Re: Republican National Convention
8/72
In view of subject's avowed intention to engage in disruptive activities surrounding RNC, New York Office will be responsible for closely following his activities until time of actual deportation. Afford this matter close supervision and keep Bureau fully advised by most expeditious means warranted.
NOTE:
John Lennon, former member of Beatles singing group, is allegedly in U.S. to assist in organizing disruption of RNC.
Due to narcotics conviction in England, he is being deported along with wife Yoko Ono.
They appeared at Immigration and Naturalization Service, New York, 3/16/72, for deportation proceedings but won delay until 4/18/72 because subject fighting narcotics conviction and wife fighting custody child case in U.S.
Strong possibility looms that subject will not be deported any time soon and will probably be in U.S. at least until RNC.
Information developed XXXXXXXXXX that subject continues to plan activities directed toward RNC and will soon initiate series of "rock concerts" to develop financial support with first concert to be held Ann Arbor, Michigan, in near future.
New York Office covering subject's temporary residence and being instructed to intensify discreet investigation of subject to determine activities vis a vis RNC.
February 7, 1972
For your information, organization formerly known as Allamuchy Tribe, led by Rennie Davie, convicted Chicago Seven Conspiracy trial defendant, was recently renamed EYSIC
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On February 2, 1972, a representative of Immigration and Naturalization Service, New York, advised that Lennon, born October 9, 1940, in England, arrived in Mew York City on August 11, 1968, with B-2 visitor's visa. He left the United States and subsequently reentered holding H-1 temporary visa which expires at the end of February, 1972. Lennon has applied for a B-2 visa indicating his intention to become a United States citizen.
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2-10-72
Election Year Strategy Information Center (EYSIC), is dash new left, calrep, new york file 100-175228, WFO file 100-55361. P.
John Winsto Lennon, SM dash new left, oo: New Yotk, WFO file 100-55429. RUC.
RE Nytel to Bureua, first caption, February two, last.
Special Clerk XXXXXXXXXX Determined February Ten instant from Central Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) that files regarding John Winston Lennon and Wife Yoko Ono Lennon are currently charged out to INS, New York City.
4/10/72
John Winston Lennon
Enclosed for information of New York are two copies of Alexandria airtel dated 3/31/72 captioned "White Panther Party, IS - WPP; CALREP; MIDEN," which contains information from Alexandria source relating to current activities of subject.
It appears from referenced New York teletype that subject and wife might be preparing for lengthy delaying tactics to avert their deportation in the near future. In the interim, very real possibility exists that subject, as indicated in enclosed airtel, might engage in activities in U.S. leading toward disruption of Republican National Convention (RNC), San Diego, 8/72. For this reason New York promptly initiate discreet efforts to locate subject and remain aware of his activities and movements. Handle inquiries only through established sources and discreet pretext inquiries. Careful attention should be given to reports that subject is heavy narcotics user and any information developed in this regard should be furnished to narcotics authorities and immediately furnished to Bureau in form suitable for dissemination.
FBI Records:
John Winston LennonFBI John Winston Lennon
John Winston Lennon (1940-1980) was a British born singer and songwriter known for his years in the Beatles and for his later solo career. The first two parts of this release consist of previously released material from investigations that mention Lennon's connection to anti-war and related groups in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The third part was released and posted to the Vault in November 2011. It consists of other references to Lennon in FBI files and a 1978 investigation of a violent threat made against him.
John Lennon FBI Files
1975
A New York judge reverses John Lennon's deportation orderHistory.comOctober 7, 1975
A New York State Supreme Court judge reverses a deportation order for John Lennon, allowing him to remain legally in his adoptive home of New York City.Protests against the Vietnam War had escalated significantly following the announcement of the Cambodia invasion on April 30, 1970, and the shooting deaths of four student protestors at Kent State just four days later. Many such gatherings would feature peaceful demonstrators singing Lennon's 1969 anthem "Give Peace A Chance," but others were more threatening. Newly relocated to New York City, John Lennon began to associate publicly with such radical figures as Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale, and the White House reportedly grew concerned, according to the 2006 documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon, over his potentially powerful influence with a generation of 18-to-20-year-olds who would be allowed, for the very first time, to vote in the 1972 presidential election. "I suppose if you were going to list your enemies and decide who is most dangerous," Walter Cronkite would later say, "if I were Nixon, I would put Lennon up near the top."
South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond was of the same opinion, and it was a letter he wrote to the White House in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Internal Security Committee that prompted the White House to action. An FBI investigation of Lennon turned up no evidence of involvement in illegal activities, but the matter was referred nonetheless to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which began deportation proceedings against Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, on the basis of a 1968 drug conviction in England.
Leon Wildes, the immigration attorney who would handle Lennon's case over the next four-plus years, would say of his client's reaction to the case, "He understood that what was being done to him was wrong. It was an abuse of the law, and he was willing to stand up and try to show it-to shine the big light on it." Lennon's persistence in fighting the case finally paid off on October 7, 1975, with a court decision that left no question as to the real motives behind the deportation: "The courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds," wrote Judge Irving Kaufman, who also went on to say, "Lennon's four-year battle to remain in our country is testimony to his faith in this American dream."
Less than one year later, in June 1976, John Lennon got his green card.
How John Lennon Exposed a Secret Government Policy
Findlaw Deportation Attempt
To fight the decision to deport Lennon, they not only sought to stop it entirely, but at the very least were trying to delay the proceedings so that Yoko Ono could continue her custody battle (which was taking place in the US), and search for her child, who was abducted by the father (not Lennon). What was achieved went well beyond that, and exposed a secret government program.Secret Government Program Revealed
During the Nixon administration, John Lennon was viewed as a threat to the current administration's political platform. It was no secret that Nixon was did not approve of the rock & roll music. The big revelation from Lennon's deportation case was that INS and the government had a secret program that would designate certain immigrants as priority or non-priority for purposes of deportation. Obviously, those in the non-priority group would be safe from deportation. Through thoughtful and dutiful use of Freedom of Information Act requests, Lennon's lawyer was able to discover nearly 2,000 incidences of the secret program.In exposing the secret program, Lennon's lawyer forced INS's hand into officially recognizing the program. In doing so, the INS also released official guidance on how the program would be applied which curbed the program's misuse. President Obama's current deferred action policy is rooted in the program that Lennon's case exposed.
John Lennon's Deportation Case
While the expose of the secret program proved critical in Lennon's case, what may have been more critical was the technical application of the US law allowing deportation for drug convictions. Lennon's 1968 conviction for possession of "cannabis resin," aka hashish, from the UK, was being used as the basis for his deportation. The law specifically used the term "marijuana" and Lennon's lawyer skillfully differentiated between marijuana and hashish. Lennon famously testified when asked about the difference:
John LennonHash is much better than marijuana.Lennon was granted a waiver and his deportation denied. Likely, a strong motivating factor in the decision was Ono's missing child and custody battle.
John Lennon
WikipediaFBI surveillance and declassified documents
After Lennon's death, historian Jon Wiener filed a Freedom of Information Act request for FBI files that documented the Bureau's role in the deportation attempt. The FBI admitted it had 281 pages of files on Lennon, but refused to release most of them on the grounds that they contained national security information. In 1983, Wiener sued the FBI with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. It took 14 years of litigation to force the FBI to release the withheld pages.All but 10 Documents Released
The ACLU, representing Wiener, won a favorable decision in their suit against the FBI in the Ninth Circuit in 1991. The Justice Department appealed the decision to the Supreme Court in April 1992, but the court declined to review the case. In 1997, respecting President Bill Clinton's newly instigated rule that documents should be withheld only if releasing them would involve "foreseeable harm", the Justice Department settled most of the outstanding issues outside court by releasing all but 10 of the contested documents.The Deportation attempt
Following the impact of "Give Peace a Chance" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" on the anti-war movement, the Nixon administration heard rumors of Lennon's involvement in a concert to be held in San Diego at the same time as the Republican National Convention and tried to have him deported. Nixon believed that Lennon's anti-war activities could cost him his reelection; Republican Senator Strom Thurmond suggested in a February 1972 memo that "deportation would be a strategic counter-measure" against Lennon.The next month the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) began deportation proceedings, arguing that his 1968 misdemeanor conviction for cannabis possession in London had made him ineligible for admission to the United States. Lennon spent the next three-and-a-half years in and out of deportation hearings until 8 October 1975, when a court of appeals barred the deportation attempt, stating "the courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds". While the legal battle continued, Lennon attended rallies and made television appearances. He and Ono co-hosted The Mike Douglas Show for a week in February 1972, introducing guests such as Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale to mid-America. In 1972, Bob Dylan wrote a letter to the INS defending Lennon, stating:
BOB DYLANJohn and Yoko add a great voice and drive to the country's so-called art institution. They inspire and transcend and stimulate and by doing so, only help others to see pure light and in doing that, put an end to this dull taste of petty commercialism which is being passed off as Artist Art by the overpowering mass media. Hurray for John and Yoko. Let them stay and live here and breathe. The country's got plenty of room and space. Let John and Yoko stay!On 23 March 1973, Lennon was ordered to leave the US within 60 days. Ono, meanwhile, was granted permanent residence. In response, Lennon and Ono held a press conference on 1 April 1973 at the New York City Bar Association, where they announced the formation of the state of Nutopia; a place with "no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people". Waving the white flag of Nutopia (two handkerchiefs), they asked for political asylum in the US. The press conference was filmed, and appeared in a 2006 documentary, The U.S. vs. John Lennon.
Soon after the press conference, Nixon's involvement in a political scandal came to light, and in June the Watergate hearings began in Washington, DC. They led to the president's resignation 14 months later. In December 1974, when he and members of his tour entourage visited the White House, Harrison asked Gerald Ford, Nixon's successor, to intercede in the matter. Ford's administration showed little interest in continuing the battle against Lennon, and the deportation order was overturned in 1975. The following year, Lennon received his green card certifying his permanent residency, and when Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as president in January 1977, Lennon and Ono attended the Inaugural Ball.
Airtel to New York Teletype Re: Republican National Convention 8/72 In view of subject's avowed intention to engage in disruptive activities surrounding RNC, New York Office will be responsible for closely following his activities until time of actual deportation. Afford this matter close supervision and keep Bureau fully advised by most expeditious means warranted.