8 U.S.C. § 1359
Section 1359 · Application to American Indians born in Canada
This is § 289 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter)
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case 380 F. Supp. 1210 - Akins v. Saxbe (1974)
Most recently applied in Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Coughlin (June 2023)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to affect the right of American Indians born in Canada to pass the borders of the United States, but such right shall extend only to persons who possess at least 50 per centum of blood of the American Indian race.