Alfred Yvon Letourneur v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

This is an appeal from a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals which upheld the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s order to deport the petitioner-appellant, Alfred Yvon LeTourneur.

Appellant was brought by his father to the United States from France as a child of four on September 23, 1939. Although his father later became a naturalized citizen, LeTourneur has remained a resident alien. He asserts in his brief that he was unaware or unsure of his alien status and that he never complied with annual alien registration requirements. Appellant served in the United States Marine Corps for eight years and was honorably discharged in 1958; those discharge papers showed that he was not a United States citizen in 1958. He moved to Honolulu following his discharge and married but was divorced in 1971. He has two children from a common law marriage which he supported prior to his incarceration.

On March 13, 1973, LeTourneur was convicted in Hawaii state court along with seven others of an armed robbery, of jewelry, after a plea of not guilty. The robbery took place on May 3, 1972. On March 28, 1973, he was convicted, after a plea of guilty, of second-degree robbery.…