Ex parte Gros

Petitioner, after deportation proceedings and a hearing before the Immigration Authorities, was ordered deported under Sections 13 and 14 of the Immigration Act of 1924, 43 Stat. 153 , 161, 162, as an alien who at the time of his last entry was an immigrant not in possession of a valid immigration visa and not exempted from the presentation thereof by law. No appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals was taken and on April 17, 1953 the Administrative Order became final. Petitioner then applied to this Court for a Writ of Habeas Corpus on the ground that he is a citizen of the United States and a resident of California and therefore entitled to a judicial hearing on the issue of his citizenship.

The question of his citizenship was the only contested issue in a hearing involving some 254 pages of transcript and some 60 documentary exhibits.

The Special Inquiry Officer found that petitioner’s testimony that he was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to parents who were German nationals was disproved by other evidence presented at the hearing. He further found that even if petitioner was a native born citizen he expatriated himself by his voluntary acts and conduct during a later long…