Kessler v. Strecker

Background

The case involves an immigrant who entered the United States in 1912 and applied for naturalization in 1933. He admitted joining the Communist Party in November 1932. His party membership book showed dues paid through February 1933, and party rules stated that failure to pay dues for three months ends membership; there was no evidence he remained a member after March 1, 1933. The Department of Labor issued a warrant in November 1933 finding multiple grounds for deportation and ordered his removal after administrative hearings.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether an alien can be deported solely for past membership that ended before the deportation proceeding. Reading the exclusion and deportation provisions together, the Court concluded that Congress meant to reach present membership or present affiliation, not mere past membership that had already ceased. The Court therefore found the Department of Labor had misconstrued the statute. The Justices declined to resolve all evidentiary disputes about what the immigrant then believed or taught, and they also held that district courts may not retry administrative deportation facts as a new trial when the administrative hearing was fair.

Real world impact

For this immigrant the ruling meant release from custody because deportation could not be based solely on membership that ended before the arrest. Going forward, immigration authorities must show current membership or active affiliation to justify deportation under the statute, and courts should respect the Secretary of Labor’s factfinding unless legal error or lack of evidence appears.

Dissents or concurrances

A dissent argued that Congress intended to make an alien deportable once he had become a member of a proscribed organization, even if membership ended before arrest, warning that allowing resignation or expulsion to avoid deportation would undermine the law.