Memorandum of Disapproval of Bill for the Relief of George Pantelas

I AM WITHHOLDING my approval of S. 154, "For the relief of George Pantelas."

The beneficiary of the bill is an alien who is deportable on the ground that at the time of his last entry he was not in possession of a valid immigration visa and because of his record of crimes involving moral turpitude.

The bill would authorize and direct the Attorney General to discontinue the pending deportation proceedings, cancel any outstanding order of deportation, warrant of arrest and bond which may have been issued and would exempt the alien from deportation in the future by reason of the same facts upon which the current proceedings are based.

The alien was born in Greece on February 12, 1903. He originally entered the United States in 1921. On May 3, 1929, he was convicted in California of issuing checks without sufficient funds and sentenced to an indeterminate term of imprisonment for not more than fourteen years. He was subsequently deported from the United States on June 18, 1931, because of his criminal record. Thereafter, the alien re-entered the United States as a temporary visitor on May 28, 1940, under an assumed name. In proceedings before the Immigration and Naturalization Service he testified that in order to obtain a Greek passport in another individual's name he paid $100 for a birth certificate and thereafter committed perjury and forgery in securing the necessary passport visa for his re-entry.

While I am in sympathy with the evident purpose of this legislation to provide support for the family of the alien, the record of bad conduct presented in this case convinces me that the granting of the relief proposed would not be in the best interests of the United States.

Accordingly, I am withholding my approval from this bill.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER