The Fedorenko decision established that the citizenship of a naturalized citizen may be revoked in cases when individuals intentionally provided false information to enter the country or to obtain materialization.
Following World War II, Feodor Fedorenko, who was born in Ukraine, obtained a visa to enter the United States under the [a]Displaced Persons Act of 1948Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (DPA), which did not apply to anyone who had voluntarily assisted the enemy or had participated in persecuting civilians. Fedorenko became a naturalized citizen in 1970. A decade later, witnesses testified that he had concealed his service as an armed guard at Treblinka, a Nazi extermination camp, and that he had committed atrocities against inmates. Fedorenko claimed that the German army had forced him to serve in the camp, although he admitted that he had never tried to escape. The government brought denaturalization action under the [a]Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952;and “denaturalization”[denaturalization]Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which requires revocation of citizenship that was procured by “willful misrepresentation.” Ruling in favor of Fedorenko, the district court held that because his service in the camp had been involuntary, his misrepresentation was not material to his admission.[c]Fedorenko v. United
StatesCitizenship;loss of[c]Fedorenko v. United StatesCitizenship;loss of[cat]COURT CASES;Fedorenko v. United States[01740][cat]CITIZENSHIP AND NATURALIZATION;Fedorenko v. United States[01740][cat]DEPORTATION;Fedorenko v. United States[01740]
Reversing the ruling by a 7-2 margin, the Supreme Court ordered Fedorenko’s denaturalization based on the fact that the language of the DPA made him ineligible to receive a visa. Speaking for the majority, Justice Marshall, ThurgoodThurgood Marshall criticized the district court for ignoring the clear and explicit wording of the DPA. Once the district court determined that either immigration or naturalization had resulted from willful misrepresentation, it had no discretion to excuse Fedorenko’s conduct. The DPA, moreover, referred to the objective fact of persecuting others, so that even if he had acted under duress, the DPA would not have allowed him to enter the country. In 1984, Fedorenko was deported to the Soviet Union, where he was executed by a firing squad two years later.[c]Fedorenko v. United StatesCitizenship;loss of
Further Reading
- Bosniak, Linda. The Citizen and the Alien: Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2008.
- LeMay, Michael, and Elliott Robert Barkan, eds. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Citizenship
Congress, U.S.
Constitution, U.S.
Deportation
Displaced Persons Act of 1948
Holocaust
Immigration law
World War II
