Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-12-06
Court Holds
Chinese Not
Expat1iated
Question of Loss of Citizenship
2 BY Foreign Residence De-.
oided: Persons Naturalized
Under Republic Bona Eide
Citizens of America

Citizens of America
The Republic Of Hawaii In con-
ferrInu citizenship upon those who
had been made subjects OF the
Monarchy, did not make any dis
tInctIon between those who were
borptin the islands and those who
werll Blot; and, In my opinion, all
4 who were made citizens should De
REGARDED 40 the same kind or
class. BY the resolution OF an.
nexatIon this law Of the Republic
Of Hawaii was continued IN force
thereafter; and the Organic Act
made no distinction between those
who wee born In the ISLANDS ano
those who were not.
e In the foregoing statement IL con
tanned one Of several important points
made by Federal Judge Horace w
Vaughan in a decision which he has
handed down holding that Wong
Hing Chow alias Wong Chez Fong, q
we'll known local Chinese business
man. has not expatriated himself by
4 lengthy residence in China, and that
he Is entitled to readmission to the
territory.
In local legal circles It is believed
that this ia the first decision handed
down here in recent years touching
on the matter Of the expatriation OF
Americans, whether natural born OF
naturalized.
When he returned from China re-
Gently, Wong Hing Chow, who has In
terests both here and IN the Orient,
MAS denied admission by Immigration
Inspector r. L. Helsey on the ground
that "the applicant expatriated him
SELF On appeal, the assistant secre.
tary of labor sustained Mr.. Halseya
view and ordered the deportation of
the Chinese on the ground that he had
ceased to become an American citi-
rem. Wong Hing Chow. through his
attorney, William #. Garden, then took
his case to the q. s. court on habeas
corpus.
Some Of the important points made
by Judge Vaughan in his decision are
these
16sBy section 4 OF the Organic
g Act: All those who were citizens
Of the Republic OF Hawaii on Aug
ust IL, 1898, are declared citizens
Of the United States.
2. Article ~, Section /, OF the
constitution OF the Republic Of Ha-
wall, declared all those born or
naturalized in the Hawaiian Is
lands, citizens Of the republic. =
s. Petitioner had been natural
ized In the Hawaiian Islands and
became q citizen Of the Republic
OF Hawaii and also OF the United
States.
T. The second paragraph Of the
second section or the act of March
2. 1907, applies TO those only who
came to the United States from
some foreign state and cannot by
construction be extended to In
clude those upon whom citizen
shin was Conferred when the coun.
try or which they we're citizens
was annexed to the United States.
s. The presumption of expatria-
ton from residence in q foreign
country under act of March 2,
1907, does not arise until the citi-
zen has resided in the foreign
country for the requisite time
without evidencing any intention
to retain his citizenship, and In
computing such time. that time
during which the citizen was
claiming citizenship and the pro-
lection OF a passport issued by the
government OF the United States
should not be counted.
The sole ground upon which the pc
titioner was denied admission here
was that he had failed to substantiate
his claim for admission. According
to the decision. the u. S. attorney,
during the hearing, contended that pc
toner never was a citizen Of the
United States. He argued that petit
fioner being a naturalized citizen of
the spublic of Hawaii, did not be-
come a citizen of the United States
mon the annexation Of the Hawaiian
islands to the United States, and that
hy the transfer OF sovereignty to the
United States, the allegiance of ma.
tive born citizens only was transferr.
ed. IN answering this contention by
the district attorney, the decision
says. IN part: 80 ...--
Inc n0puDuC VI t1o"oAAs ~ VII
ferring citizenship upon those who
had been subjects of the monarchy,
did not make any distinction between
hose Who were born in the islands
and those who were not; and, in my
opinion. all those who were made cfti.
zens should be regarded as the same
kind or class.
Having been q citizen Of the Re.
public sof Hawaii on August IL, 1898,