at Wegscheide were transferred to Jagerhof Kasarne camp operated by the I.R.O. at Ludwigsberg in the American Zone. From there about September 20 Krajcirovic went to France without the permission of the French authorities. He was at first in a refugee camp at Noisy le Sec, but by December 1948 he had gone to Paris and in May 1949 he was at Le Havre. While in France Krajcirovic saw a Prague newspaper dated November 25, 1948 which reported that he and others had been sentenced to death in absentia for the murder of Schramm and for military betrayal.

Determined to seek a haven in the United States but unable to get an American visa because the Czech quota was full for several years, Krajcirovic, without being observed and without being in possession of an immigration visa or a passport or other travel documents but with the permission of the French authorities to leave France for the United States, stowed away on the S.S. American Flyer bound from Le Havre for Boston. Famished after several days at sea, he came on deck and was discovered.

When the vessel arrived in Boston May 21, 1949, the captain turned Krajcirovic over to the immigration authorities. The Board of Special Inquiry on May 23, 1949, after conducting a hearing, excluded Krajcirovic from admission to the United States on three grounds: first because he was not in possession of an unexpired consular visa as required by Section 13(a) (1) of the Immigration Act of 1924, 8 U.S.C.A. § 213 (a) (1); second, because he was not in possession of an unexpired passport, a document in the nature of a passport or travel documents showing identity as required by the Passport Act of May 22, 1918 as amended, 22 U.S.C.A. § 223 et seq., and the Act of February 5, 1917, 39 Stat. 874, and Executive Order No. 8766, June 3, 1941; and third, because he was a stowaway who came in violation of Section 3 of the Immigration Act of 1917, 8 U.S.C.A. § 136.

June 1, 1949 Krajcirovic's attorney took exceptions to the findings and conclusions of the Board of Special Inquiry. The Chief Examiner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington on June 23 heard argument and on July 5 recommended that the Board of Special Inquiry's excluding decision be affirmed but that the alien be permitted to depart voluntarily at his own expense. The Assistant Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization in charge of the Adjudications Division, apparently on July 5, approved this recommendation. Krajcirovic's counsel appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Board on August 3, heard counsel and on August 26 dismissed the appeal and continued the permission for voluntary departure. In the meantime, on August 16 Congressman Lichtenwalter, apparently acting on Krajcirovic's behalf, introduced into the 81st Congress H.R. 6018, a bill which directs the Attorney General to cancel the warrants for the deportation of Krajcirovic and another alien and gives to both the status of persons lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence. September 15 the Acting Assistant Commissioner in charge of the enforcement division advised Congressman Lichtenwalter that a stay of deportation would be authorized pending action on the bill. October 5 Krajcirovic's counsel asked the Commissioner to...