Jurisdiction and Authority of the Court
This Court holds proper jurisdiction to adjudicate this matter pursuant to the federal question jurisdiction conferred in 28 U.S.C. § 1331. The instant dispute arises under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq., and associated regulations governing the detention and deportation of aliens. The plaintiff seeks judicial review of deportation procedures initiated against him by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, alleging statutory and regulatory violations. His claims therefore present a federal question suitable for this Court's jurisdiction.
In assessing the statutory compliance of the plaintiff's deportation, the Court must determine his status as a removable alien and interpretation of the Attorney General's authority over deportation procedures under the INA. However, broader recognition of foreign sovereignties and sovereign boundaries resides with the executive and legislative branches. This Court makes no binding adjudication as to the international legal relationship between China, Formosa, and other nations. Reference to the extraterritorial status of foreign lands herein is undertaken only insofar as necessary to evaluate the instant claims under immigration law.
The judicial authority to examine questions of foreign sovereignty when indispensably required to properly resolve a dispute is well-established, as the Supreme Court has affirmed. Doe v. Braden, 57 U.S. 635 (1853). Therefore, having confirmed the basis for its jurisdiction, this Court possesses the legal capacity to consider this case, including the ancillary issue of Formosa's standing as it impacts the plaintiff's rights and liabilities under U.S. immigration law. This Court is also cognizant of the Dept. of State's Czyzak Memorandum (Feb. 3, 1961) which quoted the authoritative opinion of Secretary of State Dulles who, during a Jan. 24, 1955, joint executive session of the Senate committees on Foreign Relations and Armed Services, "indicated that sovereignty over Formosa and the Pescadores was not considered to have been transferred to the Republic of China in the Japanese Peace Treaty and that the question of sovereignty over these islands was not yet finally determined."
