Ex Parte Tadayasu Abo

Applicants, all of whom are native born residents of the United States of Japanese ancestry, in the above two applications for writ of habeas corpus, assert that they are unlawfully held in custody by officers of the Department of Justice of the United States for removal and deportation to Japan.

By return filed to the applications, Irving F. Wixon District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice of the United States for the Northern District of California, admits that the applicants are in custody for the purpose of removal and deportation to Japan as alien enemies of the United States, pursuant to the authority of the Alien Enemy Act of 1798, (SO U.S.C.A. §§ 21-23) and Presidential Proclamations and Regulations of the Attorney-General issued thereunder.

Contemporaneously with the filing of the applications for the writ of habeas corpus, applicants filed actions in equity in this court, wherein they sought cancellation of alleged renunciations of American citizenship made by them while in custody, pursuant to 8 U.S.C.A. § 801 (i), upon the ground, inter alia, that such renunciations of citizenship were made under duress and hence are…