Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Stephanie zu Hohenlohe arrested by immigration

March 8, 1941

Princess Stephanie of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, "friend of Adolf Hitler and reputed Nazu propaganda agent," was arrested today by immigration officials at her apartment in San Francisco, reports the Chicago Daily Tribune.

The princess' attorney, Joseph Bullock, said she was "hysterical and had to be half carried."  She had remained in seclusion after the United States government "ordered her deported because of her failure to leave the country" after her temporary visitor's permit had expired.   The princess and her 25-year-old son, Franz, were in the apartment when the immigration officials arrived.   Franz told reporters that he did not know "the reason for the action" or where his mother was taken.  He supposes that she was taken to a hospital.

Authorities have not revealed the reason for the arrest, although the orders for the arrest came from "telegraphic instructions from Washington."   Her attorney protested the arrest, stating it was "Saturday and no courts were available to obtain the princess' liberty on habeas corpus," and he was informed that "the government at Washington must have known it was Saturday."  Bullock also noted that Princess Stephanie has been under a $25,000 bail.
Bullock said he had been trying, without success to find a country that would issue a visa to the Princess.  She traveled to the United States on a Hungarian passport.

For some time now, the Justice Department has been trying to find ways to carry out "deportation warrants against persons whose native countries either have lost their freedom of action" or have refused to accept their citizens from the United States.

The Associated Press is reporting that Princess Stephanie was arrested today at her Palo Alto apartment and taken to the "hospital wing of the immigration detention center."

No comments: