Many of them. after completing military service and attaining maturity. wished to return to America. the country of their birth. However. they found their reentry into the United States barred. Under our immigration laws. service In the army of a foreign nation and the taking of the required oath of allegiance to that nation are causes for forfeiture of American citizenship. A long list of court cases ensued. and the decisions affirmed again and again that an American citizen can forfeit his citizenship only through willful. voluntary acts. Being drafted into a foreign army is so obviously an involuntary act that the Passport Division of the State Department has for a long time granted reentry into the United States to those who can offer reasonable proof that their foreign military service was forced upon them by foreign laws. However. section 349B of the Immigration and Nationality Act. which became law in 1952 takes this determination out of the hands of the Passport Division in cases where the person in question has resided for 10 years or more in a foreign country. Under the terms of that section. the foreign military service of such a person is automatically and arbitrarily presumed to be voluntary. if he had resided abroad for 10 years prior to his military service. This section does violence to common sense and basic justice.
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Immigration immigration