US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

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[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 8USC1424]

 
                     TITLE 8--ALIENS AND NATIONALITY
 
                 CHAPTER 12--IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY
 
             SUBCHAPTER III--NATIONALITY AND NATURALIZATION
 
               Part II--Nationality Through Naturalization
 
Sec. 1424. Prohibition upon the naturalization of persons 
        opposed to government or law, or who favor totalitarian forms of 
        government
        
    (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 405(b) of this Act, no 
person shall hereafter be naturalized as a citizen of the United 
States--
        (1) who advocates or teaches, or who is a member of or 
    affiliated with any organization that advocates or teaches, 
    opposition to all organized government; or
        (2) who is a member of or affiliated with (A) the Communist 
    Party of the United States; (B) any other totalitarian party of the 
    United States; (C) the Communist Political Association; (D) the 
    Communist or other totalitarian party of any State of the United 
    States, of any foreign state, or of any political or geographical 
    subdivision of any foreign state; (E) any section, subsidiary, 
    branch, affiliate, or subdivision of any such association or party; 
    or (F) the direct predecessors or successors of any such association 
    or party, regardless of what name such group or organization may 
    have used, may now bear, or may hereafter adopt, unless such alien 
    establishes that he did not have knowledge or reason to believe at 
    the time he became a member of or affiliated with such an 
    organization (and did not thereafter and prior to the date upon 
    which such organization was so registered or so required to be 
    registered have such knowledge or reason to believe) that such 
    organization was a Communist-front organization; or
        (3) who, although not within any of the other provisions of this 
    section, advocates the economic, international, and governmental 
    doctrines of world communism or the establishment in the United 
    States of a totalitarian dictatorship, or who is a member of or 
    affiliated with any organization that advocates the economic, 
    international, and governmental doctrines of world communism or the 
    establishment in the United States of a totalitarian dictatorship, 
    either through its own utterances or through any written or printed 
    publications issued or published by or with the permission or 
    consent of or under authority of such organization or paid for by 
    the funds of such organization; or
        (4) who advocates or teaches or who is a member of or affiliated 
    with any organization that advocates or teaches (A) the overthrow by 
    force or violence or other unconstitutional means of the Government 
    of the United States or of all forms of law; or (B) the duty, 
    necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or killing of any 
    officer or officers (either of specific individuals or of officers 
    generally) of the Government of the United States or of any other 
    organized government because of his or their official character; or 
    (C) the unlawful damage, injury, or destruction of property; or (D) 
    sabotage; or
        (5) who writes or publishes or causes to be written or 
    published, or who knowingly circulates, distributes, prints, or 
    displays, or knowingly causes to be circulated, distributed, 
    printed, published, or displayed, or who knowingly has in his 
    possession for the purpose of circulation, publication, 
    distribution, or display, any written or printed matter, advocating 
    or teaching opposition to all organized government, or advocating 
    (A) the overthrow by force, violence or other unconstitutional means 
    of the Government of the United States or of all forms of law; or 
    (B) the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or 
    killing of any officer or officers (either of specific individuals 
    or of officers generally) of the Government of the United States or 
    of any other organized government, because of his or their official 
    character; or (C) the unlawful damage, injury, or destruction of 
    property; or (D) sabotage; or (E) the economic, international, and 
    governmental doctrines of world communism or the establishment in 
    the United States of a totalitarian dictatorship; or
        (6) who is a member of or affiliated with any organization that 
    writes, circulates, distributes, prints, publishes, or displays, or 
    causes to be written, circulated, distributed, printed, published, 
    or displayed, or that has in its possession for the purpose of 
    circulation, distribution, publication, issue, or display, any 
    written or printed matter of the character described in subparagraph 
    (5) of this subsection.

    (b) The provisions of this section or of any other section of this 
chapter shall not be construed as declaring that any of the 
organizations referred to in this section or in any other section of 
this chapter do not advocate the overthrow of the Government of the 
United States by force, violence, or other unconstitutional means.
    (c) The provisions of this section shall be applicable to any 
applicant for naturalization who at any time within a period of ten 
years immediately preceding the filing of the application for 
naturalization or after such filing and before taking the final oath of 
citizenship is, or has been found to be within any of the classes 
enumerated within this section, notwithstanding that at the time the 
application is filed he may not be included within such classes.
    (d) Any person who is within any of the classes described in 
subsection (a) of this section solely because of past membership in, or 
past affiliation with, a party or organization may be naturalized 
without regard to the provisions of subsection (c) of this section if 
such person establishes that such membership or affiliation is or was 
involuntary, or occurred and terminated prior to the attainment by such 
alien of the age of sixteen years, or that such membership or 
affiliation is or was by operation of law, or was for purposes of 
obtaining employment, food rations, or other essentials of living and 
where necessary for such purposes.
    (e) A person may be naturalized under this subchapter without regard 
to the prohibitions in subsections (a)(2) and (c) of this section if the 
person--
        (1) is otherwise eligible for naturalization;
        (2) is within the class described in subsection (a)(2) of this 
    section solely because of past membership in, or past affiliation 
    with, a party or organization described in that subsection;
        (3) does not fall within any other of the classes described in 
    that subsection; and
        (4) is determined by the Director of Central Intelligence, in 
    consultation with the Secretary of Defense, and with the concurrence 
    of the Attorney General, to have made a contribution to the national 
    security or to the national intelligence mission of the United 
    States.

(June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title III, ch. 2, Sec. 313, 66 Stat. 240; Pub. 
L. 100-525, Sec. 9(u), Oct. 24, 1988, 102 Stat. 2621; Pub. L. 101-649, 
title IV, Sec. 407(c)(1), Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 5041; Pub. L. 102-
232, title III, Sec. 309(b)(13), Dec. 12, 1991, 105 Stat. 1759; Pub. L. 
103-416, title II, Sec. 219(v), Oct. 25, 1994, 108 Stat. 4318; Pub. L. 
106-120, title III, Sec. 306, Dec. 3, 1999, 113 Stat. 1612.)

                       References in Text

    Section 405(b) of this Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is section 
405(b) of act June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title IV, 66 Stat. 280, which is 
set out as a Savings Clause note under section 1101 of this title.


                               Amendments

    1999--Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 106-120 added subsec. (e).
    1994--Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 103-416 substituted ``or'' for ``and'' 
before ``(F)''.
    1991--Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 102-232 inserted ``and'' before 
``(F)'' and struck out ``; (G) who, regardless of whether he is within 
any of the other provisions of this section, is a member of or 
affiliated with any Communist-action organization during the time it is 
registered or required to be registered under the provisions of section 
786 of title 50; or (H) who, regardless of whether he is within any of 
the other provisions of this section, is a member of or affiliated with 
any Communist-front organization during the time it is registered or 
required to be registered under section 786 of title 50'' after ``may 
hereafter adopt''.
    1990--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101-649 substituted ``application'' for 
``petition'' wherever appearing.
    1988--Subsec. (a)(2)(D). Pub. L. 100-525 substituted ``party of'' 
for ``party or''.


                    Effective Date of 1994 Amendment

    Section 219(v) of Pub. L. 103-416 provided that the amendment made 
by that section is effective Dec. 12, 1991.


                             Effective Date

    Section effective 180 days after June 27, 1952, see section 407 of 
act June 27, 1952, set out as a note under section 1101 of this title.

  Abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service and Transfer of 
                                Functions

    For abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service, transfer of 
functions, and treatment of related references, see note set out under 
section 1551 of this title.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 1427, 1435, 1451 of this 
title.