In re Nicola

• Decision Date: 16 January 1911
• Docket Number: 52,78,83.
• Parties: In re NICOLA. WILLIAMS, Immigration Com'r, v. UNITED STATES ex rel. GENDERING. SAME v. UNITED STATES ex rel. HOHANESSIAN.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

184 F. 322

In re NICOLA. WILLIAMS, Immigration Com'r, v. UNITED STATES ex rel. GENDERING. SAME v. UNITED STATES ex rel. HOHANESSIAN.

Nos. 52, 78, 83.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

January 16, 1911

Henry A. Wise, U.S. Atty. (Addison S. Pratt, Asst. U.S. Atty., and Robert Stephenson, of counsel), for appellant.

F. J Bishop, J. S. Galland, and H. E. Brown, for appellees.

Before LACOMBE, COXE, and WARD, Circuit Judges.

COXE Circuit Judge.

It is conceded that the principal question involved is the same in each of these appeals. That question is whether the relators are citizens of the United States. If they are citizens it is manifest that they cannot be refused admission to this country under the laws relating to aliens. In each of these cases the relator is the wife of an American citizen and section 1994 of the Revised Statutes (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p 1268), which is as follows, is applicable:

'Any woman who is now or may hereafter be married to a citizen of the United States and who might herself be lawfully naturalized shall be deemed a citizen.' In the recent case of United States v. Henrietta Cohen, 179 F. 834, 103 C.C.A. 28, decided June 14, 1910, we held that the alien wife of an alien man who had resided here for 30 years could not herself become an American citizen for the reason that she took the nationality of her husband and this remained until the marriage relation was legally terminated. This decision is only important as it asserts the importance of maintaining an undivided allegiance in the family relation. It is inconsistent with the policy of our law that the husband shall be a citizen and the wife an alien. In the cases at bar the relators are the legal wives of American citizens. This is abundantly established by the proof and we understand that it is not disputed by the district attorney.

It is not necessary to state the facts in all these cases; that of Bertha Gendering will serve as an illustration. She arrived at the port of New York September 28, 1909, from Rotterdam. In 1898 she was married to Magnus Gendering by proxy in Holland and subsequently she came to this country alone, was examined and admitted and soon thereafter a church marriage ceremony was performed in this country. At this time there was not a breath of suspicion against her moral character and she and her husband lived together for seven years, when he deserted her. He became an American citizen September 17 1908. She supported herself for some time by dressmaking and then went to live with one Maurice Citroen,...