Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/259-u-s-276-606350918
Timestamp: 2020-08-13 11:03:52
Document Index: 514942671

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 19', '§ 1993', '§ 19', '§ 6', '§ 1', '§ 21', '§ 19', '§ 38']

259 U.S. 276 (1922), 176, Ng Fung Ho v. White - Federal Cases - Case Law - VLEX 606350918
259 U.S. 276 (1922), 176, Ng Fung Ho v. White
Docket Nº: No. 176
Citation: 259 U.S. 276, 42 S.Ct. 492, 66 L.Ed. 938
Party Name: Ng Fung Ho v. White
42 S.Ct. 492, 66 L.Ed. 938
Ng Fung Ho
1. Congress has power to order at any time the deportation of aliens whose presence in the country it deems hurtful, and may do so by appropriate executive proceedings. P. 280.
2. The Chinese Exclusion Act of May 5, 1892, as amended, makes it unlawful for a Chinese laborer not in possession of a certificate of residence to remain in the United States, irrespective of the legality of his entry. P. 281.
3. A Chinese person thus unlawfully in the United States is subject to executive deportation under the General Immigration Act of February 5, 1917, § 19, without giving it a retroactive effect, although he entered the country before it was passed, because the act applies to any alien who "shall be found" here in violation of any federal law, as well as those who shall have entered unlawfully. P. 280.
4. Persons of Chinese blood who have been admitted into the country by the immigration authorities and afterwards arrested and held for deportation, who claim to be citizens of the United States in virtue of the citizenship of their father (Rev.Stats. § 1993), and who support the claim by evidence both before the immigration officer and upon petition for habeas corpus, are entitled, under the Fifth Amendment, to a judicial hearing of the claim in the habeas corpus proceeding. P. 282.
of California. A writ issued directed to the Commissioner of Immigration for the Port of San Francisco, who held the petitioners in custody under warrants of deportation of the Secretary of Labor pursuant to § 19 of the General Immigration Act of February 5, 1917, c. 29, 39 Stat. 874, 889. The case was heard upon the original files of the Bureau of Immigration, containing the record of the deportation proceedings. Each petitioner had entered the United States before May 1, 1917, the effective date of the General Immigration [42 S.Ct. 493] Act of February 5, 1917, and within five years of the commencement of the deportation proceedings. As to each, the warrant of deportation recited that the petitioner was a native of China, was found to have secured his admission by fraud, and was found within the United States in violation of § 6 of the Chinese Exclusion Act of May 5, 1892, c. 60, 27 Stat. 25, as amended by Act Nov. 3, 1893, c. 14, § 1, 28 Stat. 7, being a Chinese laborer not in possession of a certificate of residence. The district court entered an order quashing the writ and remanding the prisoners to the custody of the immigration authorities. The judgment was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit except as to one appellant, who was ordered released. 266 F. 765. The case is here on writ of certiorari. 254 U.S. 628.
There is a faint contention, which we deem unfounded, that the petitioners were not given a fair hearing and that there is no evidence to sustain the findings of the immigration official. The contention mainly urged is that any violation of the Chinese Exclusion Laws1 of which petitioners
First. As to Ng Fung Ho and Ng Yuen Shew, his minor son, the question presented is solely one of statutory construction. Deportation under provisions of the Chinese Exclusion Acts can be had only upon judicial proceedings -- that is, upon a warrant issued by a justice, judge, or commissioner of a United States court upon a complaint and returnable before such court, or a justice, judge, or commissioner thereof. From an order of deportation entered by a commissioner, an appeal is provided to the district court, and from there to the circuit court of appeals. United States, Petitioner, 194 U.S. 194. We held in United States v. Woo Jan, 245 U.S. 552, that § 21 of the General Immigration Act of February 20, 1907, c. 1134, 34 Stat. 898, which authorized deportation of aliens on executive orders, did not apply to violators of the Chinese Exclusion Acts, and that they continued to enjoy the right to a judicial hearing. The 1907 Act remained in force until May 1, 1917, when the General Immigration Act of February 5, 1917, became operative. Section 19 of the latter act also provides for deportation of aliens on executive orders. The question is: did the Act of 1917 also preserve to Chinese the exceptional right to a judicial hearing, as distinguished from an executive hearing?
May 1, 1917, are governed wholly by the Chinese Exclusion Acts, and that these remain entitled to a judicial hearing. The mere fact that, at the time petitioners last entered the United States, they could not have been deported except by judicial proceedings presents no constitutional obstacle to their expulsion by executive order now. Neither Ng Fung Ho nor Ng Yuen Shew claims to be a citizen of the United States. Congress has power to order at any time the deportation of aliens whose presence in the country it deems hurtful, and may do so by appropriate executive proceedings. Bugajewitz v. Adams, 228 U.S. 585; Lapina v. Williams, 232 U.S. 78; Lewis v. Frick, 233 U.S. 291. Our task, therefore, so far as concerns these two petitioners, is merely to ascertain the intention of Congress.
Petitioners argue that to hold § 19 of the 1917 Act applicable to them would give it retroactive operation, contrary to the expressed intention of Congress. They rely particularly on the clauses in § 38 which declare that, "as to all . . . acts, things, or matters . . . done or existing at the time of the taking effect of this [1917] act" the "laws . . . amended . . . are hereby continued in force."2 The government, on the other hand, [42 S.Ct. 494] insists that
section 19 was intended to operate retroactively, and to cover acts done prior to its going into effect, provided...