Kessler v. Strecker, 307 U.S. 22 (1939)
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Kessler v. Strecker
No. 330
Argued February 10, 13, 1939
Decided April 17, 1939
307 U.S. 22
CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
1. Section 1 of the Act of October 16, 1918, as amended, provides that aliens of described classes, including
aliens who believe in, advise, advocate, or teach, or who are members of or affiliated with any organization, association, society, or group, that believes in, advises, advocates, or teaches . . . the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States . . . ,
shall be excluded from admission to the United States. Section 2 provides that
any alien who at any time after entering the United States is found to have been, at the time of entry, or to have become thereafter, a member of any of the classes of aliens enumerated
in Section 1, shall, upon warrant of the Secretary of Labor, be taken into custody and deported, in the manner provided by law.
Held that an alien who, after entry, becomes a member of such an organization is not deportable on that ground if, at the time of his arrest, his membership has ceased. P. 30.
2. The legislative history of the statute supports this conclusion. P. 30.
3. This reading of the statute makes it unnecessary in this case to pass upon the adequacy of the evidence before the Secretary concerning the purposes and aims of the Communist Party or the propriety of the court’s taking judicial notice thereof. P. 33.
4. The record in this case does not justify reversal of a holding of the court below that the evidence before the Secretary of Labor was insufficient to support his finding that the respondent alien believes in and teaches the overthrow, by force and violence, of the Government of the United States. P. 34.
5. When no issue of citizenship is raised, an administrative order for deportation of an alien, made after fair hearing, based on findings supported by evidence and without error of law, is conclusive; if any of these elements was lacking, it is void. The matter cannot be tried de novo in habeas corpus. P. 34.
95 F.2d 976; 96 id. 1020, affirmed with modification.
Certiorari, 305 U.S. 587, to review the reversal of a judgment dismissing a writ of habeas corpus.