United States v. Gancy
Decision Date | 29 March 1944 |
Docket Number | Cr. No. 7547. |
Citation | 54 F. Supp. 755 |
Parties | UNITED STATES v. GANCY. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota |
Braulio M. Gancy, pro se.
Victor E. Anderson, U. S. Atty., and John W. Graff, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of St. Paul, Minn., for the United States.
The defendant was indicted for failure to register between August 27, 1940, and December 26, 1940, as required by the Alien Registration Act of 1940 and the regulations promulgated thereunder. He was born on March 26, 1900, in the Province of Cavite, Philippine Islands. He has never been naturalized. He contends that, as a citizen of the Philippine Islands, he became a citizen of the United States by virtue of the Treaty of Paris, signed December 10, 1898, and ratified by the United States on April 11, 1899, and therefore is not required to register under the Alien Registration Act of 1940. In contending that he is a citizen of the United States by reason of the Treaty of Paris, he clearly errs. In Article IX of that Treaty, it is stated that: "The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress." Congress has never conferred citizenship upon the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands. No legislation has ever been passed by Congress which assumes to incorporate the Philippine Islands as a territory of the United States. Indeed, the relationship as between the United States and the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands has always been quite unique and somewhat anomalous. For a discussion thereof, see Volume 42, Harvard Law Review 809. And while Filipinos are apparently entitled to certain rights and privileges of American nationals, no congressional legislation applies to the inhabitants of the Philippines in absence of express provision to that effect. Residence in the Philippines is not residence in the United States for naturalization purposes. It is significant to note that, as the term "United States" is used in the Alien Registration Act of 1940, it includes the States and the territories of Alaska and Hawaii, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but it does not include the Philippine Islands. As stated in People v. Cordero, 1942, 50 Cal.App.2d 146, 122 P.2d 648, 649:
In fact, until after the turn of the present century, when certain legislation was passed by Congress granting special privileges to those who had served in our armed forces, and who might apply for naturalization, a Filipino was not even eligible for citizenship; that is, he was not a free white person or a person of African nativity, as the naturalization statutes then required. In discussing this question, our Supreme Court in Toyota v. United States, 268 U.S. 402, 410, 45 S.Ct. 563, 565, 69 L. Ed. 1016, stated:
The seventh subdivision of Section 4 of the Act of 1918, 40 Stat. 542, permitted the naturalization of any native-born Filipino who had served in the armed forces of the United States for a certain number of years. Unless, therefore, a native-born Filipino brought himself within the provisions of the Act referred to in the Toyota case, he could not become a citizen of this country. His status by reason of the cession of the Philippine Islands by Spain under the Treaty of Paris was considered by John W. Briggs, Attorney General of the United States, who, on January 23, 1901, gave the following opinion:
But it may be urged that, even though the defendant is not a citizen of the United States, he is not an alien and therefore should not be required to register under the Alien Registration Act of 1940. It has been frequently stated that a Filipino owes allegiance to no foreign government. Under the Immigration Act of March 3, 1891, 26 Stat. 1084, it was held that Filipinos were not aliens. See Gonzales v. Williams, 192 U.S. 1, 24 S.Ct. 177, 48 L.Ed. 317. And as the term "alien" was used in the later immigration laws, 39 Stat. 874, 897 (1917), 8 U.S.C.A. § 173, it was specifically provided that the term "alien" "shall not be held to include citizens of the islands under the jurisdiction of the United States." However, under date of March 24, 1934, Congress provided for the complete independence of the Philippine Islands. 48 U.S.C.A. § 1232 et sequa. For immigration purposes under that Act, the Philippine Islands are now decreed to be a separate country and its inhabitants are deemed to be citizens of the Philippine Islands and its people "shall be considered as if they were aliens." 48 U.S.C.A. §§ 1002, 1238. Section 1238(a) (1) of this Act provides in part as follows:
The exceptions noted in the portion quoted are not pertinent to the discussion herein.
The Alien Registration Act of 1940 does not define an alien, though the regulations promulgated by the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, with the approval of the Attorney General, under the title "Who are Aliens required to Register and be Fingerprinted," in Section 29.2, defines an alien as follows: "An alien, as the term is used in this part, includes any person not a citizen of the United States." This definition was evidently issued under Section 37(a) of the Act which permits the Commissioner, with the approval of the Attorney General, "to make and prescribe, and from time to time to change and amend, such rules and regulations not in conflict with this Act as he may deem necessary and proper...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
In re Standard Gas & Electric Co.
... ... a, and 21, sub. a, must be read together. Cameron v. United States, 1914, 231 U.S. 710, 718, 34 S.Ct. 244, 58 L.Ed. 448. It is true that Section 21, sub. a, ... ...
-
Gancy v. United States
...stress and should be so construed as to accomplish the purpose of Congress in enacting it. We agree with the trial court (United States v. Gancy, D.C., 54 F.Supp. 755) that appellant, under the Alien Registration Act of 1940, was required to register as an alien, and the judgment appealed f......
-
Matter of Hermosa
...citizenship; in each instance it declined to confer United States citizenship on Filipinos. The decision in United States v. Gancy, 54 F.Supp. 755 (D. Minn. 1944), affirmed 149 F.2d 788 (C.A. 8), cert. denied 326 U.S. 727, rehearing denied 326 U.S. 810 (1945), which concerned a claim essent......