United States v. Cores/Dissent Douglas

Mr. Justice DOUGLAS, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Mr. Justice BLACK concur, dissenting.

The decision seems to me to be out of harmony with the statutory scheme of venue which Congress designed for immigration cases. We are here concerned with a crime under § 252 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 66 Stat. 163, 220, 8 U.S.C. § 1282, 8 U.S.C.A. § 1282; viz. unlawfully remaining in the United States. Sections 275 and 276 describe crimes of unlawful entry. Section 279 gives the District Courts jurisdiction over the trial of both types of crimes; and as to venue it provides:

'Notwithstanding any other law, such prosecutions or suits     may be instituted at any place in the United States at which      the violation may occur or at which the person charged with a      violation under sections 275 or 276 of this title may be      apprehended.'

When Congress wanted to lay venue in the district where the accused was 'apprehended,' it said so. It would seem, therefore, that venue may be laid in the district where the alien was 'apprehended' only in case of the crimes of unlawful entry. All other crimes are to be prosecuted in the district where the violation first occurred. It is no answer to say that this crime is different because it was 'continuous.' See In re Snow, 120 U.S. 274, 281, 7 S.Ct. 556, 559, 30 L.Ed. 658. As District Judge Smith said, the distinction drawn by § 279 between venue at the place of violation and venue at the place of apprehension 'would be meaningless if violations such as the one in issue were regarded as continuous.' United States v. Tavares, supra.

Moreover, the crime is completed when the conditional permit expires. All elements of the crime occur then. Nothing more remains to be done. It is then and there, Congress says, that the crime is 'committed' in the sense that that term is employed in Art. III, § 2, cl. 3 of the Constitution and in the Sixth Amendment.

I would affirm the judgment of the District Court.