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The Renunciation Act of 1944 (Public Law 78-405, ) was an act of the
78th Congress The 78th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1943, ...
regarding the renunciation of United States citizenship. Prior to the law's passage, it was not possible to lose U.S. citizenship while in U.S. territory except by conviction for treason; the Renunciation Act allowed people physically present in the U.S. to renounce citizenship when the country was in a state of war by making an application to the Attorney General. The intention of the 1944 Act was to encourage Japanese American internees to renounce citizenship so that they could be deported to
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. After the end of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, those who wanted their
U.S. citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...
restored were generally successful at arguing before federal courts that their renunciations pursuant to the 1944 Act had been made under duress and were therefore invalid. The law remained in effect but received little further attention until the 2000s, when a prisoner interested in renouncing U.S. citizenship won a ruling from a federal court that the U.S. was indeed in a "state of war" at the time for purposes of the 1944 Act. Other prisoners sought to renounce citizenship under the 1944 Act but could not fulfill an administrative requirement that they appear in person at a
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and immigration system. It is a successor to the Immigration and Naturalizati ...
office for an interview — a requirement whose legality was upheld twice by federal courts — or that they depart from the United States immediately after having their renunciation application approved. A 2013 immigration reform bill contained provisions to repeal the 1944 Act.


Overview

The Renunciation Act of 1944 has no official
short title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. T ...
; its
long title In certain jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and other Westminster-influenced jurisdictions (such as Canada or Australia), as well as the United States and the Philippines, primary legislation has both a short title and a long title. The ...
was "A bill to provide for the loss of United States nationality under certain circumstances". Another unofficial name for it is the Denationalization Act of 1944. It is also officially referred to as the Act of July 1, 1944, a name it shares with the Public Health Service Act. It added the following item to the list of actions in
Nationality Act of 1940 The Nationality Act of 1940 (H.R. 9980; Pub.L. 76-853; 54 Stat. 1137) revised numerous provisions of law relating to American citizenship and naturalization. It was enacted by the 76th Congress of the United States and signed into law on October ...
§ 401 () which would result in loss of nationality by a United States citizen or non-citizen national: :making in the United States a formal written renunciation of nationality in such form as may be prescribed by, and before such officer as may be designated by, the Attorney General, whenever the United States shall be in a state of war and the Attorney General shall approve such renunciation as not contrary to the interests of national defense. Due to immigration law reforms and the removal of other items from the list of actions causing loss of nationality, the exact subsection number of this provision has changed over the years. It appeared in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 at § 349(a)(7). The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 did not alter § 349 at all. It currently stands at INA § 349(a)(6) ().


Legislative history

Under the Nationality Act of 1940 as it stood originally, renunciation of citizenship could only be performed before a United States diplomatic officer overseas. In December 1943, Martin Dies, Jr. (D-TX) asked Attorney General
Francis Biddle Francis Beverley Biddle (May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968) was an American lawyer and judge who was the United States Attorney General during World War II. He also served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg Trials as well a ...
to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify on the handling of internees seeking to depart from the United States for Japan; Biddle recommended amending the 1940 Act to permit loss of nationality by persons on U.S. soil. Biddle and the
Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
drafted a bill to that effect and were significantly involved in efforts to lobby Congress for support.
Edward Ennis Edward J. Ennis (1908–1990) was an American civil rights lawyer. He worked for the Department of Justice in the 1930s and 1940s, where as director of the alien enemy control unit he oversaw the Japanese American internment. He contributed to the ...
of the Department of Justice estimated that between one and three thousand Japanese Americans would renounce citizenship under the law's provisions. Ennis saw the bill as crucial to the DOJ's efforts to retain custody of Japanese Americans suspected of disloyalty; he feared that the courts would find continued internment of U.S. citizens to be unconstitutional, and hoped that "militants" among Japanese American internees would voluntarily renounce citizenship under the bill's provisions, in which case the DOJ could continue to detain them until they could be deported to Japan.
A. Leonard Allen Asa Leonard Allen (January 5, 1891 – January 5, 1969) was an educator, attorney, and member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Louisiana. He served eight terms as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat from ...
(D-LA) introduced the bill on February 1, 1944. It was referred to the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, which unanimously reported the bill two days later. Allen first spoke about the bill on the House floor on February 8; he described it as "a bill to expatriate certain Japanese nationals ... who have openly avowed their disloyalty to the United States and have disclaimed loyalty to the United States, although they were born in this country". There was further debate on the bill on February 16. A number of
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
representatives criticized it as insufficiently far-reaching for its failure to consider alleged renunciations of citizenship prior to the bill's enactment. J. Leroy Johnson (R-CA) thus moved an amendment to the bill to allow the Attorney General to consider all statements of renunciation of citizenship as far back as October 1940. In support,
Clair Engle Clair Engle (September 21, 1911July 30, 1964) was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from California from 1959 until his death in 1964. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for participating in the v ...
(D-CA) pointed to the refusal of 5,376 internees to "swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and renounce Japan" as an example of the type of alleged renunciations of citizenship which the original bill failed to consider, while
Bertrand W. Gearhart Bertrand Wesley "Bud" Gearhart (May 31, 1890 – October 11, 1955) was an American lawyer and Politics of the United States, politician. Gearhart, a Republican Party (United States), Republican, served as the United States House of Representatives ...
(R-CA) noted that many internees who had earlier expressed enthusiasm for Japan were less vocal due to the defeats the country had suffered in battle and urged that their statements not go unpunished. The previous week, Gearhart had also introduced a bill which would strip Japanese Americans of citizenship unless they swore an oath of allegiance to the United States in a court of naturalization within 60 days after the date of his bill's passage rejecting the divinity of the
Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...
and the "divine mission" of the " Yamato race". He stated that "I am convinced that the method I propose, constitutional in all of its aspects, will reveal a large number of Japanese who are earnestly hoping for our defeat, secretly doing everything they can to insure a victory for our despicable foes." However,
Samuel Dickstein Samuel Dickstein (February 5, 1885 – April 22, 1954) was a Democratic Congressional Representative from New York (22-year tenure), a New York State Supreme Court Justice, and a Soviet spy. He played a key role in establishing the committee th ...
(D-NY), chairman of the House immigration committee, opposed Johnson's amendment, stating that Congress had no authority to revoke the citizenship of birthright citizens.
Earl C. Michener Earl Cory Michener (November 30, 1876 – July 4, 1957) was a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Michener had German American, German ancestry. He was born near Attica, Ohio, Attica in Seneca County, Ohio. He moved with his parents to A ...
(R-MI) warned of the potential for abuse, saying that "if the amendment were adopted, it would mean that anybody who at any time said anything which might be construed as unpatriotic could be brought in." Bill sponsor
A. Leonard Allen Asa Leonard Allen (January 5, 1891 – January 5, 1969) was an educator, attorney, and member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Louisiana. He served eight terms as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat from ...
(D-LA) and
Richard F. Harless Richard Fielding Harless (August 6, 1905 – November 24, 1970) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Arizona. Life and career Born in Kelsey, Texas, Harless moved to Thatcher, Arizona, in 1917 and attended the ...
(D-AZ) also spoke out against the amendment, sympathizing with the motivations of the amendment's proponents while stating that it was probably unconstitutional. In the end, Johnson's amendment was defeated by a narrow margin. The bill itself in its original form passed the House on February 23. The Senate Committee on Immigration reported the bill without amendment on June 22. Rufus C. Holman (R-OR) initially objected, suggesting that the bill should be amended to insert the word "voluntarily", but
Wallace H. White, Jr. Wallace Humphrey White Jr. (August 6, 1877March 31, 1952) was an Politics of the United States, American politician and Republican Party (United States), Republican leader in the United States Congress from 1917 until 1949. White was from the U.S ...
(R-ME) pointed out to him that the Nationality Act of 1940 already required that any action specified as causing loss of nationality would only have that effect if it were undertaken voluntarily, and Holman withdrew his objection. White brought the bill up for consideration on June 23, stating that " e reason I have asked to have the bill considered at this time is that we are hopeful that a number of Japanese will take advantage of the procedure outlined in the bill so that we may offer them to the Imperial Government of Japan in exchange for American citizens who are now being held", and the bill passed that day. After the bill passed the Senate, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
signed it into law on July 1.


World War II renunciations

Biddle and the Department of Justice began implementing procedures under the Act in October 1944. Each internee seeking to renounce citizenship would have to fill out a standard application form identifying him or herself and signing a statement that "I fully understand that if permitted to renounce my United States nationality I will divest myself of all rights and privileges thereunto pertaining". This application would be followed by an administrative hearing to determine whether or not Biddle should grant approval in his capacity as Attorney General. Each renunciant whose application was successful would receive a "Notice of Approval of Renunciation" as proof. Many renunciants would later face stigmatization in the Japanese American community, during and after the war, for having made that choice, although at the time they were not certain what their futures held were they to remain American and remain interned. These renunciations of American citizenship have been highly controversial, for a number of reasons. Some apologists for internment have cited the renunciations as evidence that "disloyalty" or
anti-Americanism Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centr ...
was well represented among the interned peoples, thereby justifying the internment. Many historians have dismissed the latter argument, for its failure to consider that the small number of individuals in question were in the midst of persecution by their own government at the time of the "renunciation":
e renunciations had little to do with "loyalty" or "disloyalty" to the United States, but were instead the result of a series of complex conditions and factors that were beyond the control of those involved. Prior to discarding citizenship, most or all of the renunciants had experienced the following misfortunes: forced removal from homes; loss of jobs; government and public assumption of disloyalty to the land of their birth based on race alone; and incarceration in a "segregation center" for "disloyal" ISSEI or NISEI...
Minoru Kiyota, who was among those who renounced his citizenship and swiftly came to regret the decision, has stated that he wanted only "to express my fury toward the government of the United States," for his internment and for the mental and physical duress, as well as the intimidation, he was made to face.
renunciation had been an expression of momentary emotional defiance in reaction to years of persecution suffered by myself and other Japanese Americans and, in particular, to the degrading interrogation by the FBI agent at Topaz and being terrorized by the guards and gangs at
Tule Lake Tule Lake ( ) is an intermittent lake covering an area of , long and across, in northeastern Siskiyou County and northwestern Modoc County in California, along the border with Oregon. Geography Tule Lake is fed by the Lost River. The eleva ...
.
San Francisco attorney Wayne M. Collins helped many people who had renounced citizenship under the provisions of the 1944 Act to have the government's recognition of their renunciations reversed. On Independence Day in 1967, the Department of Justice promulgated regulations which would make it unnecessary for renunciants to resort to the courts; they could instead fill out a standard form to request an administrative determination of the validity of their earlier renunciations. However, not all renunciants sought to regain their citizenship; Joseph Kurihara, for example, chose instead to accept repatriation to Japan, and lived out the rest of his life there.


Later case law


Definition of "state of war"

Later case law on the Renunciation Act of 1944 focused on the meaning of the term "state of war". Congress passed a joint resolution that July 25, 1947, "shall be deemed to be the date of the termination of any state of war heretofore declared by the Congress and of the national emergencies proclaimed by the President on September 8, 1939, and on May 27, 1941", in the interpretation of a large number of statutes, including the Renunciation Act of 1944. The executive branch interpreted "state of war" to exclude the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. The Immigration and Naturalization Service wrote that "It has also been determined that, for purposes of current section 349(a)(7), the United States has not been in a state war during the period of the Viet Nam hostilities, and is not now in a state of war by reason of that conflict. Accordingly, any attempt to renounce citizenship within the United States under the current provision, based upon the Viet Nam conflict, should be regarded as ineffectual." In an ''
obiter dictum ''Obiter dictum'' (usually used in the plural, ''obiter dicta'') is a Latin phrase meaning "other things said",''Black's Law Dictionary'', p. 967 (5th ed. 1979). that is, a remark in a legal opinion that is "said in passing" by any judge or arbit ...
'' in a 1970
Board of Immigration Appeals The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is an administrative appellate body within the Executive Office for Immigration Review of the United States Department of Justice responsible for reviewing decisions of the U.S. immigration courts and cert ...
decision on the deportation case against Thomas Jolley, a North Carolina man who renounced U.S. citizenship in Toronto but later returned to the United States, Anthony Montaquila noted that " e Immigration and Naturalization Service receives communications from persons in the United States imprisoned for crime who wish to renounce their citizenship, and those who wish to avoid military service. ... However, there are no procedures in the present laws as was the case involving Japanese renunciants during World War II." In 2004, James Kaufman, a
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
prisoner, attempted to use the Renunciation Act of 1944 to renounce his U.S. citizenship. When his application was ignored, he filed a ''
pro se ''Pro se'' legal representation ( or ) comes from Latin ''pro se'', meaning "for oneself" or "on behalf of themselves" which, in modern law, means to argue on one's own behalf in a legal proceeding, as a defendant or plaintiff in civil cases, ...
'' suit in the
United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District ...
, which ruled against him. Kaufman's legal battles would go on for several years, and in 2008 he made another attempt to renounce his citizenship under the same law. He appealed to the
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...
, where Judges
Judith W. Rogers Judith Ann Wilson Rogers (born July 27, 1939) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Education and career Born in New York City, Rogers received an Artium Baccalaureus ...
,
A. Raymond Randolph Arthur Raymond Randolph (born November 1, 1943) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was appointed to the Court in 1990 and assumed senior status on November 1, 200 ...
and Harry T. Edwards remanded Kaufman's case to the District Court for another hearing, writing that "we do not understand the government to suggest that a congressionally created right can be nullified by government inaction". In 2010, Judge
Richard W. Roberts Richard Warren Roberts (born 1953) is an inactive United States federal judge, Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Early life Roberts was born in New York City, New York (state), ...
ruled that the U.S. was indeed in a state of war in both 2004 and 2008, rejecting assertions by the Department of Justice that the law was ambiguous and that the DOJ should be permitted to interpret the term "state of war" as it saw fit in administering the statute. The DOJ appealed Roberts' ruling to the D.C. Circuit Court. However, attorneys for the Department of Justice abandoned the appeal in August 2010, while declining to make public comment on their reasons for that decision.


Requirement to renounce in person

In various instances in 2011, other U.S. citizens serving prison sentences enquired with
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that administers the country's naturalization and immigration system. It is a successor to the Immigration and Naturalizati ...
(USCIS) about renouncing their U.S. citizenship under the Renunciation Act of 1944. USCIS responded that they would have to appear in person at a designated USCIS office for an interview, a requirement which they could not fulfill due to their imprisonment, and that until the interview USCIS would hold their applications in abeyance. Two filed separate suits in the District Court for the District of Columbia.


''Sluss v. USCIS''

One ''pro se'' case, ''Sluss v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services'', came before Judge
Ellen Segal Huvelle Ellen Judith Huvelle ( ''née'' Segal; born June 3, 1948) is an inactive Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She has overseen several significant cases. In a case decided in May 20 ...
in 2012. Plaintiff Matthew David Sluss argued that the requirement to appear at a USCIS office in person violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because that requirement did not appear anywhere in the text of the Renunciation Act of 1944. Huvelle disagreed, writing in her memorandum opinion that "the statute requires the agency to assess the voluntariness of an applicant’s renouncement without stating how such an assessment should occur", and thus found that no APA violation had occurred.


''Schnitzler v. United States''

In another case, ''Schnitzler v. United States'', plaintiff Aaron Schnitzler first appeared ''pro se'', but later gained representation. In the initial District Court case, Judge
Reggie Walton Reggie Barnett Walton (born February 8, 1949) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He is a former presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Early life ...
construed Schnitzler's filing as a motion for a
writ of mandamus (; ) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public authority, to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain fro ...
against USCIS compelling them to process his application for renunciation, as well as a declaration that the Renunciation Act of 1944 was unconstitutional. Walton declined to grant relief, writing in his memorandum opinion that Schnitzler lacked standing to challenge the constitutionality of the statute and that USCIS had already acted on his application; with regards to Schnitzler's right to renounce his citizenship, Walton quoted the Supreme Court case ''Hewitt v. Helms'', where it was stated that " wful incarceration brings about the necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights, a retraction justified by the considerations underlying our penal system." Represented by students in
Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...
's Appellate Litigation Program, in 2014 Schnitzler challenged Walton's decision in the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, before Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland and Circuit Judges Robert L. Wilkins and Douglas H. Ginsburg. The ruling first disagreed that Schnitzler lacked standing to challenge the renunciation statutes, stating that as he remained a citizen against his wishes, he had grounds to seek redress against what he viewed as an injury. The ruling further criticized the lower court for construing Schnitzler's filings as a motion for a writ of mandamus and concluding that USCIS' response meant he had obtained the relief he sought, and for stating that Schnitzler had no standing to challenge USCIS' policy either. Garland noted that the government "offered a blizzard of constantly changing explanations for why it could not process chnitzlers request", and in the end USCIS did not actually inform Schnitzler of the in-person interview policy before he filed his initial challenge in the District Court (a letter informing Schnitlzer of the policy did not get mailed out). Schnitzler's case was remanded to the District Court for further proceedings.


Requirement to depart from the United States after renunciation

In a separate instance in 2012, Alan Horowitz, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, also inquired with USCIS about renouncing U.S. citizenship under the Renunciation Act of 1944. USCIS responded that he must attend an interview at a USCIS office and demonstrate that he met all of the legal requirements to renounce his citizenship, in particular that he had the "ability and intention to depart the nited Statesimmediately upon having isrenunciation request granted." Horowitz had just been released from a New York state prison, but the
New York Attorney General The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...
directed, pursuant to the state's Mental Hygiene Law, that Horowitz either remain in custody of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) pending further proceedings or be committed to a custodial treatment facility. The New York Supreme Court granted Horowitz' motion for an order directing DOCCS to produce him at a USCIS office for the in-person interview. However, he failed to actually secure the right to depart from the United States: the court rejected his argument that differing treatment of alien and dual-citizen offenders — in particular, the fact that an alien in his circumstances would be deported after completion of sentence, whereas citizens faced barriers to leaving — violated his right to
equal protection The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...
and
substantive due process Substantive due process is a principle in United States constitutional law that allows courts to establish and protect certain fundamental rights from government interference, even if only procedural protections are present or the rights are unen ...
. Horowitz appealed, but in 2014 the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's ruling.


Proposed repeal

Section 3713 of the
Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (Bill S.744) was a proposed immigration reform bill introduced by Sen. Charles Schumer ( D- NY) in the United States Senate. The bill was co-sponsored by the oth ...
would repeal , under the rubric of "preventing criminals from renouncing citizenship during wartime". This provision was contained in the initial version of the bill sponsored by the Gang of Eight, and remained in the version that passed the Senate on June 27, 2013. The same provision was also contained in the version of the bill introduced in the House on October 2, 2013, by
Joe Garcia José Antonio Garcia Jr. (born October 12, 1963), known as Joe Garcia, is an American attorney and politician. Garcia represented in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015. A Democrat, Garcia represented most of western Miami-Dade Cou ...
and 180 co-sponsors.


References

{{Internment of Japanese Americans 1944 in law 1944 in the United States History of nationality Internment of Japanese Americans United States federal immigration and nationality legislation