Molsen v. Young, 12959.
| Citation | 182 F.2d 480 |
| Decision Date | 23 June 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 12959.,12959. |
| Parties | MOLSEN v. YOUNG. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
William A. Rembert, Jr., Searcy L. Johnson, Dallas, Tex., for appellant.
Frank B. Potter, U. S. Atty, Fort Worth, Tex., for appellee.
William Burrow, Dallas, Tex., for amicus curiae.
Before HOLMES, McCORD, and RUSSELL, Circuit Judges.
Appellant, Heinrich Friedrich Gustav Herman Molsen, a German alien, filed a petition for naturalization on August 16, 1948, under the provisions of Section 311 of the Nationality Act of 1940. Title 8 U.S.C.A. §§ 707(a), 711, 733, and 734. On June 25, 1949, his petition and application for United States citizenship was denied.
The question here presented is whether the district court properly found that petitioner had failed to establish that he was attached to the principles of the Constitution and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States, as required by the statute.
The record discloses that petitioner lawfully entered the United States on September 24, 1925, and that he has since that time been engaged in this country in the cotton business. He is married to a naturalized American citizen, and has three children. He resides with his family in Dallas, Texas.
The report of the naturalization examiner, which was submitted to the trial court at the hearing, reveals that petitioner was taken into custody as an alien enemy on December 8, 1941; that on January 27, 1942, he was ordered paroled; that on February 27, 1942, he was again taken into custody and interned on April 4, 1942; that on November 12, 1942, the Attorney General ordered that he be paroled; that on September 8, 1945, he was again ordered interned, and was not ordered to be released by the Attorney General until December 3, 1945. It was further shown that in certain reports submitted by the War Department to the Committee on Military Affairs of the United States Senate1 petitioner was listed as a member of the Nazi Party living in the United States. These reports show the Nazi Party membership number of petitioner as 3603949, the date of his entry into the party as March 1, 1935, his date of birth as April 14, 1900, in Lingen Ems, Germany, and his last recorded address as "Post Office Box 2115, Dallas, Texas". The original Nazi Party membership records were found in Germany about September, 1945, by the United States Army, and have since that time been in the possession of the Office of U. S. Military Government for Germany. The War Department has furnished a photostatic copy of the original Nazi Party records relating to the petitioner, Heinrich Molsen.
In a letter dated July 15, 1940, written by the petitioner to one George W. Hirschfeld at Bremen, Germany, petitioner commented on the fact that shortly after the Armistice of World War I, he had said that Germany would receive another chance. In this letter, he made the following statement:
In another letter, dated July 19, 1940, to a German firm at Bremen, Germany, petitioner again revealed his strong pro-German attitude prior to this country's entry into the recent war.2 He first denied having written these two letters, but later admitted having done so. With reference to his affiliation with the Nazi Party in Germany, petitioner testified that in 1935, while visiting in Germany, he applied for membership in the Nazi organization in order to protect a relative in that country who was supposedly in danger of persecution because of her anti-Nazi sentiments, but that he never paid any dues to the party or had any further connection with it. On behalf of petitioner, several witnesses testified that he was of good moral character, and attached to the principles of the Constitution. However, the record contains affidavits of certain witnesses, which were embodied in a supplemental report of the examiner introduced at a second hearing before the court, to the effect that on various occasions in the year 1940 before the United States entered the war petitioner and certain other persons attended lunches at a restaurant in Dallas; that on these occasions they would place a German swastika flag on the table and give a "Heil Hitler" salute; and that during the month of September, 1939, shortly after the recent war began, he and certain other persons would congregate about a radio at a liquor store in Dallas to listen to German news broadcasts, and that on such occasions they would become boisterous and jubilant upon hearing the reports of how the German armies were overrunning Austria and Poland.
Section 307(a) of the Nationality Act of 1940, as embodied in Title 8 U.S.C.A. § 707(a), provides: "(a) No person, except as hereinafter provided in this chapter, shall be naturalized unless such petitioner, * * * (3) during all the periods referred to in this subsection has been and still is a person of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States."
Thus, under the above quoted provision of our Naturalization Act, attachment to the principles of our Federal Constitution has been prescribed by the Congress as an indispensable prerequisite to naturalization and admission to United...
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PETITION FOR NATURALIZATION OF FERRO
...to examine petitioner's qualifications for citizenship." In re Balestrieri, D.C., 59 F.Supp. 181, at 182. See, e. g., Molsen v. Young, 5 Cir., 1950, 182 F.2d 480; Ralich v. United States, 8 Cir., 1950, 185 F.2d 784, at page 787; Marcantonio v. United States, 4 Cir., 1950, 185 F.2d 934; Yuen......
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Santamaria-Ames v. I.N.S., SANTAMARIA-AMES
...predecessor to 8 U.S.C. § 1427, naturalization cannot be denied solely based on crimes prior to statutory period); Molsen v. Young, 182 F.2d 480, 483 (5th Cir.1950) (under predecessor to 8 U.S.C. § 1427, statutory period is the minimum period in which good moral character must be demonstrat......
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Marcantonio v. United States, 6166.
...had not shown good character within the five year period and at the time of the application as the statute requires. Molsen v. Young, 5 Cir., 182 F.2d 480, 483; Yuen Jung v. Barber, 9 Cir., 184 F.2d 491.1 No such finding was made, however, and on the record, we think, none could be made. Th......
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