Gregorio Mannina A-file Part 3: INS and FBI Investigation

If you have not yet read the last two posts I would suggest reading those first.  This is the last post in the series about the A-file. In post one, I discussed the Alien Registration Form, a World War II era program to register all immigrants. In post two, I discussed the Application for Certificate of Identification, both of which were used by Gregorio to register.

In this post, you will see a glimpse into the investigations that were done on immigrants who registered. The timeline in the file is as follows:

Nov 7 1940: Alien Registration Form filed
Feb 11, 1942: Application for Certificate of Identification
December 16, 1942: Request for Copy of Alien Registration Record (Form CA-140)
December 30, 1932 FBI Record furnished (Form T2)
July 20, 1943 Letter requesting re-check of FBI Records
Aug 3, 1943 FBI Record Furnished
Aug 14 1943 Criminal Record Received by INS Field Office

Not included in the A-file, but relevant is the US Naturalization Record issued on Feb 26, 1945 on which date, Gregorio ultimately became a Naturalized Citizen.

On the first letter below you will see stamped ENEMY ALIEN. This is a WWII designation on all immigrants who were from enemy nations. Read about it at this link.

 Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526, and 2527 to authorize the United States to detain allegedly potentially dangerous enemy aliens. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies arrested thousands of suspected enemy aliens, mostly individuals of German, Italian, or Japanese ancestry, living throughout the United States.

Above you see there are two names associated with the same fingerprint. This established as fact, that our ancestor was using both Viola and Gregorio as first names.

Something must have made the field office second guess the file. They requested an additional search into his background.  On the Alien Registration Form someone also circled the statement made by Gregorio that he entered the United States under the same name and has not been known by any other names. I wonder if he was questioned in person about it. I imagine so. I would love to locate a copy of his actual arrest record.

Another copy of the fingerprint records - identical to the one above which was perhaps originally misplaced?

This is the index showing that ultimately he was granted citizenship. At the time the INS kept these in separate files at field offices. In the 1950's all naturalization documentation was centralized into the A-file system.