8 U.S.C. § 1425
Section 1425 · Ineligibility to naturalization of deserters from the Armed Forces
This is § 314 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (McCarran-Walter)
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case United States v. Sanga (1992)
Most recently applied in United States v. Maslenjak (April 2016)
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.
A person who, at any time during which the United States has been or shall be at war, deserted or shall desert the military, air, or naval forces of the United States, or who, having been duly enrolled, departed, or shall depart from the jurisdiction of the district in which enrolled, or who, whether or not having been duly enrolled, went or shall go beyond the limits of the United States, with intent to avoid any draft into the military, air, or naval service, lawfully ordered, shall, upon conviction thereof by a court martial or a court of competent jurisdiction, be permanently ineligible to become a citizen of the United States; and such deserters and evaders shall be forever incapable of holding any office of trust or of profit under the United States, or of exercising any rights of citizens thereof.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Cross References
Definition of the term—
Ineligible to citizenship, see section 1101(a)(19) of this title.
Naturalization, see section 1101(a)(23) of this title.
United States, see section 1101(a)(38) of this title.
Loss of nationality by deserting military, air or naval forces, see section 1481 of this title.