Ignatz Mezei

AKA: Ignatz Mezi
Released
Era:1950s
State:New York
Support
International Workers Order
No image available

Biography

Ignatz Mezei was a Buffalo carpenter and officer of the International Workers Order’s Hungarian lodge. After returning from Europe, he was detained at Ellis Island as an alleged security risk. His challenge to exclusion and confinement reached the United States Supreme Court.

Cases

Charges: Civil immigration exclusion on alleged security grounds; initial Ellis Island detention
Arrested: Feb 9, 1950
Incarcerated: 1950
Released: May 10, 1952
Sentence: Arrived February 9, 1950 and was detained pending exclusion. Failed attempts to send him abroad interrupted his physical presence on Ellis Island, so no exact continuous-day total is asserted. He was released on bond May 10, 1952. This detention is separated from his later return to custody.
Charges: Civil immigration exclusion on alleged security grounds; return after Supreme Court decision
Incarcerated: Apr 22, 1953
Released: August 1954
Sentence: Returned to Ellis Island April 22, 1953 after the Supreme Court reversed the bond ruling. Released on immigration parole in August 1954 and returned to Buffalo. The intervening period at home on bond is excluded; no criminal sentence is assigned.

Related Cases

Andrew Dmytryshyn Andrew Dmytryshyn Sam Milgrom Carl Paivio Carl Paivio Dorothy Day Dorothy Day