## Facts

- John Hansl, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was born in 1925 in what is now Croatia to an ethnic German family.
- In 1943, he was conscripted into the Waffen SS and assigned to the SS Death’s Head Guard Battalion at Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
- His duties included guarding prisoners from watchtowers with a machine gun, marching prisoners at gunpoint to and from forced-labor sites, guarding prisoners during forced labor, and giving orders to prisoners.
- He was armed and had orders to shoot any prisoner attempting to escape; he communicated that threat to prisoners.
- On at least one occasion, he assisted in searching for a missing prisoner who was later shot and killed by others.
- He later served in other SS-related assignments, including additional guard duties at another concentration camp and guarding a prisoner transport train, before later combat service and capture.
- In 1955, he obtained a U.S. visa under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 (RRA) and became a U.S. citizen in 1961.
- In 2003, the United States filed a civil action to revoke his citizenship under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a), alleging his visa and resulting naturalization were unlawful because RRA § 14(a) barred visas to persons who personally advocated or assisted in persecution on protected grounds.
- The district court granted summary judgment for the government and revoked his citizenship; Hansl appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether Hansl’s undisputed service as an armed SS concentration camp guard constituted “personally advocated or assisted in the persecution” under RRA § 14(a), making him ineligible for an RRA visa.
2. Whether evidence of contemporaneous administrative practice, State Department policy, or legislative history could narrow or alter the application of § 14(a)’s persecution bar.
3. Whether involuntary or conscripted service negates “personal assistance in persecution” for purposes of the statutory bar and a denaturalization action under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a).

## Decision

- The Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment revoking Hansl’s citizenship.
- The court held that Hansl’s armed guard duties—watchtower guarding, marching prisoners at gunpoint, guarding forced labor, and readiness to shoot escapees—constituted personal assistance in persecution within the meaning of RRA § 14(a).
- Because he was statutorily ineligible for an RRA visa, his visa was improperly issued and his later naturalization was “illegally procured” under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a).
- The court rejected reliance on asserted administrative practice, State Department policy, and legislative history to contradict clear statutory text.
- The court held that alleged involuntariness of service did not remove Hansl from the statutory bar given the objective nature of his conduct.

## Legal Principles

- A person who personally assisted in persecution on the basis of race, religion, or national origin is ineligible for a visa under RRA § 14(a).
- Armed concentration camp guard service that enforces confinement and forced labor constitutes personal assistance in persecution as a matter of law.
- Clear statutory text controls over contrary administrative practice or executive-branch interpretations offered to narrow an express eligibility bar.
- For persecution bars of this type, the legal focus is on the objective conduct constituting assistance in persecution; voluntariness is not a required element.
- If a naturalization rests on a visa issued despite statutory ineligibility, the naturalization is “illegally procured” and must be revoked under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a) when proven by the government’s heightened burden in denaturalization cases.

## Conclusion

The Eighth Circuit held that Hansl’s undisputed role as an armed SS concentration camp guard amounted to personal assistance in persecution under RRA § 14(a), rendering him ineligible for the visa on which his citizenship depended and requiring revocation of his naturalization as illegally procured under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a).


United States v. Hansl, 439 F.3d 850 (8th Cir. 2006)