Americans by Choice

by John Palmer Gavit

NATURALIZATION JUDGES FAVOR ITS RETENTION

Of 323 judges of naturalizing courts all over the United States who answered definitely on this point the questionnaire of the Americanization Study, 241 opposed, more or less emphatically, the abolition of the declaration of intention, only 82 favoring its abolition on one ground or another, but principally because they were aware of no good purpose served by it.

One United States district judge rather picturesquely described its function:

This country cannot afford to have it said that we are urging citizens of other countries to renounce their allegiance and take up citizenship with us. That would be wrong from every standpoint. On the other hand, if they do want to become American citizens, it is our duty ... to help them fit themselves. If you take away the declaration of intention you will destroy our opportunity in that regard. The young lady who meets a young man and likes him, would be very much out of place if, without any other tie between them, she began to tell him what she wanted him to do, what she wanted him to study, and how she wanted him to study, what she wanted him to drink, and how she wanted him to dress. It would be very immodest and impolite, to say the least. If that young man had made her a proposal of marriage, and she were considering it, these suggestions from her would be entirely proper, and she would be performing her duty to the young man and to herself. This illustrates, I believe, the proper limits within which our country can guide, advise, and direct aliens who through the declaration of intention have made, as it were, a proposal of marriage, with reference to preparation for citizenship.

Sound objections to abolition of the declaration appear also in connection with the property rights as regards homestead entry and other matters under both Federal and state laws—a complicated matter in addition to the great confusion existing by reason of the laws of those states which conferred the right to vote upon holders of so-called “first papers.” With the removal of this right, much of the objection to the declaration of intention disappears. As it was, under such laws, an alien might file a declaration of intention every seven years as they expired seriatim, and, without any proper inquiry, judicial approval, or supervision whatever, retain his right to vote—citizenship for all practical purposes.

Many of the judges would permit no renewal of a declaration after the expiration of the first; some would substitute registration upon entry, annual, or even more frequent reports by the alien regarding his whereabouts and behavior, and constant governmental espionage.

The declaration of intention, particularly if it be properly guarded and solemnized, puts everybody, at least constructively, upon notice that a new member is applying, and requires the declarant himself to keep that application in mind for two years. He cannot suddenly decide, by reason of some special condition or inconvenience, to apply for citizenship and consummate the process in three months, as he could do if the declaration were abolished without extending the interval between petition and certificate. The defects in the present system are found in the fact that he can file his declaration anywhere at will, in a form so defective that two years or more later it nullifies his petition; he can be grafted upon and bled ad libitum by all manner of exploiters claiming to be able to assist him. However valuable in theory, in practice it is far too hit-or-miss.

The declaration should be surrounded by a very much greater degree of care and solemnity than at present. Not only should it be made under oath and on properly guarded printed forms; when it is filed it should be scrutinized and accepted as to substance, and by no means be subject long afterward to rejection because of clerical or other technical errors which ought to have been detected at the outset.

The St. Louis office of the Naturalization Service has taken a long step in this direction, by securing the co-operation of many of the courts in that district in the establishment of a custom by which the declaration is accepted for filing only after it has been viséd by the naturalization officers. This has no authority in law, but it nevertheless is a wholesome practice, chiefly in the interest of the alien declarant; incidentally it goes far to put out of business the various kinds of parasites who exploit the ignorance and helplessness of the aspirant for citizenship.