French v. Fa'alevao
French v. Fa'alevao
Opinion of the Court
This matter comes before us upon a most confused record. It appears to be an appeal under 9 ASC 552 from a decision of the Immigration Board of American Samoa. We are able to glean the following facts from the documents filed in this case:
Thomas French is a U.S. citizen who came to American Samoa with his wife. His' wife is employed under contract with the American Samoa Government and her contract prohibits her from engaging in business in this territory during its term. Mr. French is a marine mechanic. He joined another man in a motor repair business. When the other man decided to drop out Mr. French applied ^to the American Samoa Government for a business license under 12 ASC 1346,
The Immigration Board took the additional step of directing or ordering Mr. French to leave this territory. Presumably, if he did leave, it would-be . without his wife, since her contract requires her to remain until at least August 12, 1981. The constitutional and public policy questions thereby, raised by this result are intriguing and perhaps someday will need to be address.ed. Curiously, the order to deport tells Mr. French he must leave within "_"days.
As previously stated, in the matter of business license applications it appears that it would be proper to determine the immigration status of an applicant. The Immigration Board found that he is' an American citizen, legally in this territory. That is all it needed to do. The wisdom of the issuance of a business license is more appropriately within the province of the Planning Commission. There is no showing that French is a person to be excluded and subject to deportation under 9 ASC 377.
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. That section presupposes license applications going to the Governor, who refers the application to the Territorial Planning Commission, which then refers the matter back to the Governor. Just how the Immigration Board gets into the picture, let alone, apparently, makes the final decision as to who gets a business license is unclear.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.