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1942. One of the original organizers of the United Auto Workers, and later "Labor's Senator" in the Michigan legislature, Stanley Nowak was the subject of a precedent setting deportation case in 1952. A decade earlier, the government had first tried to deport him. |
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When I saw these two men walking into the restaurant, they stood out so different from the rest. Then, when a hand was put on my shoulder, I looked at the man. He immediately showed me his badge, his FBI badge, and said, "You've been indicted by a grand jury and you have to come along with us." At the federal building, they handed me a warrant that said when I received my citizenship, I falsely answered the question, "Are you a member of an organization that disbelieves in organized government and that advocates the overthrow of the government?" I had just been elected to my third term in the Michigan State Senate. How could I not believe in government when I was in government? So first I laughed, but then I realized that they could take away my citizenship and put me in jail for five years. They started to interrogate me about eight that night and it went on until midnight. They questioned me continuously, over and over. Then they came in with a written statement for me to sign. It wasn't anything like what I had said. I refused to sign it. Finally, they let me call my wife, Margaret. Then they put handcuffs on me and took me to jail. The next morning I appeared in court. |
