Matter of Woo, Interim Decision Number 1297

• Decision Date: 13 August 1963
• Docket Number: A-11822728,Interim Decision Number 1297
• Citation: 10 I&N Dec. 347
• Parties: MATTER OF WOO In DEPORTATION Proceedings
• Court: U.S. DOJ Board of Immigration Appeals

10 I&N Dec. 347

MATTER OF WOO

In DEPORTATION Proceedings

Interim Decision Number 1297

A-11822728

Board of Immigration Appeals

Decided by Board August 13, 1963

While an applicant for suspension of deportation who is exempt from the requirement of any specified period of continuous physical presence as provided by section 244(b), Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, is also exempt from the necessity of establishing good moral character for the period co-extensive with the physical-presence period, he must establish good moral character between the date he filed his suspension application and the date it is finally adjudicated. Conduct prior to the filing date can be considered in determining whether good moral character has been established during the period in question.

CHARGE:

Order: Act of 1952—Section 241 (a) (1) [8 U.S.C. 1251 (a) (1)]—Excludable at entry under section 212(a) (20)—No immigrant visa.

The special inquiry officer on June 18, 1963 entered an order granting the respondent's request that his deportation be suspended under the provisions of section 244 (a) (1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and directed that the case be certified to this Board for final decision in accordance with the applicable regulations. The respondent, a 28-year-old married male, native and citizen of China, was first admitted to the United States at San Francisco, California on March 24, 1948 under the name of Louie Chung Hing as the United States citizen son of Louie Sheuck Yu, a native-born citizen of the United States. The respondent last entered the United States at Travis Air Force Base on or about May 16, 1960 as a member of the United States Armed Forces. Deportation proceedings were instituted against the respondent on February 14, 1962.

Hearings in deportation proceedings were held at Seattle, Washington on March 6 and March 26, 1962, at which time the respondent and counsel admitted the truth of the factual allegations set forth in the order to show cause and conceded deportability on the charge stated therein. The respondent was not a citizen of the United States on the occasion of his initial admission at San Francisco, California in March 1948 or when he last entered the United States as a member of the armed forces in May 1960. The decision of the special inquiry officer directing that the respondent be deported from the United States to Hong Kong or in the alternative to Formosa became final when no appeal was taken therefrom. The evidence of record clearly establishes that the respondent is subject to deportation under the provisions of section 241(a) (1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, in that, at the time of entry he was within one or more of the classes of aliens excludable by the law existing at the time of such entry, to wit, aliens who are immigrants not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa, reentry permit, border crossing card, or other valid entry document and not exempted from the possession thereof by said Act or regulations made thereunder, under section 212 (a) (20) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The respondent's motion requesting that the proceedings be reopened for the purpose of affording him an opportunity to prosecute an application for suspension of deportation under the provisions of section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act as amended by the Act of October 24, 1962 was granted by the special inquiry officer on January 25, 1963. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, the special inquiry officer's decision of June 18, 1963 granting the respondent's application for suspension of deportation under section 244 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, will be approved. The evidence adduced at the reopened hearing held at Seattle, Washington on February 1, 1963 establishes that the respondent was born in Hong Kong, British Crown Colony, on June 8, 1935; that he attended primary school in Hong Kong until he was 12 years of age, at which time arrangements were made by his father, then a resident of the United States, to have the respondent enter the United States as the son of one Louie Sheuck Yu, a native-born citizen of the United States. The respondent's testimony indicates that after his admission to the United States he retained his assumed identity of Louie Chung Hing; that he completed high school in the United States and joined the Washington State National Guard in 1956.

The respondent enlisted in the Regular Army of the United States on September 7,...