In the MATTER OF S In EXCLUSION Proceedings A-7377747 Decided by Board July 12, 1950 Racial eligibility for naturalization-Section 303 of the Nationality Act of 1940, as amended-Test of eligibility as a "white person." Tartars of eastern Russia in the Ufa area (between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains) are members of the white or so-called European race, in spite of their Asiatic origin; the test of eligibility as a "white person" eligible for naturalization under section 303 of the Nationality Act of 1940, as amended, being the racial composition evaluated at the present time rather than the origin of the racial strain. Excluded by Board of Special Inquiry: Act of 1924-Racially ineligible to naturalization in the United States. Act of 1924-No unexpired immigration visa. BEFORE THE BOARD Discussion: This case is before us on appeal from a decision of the Acting Assistant Commissioner dated May 15, 1950, directing that the excluding decision of the board of special inquiry be affirmed on the above-stated grounds. Appellant a 32-year-old native and citizen of Russia of the Tartar race, born in Ufa, Russia. Appellant is single and has no relatives in the United States, only friends of his father. He is a Mohammedan by religion. Appellant was a soldier in the Russian army from 1941 to January 1945, when he was captured by the Germany Army; he had served inside the borders of Russia until 1943, when he was sent to Rumania and Bulgaria. Appellant entered Germany in 1945 and lived in an UNBRA camp in Austria until 1946; during that period, he stated that he was born in Istanbul, Turkey, to avoid repatriation to Russia. Since that time, appellant has been housed in a DP camp in Germany. Appellant was issued a Soviet quota immigration visa under section 6 (b) of P. L. 774 (80th Cong., act of June 25, 1948) by the American consulate at Munich on October 28, 1949. Appellant was excluded by a board of special inquiry at Camp Grohn, Bremen, Germany, on November 22, 1949. Appellant's sponsor, obtained through the efforts of the Church World Service, Inc., of New York City, has given assurance that appellant will be employed as a laborer in Santa Paula, Calif. The Acting Assistant Commissioner held that appellant should be excluded on the ground that he had not shown that he was of preponderantly white blood or that he had a preponderance of some other blood racially eligible for naturalization. The Acting Assistant Commissioner also stated that Tartars are members of the Mongolian race originating in Turkestan, a region of central Asia and that the general racial ineligibility of "Mongolians and other Asiatics or those descended from Mongolians or other Asiatics" serves to render appellant racially ineligible for naturalization (sec. 303, Nationality Act of 1940; sec. 3, act of 1917). Although the Tartars were originally considered Asiatic barbarians of the Mongolian variety, the majority of Tartars have for several centuries lived in eastern Russia, have become civilized and partially absorbed or assimilated by association and intermarriage. In language and religion, they may be designated as near Eastern or closely related to that portion of western Asia bordering on southwestern Russia. (See appendix.) The Tartar strain, from which the appellant springs, has become well integrated with other peoples inhabiting the eastern European section of Russia which lies between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains.1 There has been considerable admixture of Tartars and Ruthenians. The Tartar group have become absorbed into the mass of Eastern Russian peoples and more or less Europeanized in blood and custom, even though the racial traces are still discernable. The Soviet rule during the past 33 years has probably hastened the process of integration, since the Soviet Government requires all communities to speak Russian, in addition to their own traditional language. The test of eligibility for naturalization under section 303, Nationality Act of 1940 (sec. 703, 8 U. S. C.) as a "white person" is not the origin of the applicant's racial strain, but rather the racial 'Ufa, in the Idel-Ural section of Soviet Union (appellant's birthplace and former home), lies within the region bounded by the Volga River on the west and the Ural Mountains on the east. The people of this area are reportedly being systematically displaced or exterminated and replaced by a special military class of so-called Russianized Cossacks or trusted members of the Red Army's communists youth organization. (See, Treatise of Ayaz Ishaki-Idelli, found in the record.) composition evaluated at the present time. United States v. Thind, 261 U. S. 204 (1923). In the Thind case, a Hindu of Caucasian ancestry was held ineligible for naturalization as a person whose racial makeup was no longer "white" as a result of intermarriage. Conversely, upon applying the Thind test in the present case, we conclude that the Tartars of eastern Russia in the Ufa area are members of the white or so-called European race, in spite of their Asiatic origin. The charge that appellant is racially ineligible to citizenship is not sustained. While appellant must of course have a valid immigration visa when embarking for this country, a replacement visa may be obtained from the United States consul for the visa now held, which expired during the course of the present administrative inquiry. Matter of V——, A-7366161 and A-7394626 (July 5, 1950). The no visa charge under the 1924 act is not sustained. Order: It is hereby ordered that the appeal be sustained and that the alien be admitted to the United States for permanent residence, provided he has a valid immigration visa at the time of embarking for this country. 2 Certain racial groups in nearby Asia Minor have been held eligible for naturalization for similar reasons: Arabs-Either as members of a race which inhabits Europe or as members of a race having the same general, cultural characteristics as Europeans. Ex parte Mohriez, 54 F. Supp. 941 (Mass., 1944). Armenians-Common understanding of the racial characteristics of the group identifies them with the Europeans. United States v. Cartozian, 6 F. (2d) 919 (D. Oregon, 1925); In re Halladjan, 174 Fed. 834 (C. C. Mass., 1909). Syrians-As so closely related to their neighbors on the European side of the Mediterranean that they should be classed as white. Dow v. United States, 226 Fed. 145 (C. C. A. 4, 1915); In re Najour, 174 Fed. 735 (N. D. Ga., 1909); In re Mudarri, 176 Fed. 465 (Mass., 1910); In re Ellis, 179 Fed. 1002 (Oregon, 1910). Afghans-Ethnologically and scientifically, they are considered as a European race of the Mediterranean racial zone, closely related to the Iranians (Persians), even though some Afghans have some Mongoloid and Indian strains. Matter of K—, 56065/802 (A. G., May 26, 1945). Editor's note.-As to Annamese (from Indochina) it has been held they are not of a race idigenous to India, but are of a racial group indigenous to the Southeastern peninsula of Asia, and are not eligible for naturalization under sec. 303 of the Nationality Act of 1940, as amended. See Matter of NA-7483378 (56247/95) C. O. May 16, 1950. APPENDIX THE TARTARS 1. Racial origin of the Tartars Mongolian race 1 Sibiric branch-called Ural-Altaic linguistically and Mongoli-Tartaric, in an ethnical sense. The Tartaric race group fills the major portion of eastern Russia from north to south and is closely allied with the Kazaks ("Cossacks") and Turks in the so-called Ural-Altaic linguistic group. The dialects of Turkey are very closely related to those of the eastern Russia “Turki" or "Tartars." The greater part of the Tartaric population of Russia are Mohammedan religion. The Tartars (in the narrower sense) are most numerous in southeastern Russia, along the Volga River and Caspian Sea, where about 58 percent of these people live. Approximately 23 percent reside in Asia; some 17 percent north of the Black Sea in the Ukraine; about 11⁄2 percent living in the Crimean Sea of Azov area have embraced the Greek (Uniate) faith and intermarried with the little Russian (Ruthenian) population; a few others, about 1⁄2 percent have been converted to the Jewish faith. Dictionary of Races or Peoples, Senate Document 662, 61st Congress, Third Session, 1910-1911. (NOTE. Since the establishment of the Soviet Union, that government has permitted very few visitors in the eastern and southeastern portions of European Russia. Hence, statistics cannot readily be verified and represent a reliable estimate.) II. Historical background of the Tartars The area between the Volga and the Ural Mountains in which Ufa is situated was occupied in the eighth and ninth centuries by the Kehajars. Then in the latter part of the ninth century, the Magyars, who were originally classed as Mongols, began to make inroads into Europe, eventually settling in Hungary. In the days of the "Great Khanate" of Jenghiz Khan, during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the inhabitants of the area north of the Caspian Sea were called The Golden Horde; during the succeeding era of Kublai Khan, the area was ruled by Kublai's brothers with little interference from the Asiatic side. The adherence of the present inhabitants of the Idel-Ural sector to the Moslem faith appears to date back to 1395, when they were conquered by Timur of Tamerlane and Samarkand, an ardent Mohammedan zealot. Upon Tamerlane's death in 1405, the empire vanished and reverted to minor tribal chiefs: the process of stabilization and assimilation then began, progressing very slowly from the advent of rising Russian power under Ivan the Terrible in the sixteenth century through the twentieth century of the Romanov and Soviet regimes. The process of Europeanizing Russia began about 1700 by command of Tsar Peter I, "The Great," and was continued by Catherine the Great, who made Russia a great world power for the first time. Illustrated World History, Hammerton and Barnes, N. Y., 1928. IN THE MATTER OF K―(FAMILY) In EXCLUSION Proceedings A-7421321, A-7421322, and A-7421323 Decided by Central Office August 16, 1950 Government official, killing of—When "political offense" within the meaning of the 2d proviso to section 3 of the Immigration Act of February 5, 1917-Crime involving moral turpitude-Premeditated manslaughter (Poland, 1927)—Applicability of exclusion ground under act of October 16, 1918, as amended, relating to killing of government official. (1) For an offense to constitute an "offense purely political," within the meaning of the second proviso to Sec. 3 of the Imm. Act of Feb. 5, 1917, it must be committed in connection with some action in concert with others (or a common movement) for a political purpose; so that the benefits of this proviso are not deemed available to one who commits the act individually, independently without being connected with anyone else. (2) Premeditated manslaughter (in Poland in 1927) is an offense which involves moral turpitude. (3) To sustain an exclusion-charge under the Act of Oct. 16, 1918, as amended, on the ground of the alien's belief in the necessity of assaulting or killing an official of an organized government, it must be found that the assassin was motivated because of the victim's official capacity (the character of his office rather than the personal character of the victim). EXCLUDED BY BOARD OF SPECIAL INQUIRY: Act of 1917-Convicted of and admits crime-homicide (husband). Act of October 16, 1918, as amended-Believed in the duty, necessity, and propriety of the unlawful assaulting and killing of officers of an organized government (husband). Discussion: The record relates to a 38-year-old married female and her 42-year-old husband and 7-year-old daughter, all of whom are natives of Poland, who allegedly never acquired citizenship in Poland or any other country and are stateless. The record discloses that the husband entered Germany in 1944 from Poland and departed therefrom in 1945. He remained outside of Germany until March 1949. During the interim he resided in Lichtenstein until July 1946 and then in France until March 1949. He testified that he departed from Germany to avoid falling into the hands of the Russians. |