The deportation order by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service of John Lennon's and his wife, Yoko Ono, is reversed by U.S. Federal Appeals Court judge, Chief Judge Irving Kaufman; allowing them to legally remain in the United States.
Judge Kaufman, found that Lennon's 1968 conviction for marijuana possession in the UK (the reason given for the deportation order) not to violate U.S. immigration law. The Judge's order also warned "The courts will not condone selective deportation based upon secret political grounds" The deportation order was widely believed at the time, to be politically motivated due to Lennon's anti-Vietnam War activism. Lennon was eventually granted a green card in 1976.
