Jose Contreras Munoz v. Paul M. Kelley, Officer in Charge, United States Department of Immigration and Naturalization

Jose Contreras Munoz was admitted to the United States as an immigrant for permanent residence in 1915. He is an alien, a native and citizen of Mexico.

A warrant of arrest was issued for petitioner on October 9, 1951. The charge is that Munoz was subject to deportation in “That he has been, after entry, a member of the following class, set forth in Section (1) of the Act of October 16, 1918, as amended; an alien who was a member of the Communist Party of the United States.” At a hearing on February 13, 1952, Munoz was present in person and by counsel. Testimony was taken, and on March 12, 1952, the hearing officer decided that petitioner had been a voluntary member of the Communist Party of the United States and was subject to deportation. The Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed an appeal taken from the denial of a motion to reopen. Munoz filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, which, after hearing, refused to grant the writ and dismissed the petition. The Court found that there was reasonable, substantial and probative evidence to the effect that Munoz was a member of the Communist Party and that there were…