Firestone v. Howerton

671 F.2d 317 Fred FIRESTONE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Joseph HOWERTON, individually and in his official capacity as Los Angeles District Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; David Crosland, individually and in his own official capacity as Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Defendants-Appellees. No. 81-5241. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted March 2, 1982. Decided March 11, 1982. Gary Silbiger, Silbiger & Honing, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant. Carolyn M. Reynolds, Asst. U. S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants-appellees. On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before WRIGHT, ALARCON, and REINHARDT, Circuit Judges. EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge: 1 Fred Firestone, an 81 year-old immigrant from the Soviet Union, entered this country in 1920. He was a member of the Workers Communist Party from 1928 to 1940, but an immigration judge dismissed deportation proceedings against him in 1964 because the government failed to prove he had been a "meaningful member." 2 In 1977, he applied for adjustment of status to that of a permanent resident…