Biography
George Pirinsky arrived in America from Bulgaria in 1923 with little money or English, and within a few years became the leader of the largest Macedonian movement in the country and, by the 1940s, a nationally known speaker, writer and organizer as executive secretary of the American Slav Congress. His work drew relentless pursuit from fascist organizations, the FBI, immigration officials and Congress. His record of custody spans two decades: arrested January 28, 1930 at a Pontiac, Michigan unemployment demonstration (dismissed); March 8, 1935 in South Chicago for disturbing the peace (acquitted); and January 8, 1937 in Detroit on an alleged-illegal-entry deportation warrant that was cancelled and dropped. On September 23, 1948 he was arrested in Chicago while preparing the American Slav Congress convention, accused of post-entry Communist Party membership, and freed on a 1,000-dollar bond. Rearrested July 8, 1949 and transferred to Ellis Island, he was first refused bail and then held under a 25,000-dollar bond he could not afford — until the Second Circuit ruled in United States ex rel. Pirinsky v. Shaughnessy (September 30, 1949) that the bond was arbitrary and excessive. He was released in early October 1949 after 91 days. Pirinsky was deported to Bulgaria in the summer of 1951; the exact departure date has not been located. His principal custody was civil immigration detention — he was never convicted.
