The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952
History
The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952
Constitutional law -- United States; Constitutions -- United States
With this power of exclusion goes also the power to assert a
considerable degree of control over aliens after their admission to the
country. By the Alien Registration Act of 1940[1071] it was provided
that all aliens in the United States, fourteen years of age and over,
should submit to registration and finger printing, and wilful failure to
do so was made a criminal offense against the United States. This Act,
taken in conjunction with other laws regulating immigration and
naturalization, has constituted a comprehensive and uniform system for
the regulation of all aliens and precludes enforcement of a State
registration act. Said the Court, speaking by Justice Black: "With a
view to limiting prospective residents from foreign lands to those
possessing the qualities deemed essential to good and useful citizenship
in America, carefully defined qualifications are required to be met
before aliens may enter our country. These qualifications include rigid
requirements as to health, education, integrity, character, and
adaptability to our institutions. Nor is the alien left free from the
application of federal laws after entry and before naturalization. If
during the time he is residing here he should be found guilty of conduct
contrary to the rules and regulations laid down by Congress, he can be
deported. At the time he enters the country, at the time he applies for
permission to acquire the full status of citizenship, and during the
intervening years, he can be subjected to searching investigations as to
conduct and suitability for citizenship."[1072] The Act of June 27,
1952, repeats these requirements of the Act of 1940.[1073]
Recent cases underscore the sweeping nature of the powers of the
National Government to exclude aliens from the United States and to
deport by administrative process members of excluded classes. In Knauff
_v._ Shaughnessy,[1074] decided early in 1950, an order of the Attorney
General excluding, on the basis of confidential information, a wartime
bride who was prima facie entitled to enter the United States under The
War Brides Act of 1945,[1075] was held to be not reviewable by the
courts; nor were regulations on which the order was based invalid as
representing an undue delegation of legislative power. Said the Court:
"Normally Congress supplies the conditions of the privilege of entry
into the United States. But because the power of exclusion of aliens is
also inherent in the executive department of the sovereign, Congress may
in broad terms authorize the executive to exercise the power, e.g., as
was done here, for the best interests of the country during a time of
national emergency. Executive officers may be entrusted with the duty of
specifying the procedures for carrying out the congressional
intent."[1076]
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