In re Minker
| Decision Date | 25 November 1953 |
| Docket Number | No. M-1588.,M-1588. |
| Citation | 118 F. Supp. 264 |
| Parties | In re MINKER. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
W. Wilson White, U. S. Atty., Charles H. Greenberg, Asst. U. S. Atty., William B. Taffett, Esq., Immigration and Naturalization Service, Philadelphia, Pa., for United States.
Jacob Kossman, Philadelphia, Pa., for petitioner.
This is a motion to quash and set aside a District Director of Immigration and Naturalization subpoena commanding the petitioner, Abraham Minker, to appear and testify in a matter concerning himself.
Petitioner's counsel, in the first instance, contends that the subpoena authority contained in Section 235(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 8 U.S.C.A. § 1225(a), only extends to matters involving aliens and aliens and citizens coming into the United States and has no application to citizens residing in the United States. The contention, we think, is not well founded.
The pertinent language of Section 235(a) provides: "* * * The Attorney General and any immigration officer, including special inquiry officers, shall have power to require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses before immigration officers and special inquiry officers and the production of books, papers, and documents relating to the privilege of any person to enter, reenter, reside in, or pass through the United States or concerning any matter which is material and relevant to the enforcement of this Act and the administration of the service, and to that end may invoke the aid of any court of the United States. * * *"
The quoted language we think, is a clear expression of the Congressional intent. The intent is to grant to the Attorney General and the immigration officers subpoena power in matters relating to aliens and aliens and citizens coming into the United States and in matters which are material and relevant to the enforcement of the Act and the administration of the Service. Specifically, the intent, insofar as the instant case is concerned, is to grant the power to subpoena in matters which are material and relevant to the enforcement of the Act, which means of necessity matters material and relevant to the enforcement of all of the provisions of the Act, including the provision of the Act the Service is attempting to enforce here, namely, Section 340, 8 U.S.C.A. § 1451, relating to revocation of naturalization. Obviously, said Section deals with citizens residing in the United States as it is concerned with the revocation of the citizenship of a person who has been naturalized. Petitioner and his counsel have knowledge of the fact that the Immigration and Naturalization Service is attempting to revoke petitioner's naturalization obtained in 1945 and that the instant subpoena was issued in aid of the investigation being conducted to accomplish that purpose.
A comparison of the prior statute, 8 U.S.C. § 152, and the present statute, 8 U.S.C.A. § 1225(a), supports the conclusion reached above that it was the intent of Congress by expanding the language in the present statute to broaden the subpoena power of the Attorney General and the Immigration and Naturalization Service so as to include the issuance of a subpoena not only in matters involving aliens and aliens coming into the United States but also in matters material and relevant to the enforcement of each and every provision of the Act of 1952. In 8 U.S.C. § 152 it is provided: "* * * Any district director of immigration and naturalization designated by the Commissioner or any inspector in charge shall also have power to require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses before said inspectors and the production of books, papers and documents touching the right of any alien to enter, reenter, reside in, or pass through the United States, and to that end may invoke the aid of any court of the United States; * * *." After using the words "the privilege of any person to enter, reenter, reside in, or pass through the United States", 8 U. S.C.A. § 1225(a) adds the words, "or concerning any matter which is material and relevant to the enforcement of this Act".
Finally, we attach no significance to the fact that the subpoena provision of the Act of 1952 is placed in that portion of the Act dealing with the inspection of aliens, in the light of the Congressional intent to extend the subpoena power to matters material and relevant to the enforcement of each and every provision of the Act, including Section 340 relating to revocation of naturalization.
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United States v. Minker Falcone v. Barnes
...the Eastern District of Pennsylvania upon the ground, inter alia, that it was unauthorized by the Act. This motion was denied, In re Minker, D.C., 118 F.Supp. 264, and no appeal was taken. When respondent thereafter failed to obey the subpoena, the District Court, on application of the Dist......
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In re Oddo
...have reached contrary results. Application of Barnes (In the Matter of Falcone), D.C.N.D.N.Y. 116 F.Supp. 464; In the Matter of Minker, D.C.E.D.Pa., 118 F.Supp. 264. The question is close; but independently I arrived at the conclusion — the one reached by Judge Foley in the Falcone case — t......
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Application of Barnes
...identical proposition was decided contrariwise by Judge Welsh, in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In re Minker, 1953, 118 F.Supp. 264. An "immigration officer" is defined in Section 101(a) (18) of the 1952 Act, 8 U.S.C.A. § 1101(18), as "any employee or class of......
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Shaughnessy v. Bacolas
...him. He must therefore appear before the Special Inquiry Officer and raise such objections at that time. See In re Minker, D.C.E.D. Pa., 1953, 118 F.Supp. 264, 266, reversed on other grounds, 3 Cir., 1955, 217 F.2d 350, certiorari granted 349 U.S. 904, 75 S.Ct. The order to produce document......