Lee Tin Mew v. William S. Jones, United States Immigration and Naturalization Service

268 F.2d 376, 1959 U.S. App. LEXIS 4081
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 10, 1959
Docket16059_1
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 268 F.2d 376 (Lee Tin Mew v. William S. Jones, United States Immigration and Naturalization Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee Tin Mew v. William S. Jones, United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, 268 F.2d 376, 1959 U.S. App. LEXIS 4081 (9th Cir. 1959).

Opinions

JAMES ALGER FEE, Circuit Judge.

On May 7, 1958, William A. Hogan, District Director of Immigration and Naturalization Service, issued an administrative subpoena directing Lee Tin Mew to appear and give testimony at the office of the Service in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, pursuant to the provisions of Section 235 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Although an attempt to serve the subpoena at the home of Lee Tin Mew failed, his attorney appeared with appellant at the place designated and requested that the subpoena be served and the testimony taken. Lee Tin Mew was sworn before William S. Jones, described as an Investigator of the Service. Before the oath was administered, Investigator Jones gave him the following advice:

“Q. Mr. Lee you are advised that I am an investigator for the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. You have been served with a subpoena this morning requiring you to be present and testify. Any statements you make must be voluntary and may be used by the Government in any subsequent criminal or deportation proceeding. Do you understand? A. Yes.”

Apparently Lee Tin Mew understood only too well, for he answered only a few questions concerning his names and thereafter refused to answer any and all inquiries. Investigator Jones then petitioned for and obtained an order from the United States District Court ordering Lee Tin Mew to appear and testify. Thereafter, a motion to quash the order, together with an affidavit, was filed. The District Court denied the motion after argument. This appeal followed.

As will hereafter appear, the questions in this appeal could have been [378]*378defined with clarity if Lee Tin Mew had appeared before the officer after the court sustained the subpoena and then based refusal to answer specific questions on various grounds available to him. Both parties claim that the order is presently appealable. And United States v. Vivian, 7 Cir., 217 F.2d 882, 883, so holds.

The government did not in any of the proceedings lay sufficient foundation to establish the authority of Investigator Jones to question Lee Tin Mew under the administrative subpoena here issued in the manner set out. The order, which approves the propounding of the questions asked and apparently directs Lee Tin Mew to answer each and every one, is clearly erroneous.

The statute under which the administrative subpoena was issued, 8 U.S.C.A. § 1225, so far as pertinent, reads:

“The inspection, other than the physical and mental examination, of aliens (including alien crewmen) seeking admission or readmission to or the privilege of passing through the United States shall be conducted by immigration officers, except as otherwise provided in regard to special inquiry officers. All aliens arriving at ports of the United States shall be examined by one or more immigration officers at the discretion of the Attorney General and under such regulations as he may prescribe. Immigration officers are authorized and empowered to board and search any vessel, aircraft, railway car, or other conveyance, or vehicle in which they believe aliens are being brought into the United States. The Attorney General and any immigration officer, including special inquiry officers, shall have power to administer oaths and to take and consider evidence of or from any person touching the privilege of any alien or person he believes or suspects to be an alien to enter, reenter, pass through or reside in the United States or concerning any matter which is material and relevant to the enforcement of this chapter and the administration of the Service, and, where such action may be necessary, to make a written record of such evidence. Any person coming into the United States may be required to state under oath the purpose or purposes for which he comes, the length of time he intends to remain in the United States, whether or not he intends to remain in the United States permanently and, if an alien, whether he intends to become a citizen thereof, and such other items of information as will aid the immigration officer in determining whether he is a national of the United States or an alien and, if the latter, whether he belongs to any of the excluded classes enumerated in section 1182 of this title. The Attorney General and any immigration officer, including special inquiry officers, shall have power to require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses before immigration officers and special inquiry officers and the production of books, papers, and documents relating to the privilege of any person to enter, reenter, reside in, or pass through the United States or concerning any matter which is material and relevant to the enforcement of this chapter and the administration of the Service, and to that end may invoke the aid of any court of the United States. Any United States district court within the jurisdiction of which investigations or inquiries are being conducted by an immigration officer or special inquiry officer may, in the event of neglect or refusal to respond to a subpoena issued under this subsection or refusal to testify before an immigration officer or special inquiry officer, issue an order requiring such persons to appear before an immigration officer or special inquiry officer, produce books, papers, and documents if demanded, and testify,- and any failure to obey such order of the court may be pun[379]*379ished by the court as a contempt thereof.”

No claim is made that the proceeding was one conducted by a Special Inquiry Officer under the provisions of 8 U.S.C.A. § 1252(b).

The warrant issued by the District Director does not recite that the officer is carrying on an inspection of any alien seeking “admission or readmission to or the privilege of passing through the United States.” It does not recite that Lee Tin Mew is a “person coming into the United States” who may be required under the enactment to “state under oath” certain matters and “if an alien” to give information on a vastly enlarged scale. The warrant does not state that the purpose of the subpoena is to take evidence “touching the privilege of any alien or person he believes or suspects to be an alien to enter, reenter, pass through or reside in the United States.” The subpoena does not state whether the “alien or person he suspects to be an alien” is Lee Tin Mew or one of his three brothers or Mow Sing or the wife or one of the four children of the latter. As to Lee Tin Mew, although the subpoena did not recite he was an alien or a person the Investigator believed or suspected to be an alien or so much as intimate that he was the subject of the investigation, questions were directed to him regarding his citizenship.

The whole section seems to be geared to the examination of the qualifications of a person arriving at the border to enter the country and reside therein. There is the question whether the statute was intended to require a person resident in the country to give evidence as to his citizenship. The case of United States v. Minker, 350 U.S. 179, 76 S.Ct. 281, 100 L.Ed. 185, decides this question as to a citizen naturalized by court process adversely to the contention of the government. Lee Tin Mew claimed in the affidavit filed on the motion to quash subpoena that he is a citizen because he claims to have been born in Hawaii on April 4, 1894, and was collectively naturalized.

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Related

R-S-J
22 I. & N. Dec. 863 (Board of Immigration Appeals, 1999)
WONG AND CHAN
13 I. & N. Dec. 141 (Board of Immigration Appeals, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
268 F.2d 376, 1959 U.S. App. LEXIS 4081, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-tin-mew-v-william-s-jones-united-states-immigration-and-ca9-1959.