The Naturalization of John Carl Lehr
By Mike Meisinger
You just can't look at historical records very long without coming across interesting stories. As I was researching the U.S. Index to Alien Case Files at Kansas City 1944-2003 on Ancestry.com, I ran across the story of John Carl Lehr. All of the other Alien files I looked at were less than 20 pages in length, so when I saw that John Carl Lehr's was 3 inches thick I knew it wasn't your average Naturalization file. John Carl Lehr was born in Norka around 1896 and came to the United States with his family around 1905. He had no memory of the trip and in fact thought he was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. Since he thought he was born in the U.S. he also thought he was a U.S. Citizen. John and his family lived in Lincoln for a few years and then moved to Colorado where he lived until the mid 1920s. He then moved to California and was living there in the mid 1940s. He worked for the County and as he was looking toward retirement decided he would need a copy of his birth certificate. When he wrote to Nebraska for the certificate he learned that he wasn't born there and after consulting with family members found out he was actually born in Russia.
In 1944 he applied for U.S. Citizenship and that's when his troubles began. It turned out that John had a run in with the law in Colorado when he was in his early twenties. He had been arrested and convicted for check forgery twice, (in 1919 for a $25.50 check and in 1921 for a $45.00 check). All this came to light when the FBI did their standard background check on his finger prints as part of the naturalization process. Since he had been convicted twice and served time, the Immigration Law of 1917 said he must be deported. Of course all this took a while and it was June of 1950 when he was ordered deported. He appealed his deportation and was placed on conditional parole. The appeal process proceeded slowly and at one point his son, a Sergeant in the U.S. Army, had his Chaplain write a letter inquiring about the status of the appeal. John provided references from multiple people in California, including the local police chief, that testified to his good character. He also provided pages of information showing his places of residence throughout his life. Finally, in July of 1954 a hearing was held to determine the status of his appeal of the deportation. The entire transcript of that hearing is included in the file. Fortunately for John, the Judge found a loophole in the 1917 Immigration law which allowed John to leave the country on his own accord, and at his own expense, and return within 3 months. He was given a pre-admission back into the U.S., a document of explanation for the Canadian authorities, and a medical exam to ensure he would be readmitted. John left the U.S. for Canada on or before April 1, 1954 and returned on July 28, 1954. He reapplied for U.S. Citizenship and was finally naturalized on March 5, 1958. All this information and, of course, much more was documented in his Alien Case File.
In 1944 he applied for U.S. Citizenship and that's when his troubles began. It turned out that John had a run in with the law in Colorado when he was in his early twenties. He had been arrested and convicted for check forgery twice, (in 1919 for a $25.50 check and in 1921 for a $45.00 check). All this came to light when the FBI did their standard background check on his finger prints as part of the naturalization process. Since he had been convicted twice and served time, the Immigration Law of 1917 said he must be deported. Of course all this took a while and it was June of 1950 when he was ordered deported. He appealed his deportation and was placed on conditional parole. The appeal process proceeded slowly and at one point his son, a Sergeant in the U.S. Army, had his Chaplain write a letter inquiring about the status of the appeal. John provided references from multiple people in California, including the local police chief, that testified to his good character. He also provided pages of information showing his places of residence throughout his life. Finally, in July of 1954 a hearing was held to determine the status of his appeal of the deportation. The entire transcript of that hearing is included in the file. Fortunately for John, the Judge found a loophole in the 1917 Immigration law which allowed John to leave the country on his own accord, and at his own expense, and return within 3 months. He was given a pre-admission back into the U.S., a document of explanation for the Canadian authorities, and a medical exam to ensure he would be readmitted. John left the U.S. for Canada on or before April 1, 1954 and returned on July 28, 1954. He reapplied for U.S. Citizenship and was finally naturalized on March 5, 1958. All this information and, of course, much more was documented in his Alien Case File.
Source
This article was written by Mike Meisinger and published in the Messer / Neu-Messer Newsletter, Number 7, November 2015. The article was edited for this website and is used with the permission of the author.
Last updated April 21, 2016.