United States v. Fah Chung

132 F. 109, 1904 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Georgia
DecidedAugust 4, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 132 F. 109 (United States v. Fah Chung) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Fah Chung, 132 F. 109, 1904 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103 (S.D. Ga. 1904).

Opinion

SPEER, District Judge.

The District Court, after full hearing de novo in these cases, granted final orders of deportation. There was nothing whatever shown either in the way of evidence or of argument which, in view of the provisions of the Chinese exclusion act, could, in the opinion of the court, even remotely justify the presence of the appellants in the United States. This will plainly appear from the record and the opinion of file. Applications for appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals have been made, and, of course, granted. This was accompanied with application for discharge of the appellants on bail, with the request from counsel that the penalty of the bail bond should be small in amount,' counsel stating, moreover, that if bail was fixed the applicants could give bond. This application for bail is resisted by the government upon the general ground that it is an ordinary expedient of Chinamen of this class to give bail bonds, to forfeit the same, and thus avoid, at least for a time, and perhaps permanently, the effective operation of the statute and the judgment of deportation. It is also insisted that after final order in such cases the court has no power to grant bail.

To refuse bail to any person whose liberty on American soil is at stake, even though he be an undesirable immigrant, seems upon first impression to be in ill accordance with the humane and benignant principles of our constitutional law. The eighth article of the amendments to the Constitution commands that “excessive bail shall not be required.” If, then, it be unlawful under our system to deprive any person of his liberty by fixing excessive bail, which he cannot give, a fortiori would it seem also unlawful to deprive him of .his liberty by refusing bail altogether. In the absence of mandatory provisions, such would inevitably be the conclusion of an American court in a justiciable case, if the legal rights or constitutional privileges of an American citizen were involved. This would be true also if in such a case the legal rights of an alien were in issue. But the order of deportation of a Chinese person who has plainly violated the exclusion act made by a court of the United States, pursuant to the acts of Congress, is not made in an ordinary justiciable case, and does not deal with “legal rights,” as that expression is generally understood. It merely involves the pretended claim to remain in this country of an individual, who, against settled American policy, and against the positive command of our statutes, has surreptitiously and fraudulently obtruded his unacceptable presence among our people. The hearing in such cases is not according to the rules of the common law. By paragraph 3 of Act May 5, 1892, c. 60, 27 Stat. 25 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1320], any Chinese person arrested under the provisions of the act shall be adjudged to be unlawfully within the United States unless he shall establish by affirmative proof to the satisfaction of the judge or commissioner his right to remain. The burden of proof, then, is on the prisoner to show his right to remain in the UnitedT States. Ah How et al. v. United States, 193 U. S. 65, 24 Sup. Ct. 357, 48 L. Ed. 619. In such an inquiry no formal complaint or pleadings are required. Id. It follows that a Chinese person, uniike a citizen of the United States, may, without due process of law, as that term is generally understood, be deprived of his liberty while on [111]*111this to him inhospitable shore, and until he is repatriated at the expense of the United States, and deposited in safety on the soil of his native country. To express it otherwise, the acts of Congress providing a summary method for his deportation constitute due process of law as to him. Nor is a judicial officer of the United States bound to accept the uncontradicted evidence of a Chinese person. This was the conclusion of the Supreme Court in the same case, which is the latest decided upon the subject. In that case, it is also true that the court declined to express an opinion as to the right of the applicants to give bail pending their appeal. It did this upon the ground that, since the judgment of the court below was affirmed, it was merely a moot question. Since, in the first instance in cases like that at bar, the Chinese person had no right to come here, and no more right to remain, where he is openly and palpably seeking to set the law at despite, he has taken his chances pretty much as the participants in any other invasion of foreigners might do, and he seems to have little right to complain at the somewhat ungentle and vigorous methods of expulsion which are made applicable to him by the acts of Congress.

It appears from the copious literature upon this subject that appeals, with applications for bail, and the consequent delay, constitute a part of the general scheme by which Chinese persons, in violation of our law, seek to avail themselves of American opportunities. A sufficient postponement of the day of deportation secured, the Chinese person is the victor over American law. Unlike other undesirable immigrants, he has no wish to remain permanently. This is interestingly made to appear from the brief of the Solicitor General filed in Ah How and many other Chinamen v. United States, 193 U. S. 65, 24 Sup. Ct. 357, 48 L. Ed. 619. On the other hand, all the pertinent enactments on this subject are convincing that it was the intention of Congress to prevent delay in these cases by such methods, or by any method. The Chinese person is allowed only 10 days in which to appeal to the judge of the District Court. It is expressly enacted that where he makes application for habeas corpus no bail shall be allowed, and that the case shall be heard and determined promptly. These statutes apply to the “landing” and “entry” classes. Under Act Nov. 3, 1893, c. 14, 28 Stat. 7 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1322], when an order of deportation is made, the marshal is required to execute the same with all convenient dispatch. Pending such execution, the Chinese person, it is provided, shall remain in the custody of the United States marshal, and shall not be admitted to bail. This provision, with much show of reason, was strongly argued by the Solicitor General to relate to all final orders of deportation. Surely, if it is plainly the policy of the law to refuse bail to the China-man who upon habeas corpus insists that he is illegally detained, it would seem generally incompetent to grant it after the court has solemnly adjudged that his detention, for evading the exclusion act, is proper and lawful. It is,.however, true that the practice of the courts in different judicial districts on the subject of allowing bail in cases of appeal from final orders of deportation is marked by some variance. In re Ah Kee (C. C.) 21 Fed. 701; In re Chow Goo Pooi [112]*112(C. C.) 25 Fed. 77; In re Ah Moy (C. C.) 21 Fed. 808. These cases just cited were, however, decided before the amended law of 1892. In Re Chin Yuen Sing (C. C.) 65 Fed. 788, an opinion rendered by Circuit Judge Lacombe of the Southern District of New York, may be given in its entirety:

“It is not necessary,” said the learned judge, “to decide the question argued upon this application, viz., whether or not this court is expressly forbidden by statute from releasing on bail pending appeal, where the relator is a Chinese immigrant. Concededly, there is such a prohibition, where the application is being considered by the court in the first instance. Act May 5, 1892, c. 60, § 5, 27 Stat. 25 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1320].

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Augustus v. Roemer
771 F. Supp. 1458 (E.D. Louisiana, 1991)
Ex parte Corypus
6 F.2d 336 (W.D. Washington, 1925)
United States ex rel. Carapa v. Curran
297 F. 946 (Second Circuit, 1924)
In re Hatsuyo Kobayashi
4 D. Haw. 591 (D. Hawaii, 1915)
In re Wong Kum Wo
4 D. Haw. 534 (D. Hawaii, 1915)
United States v. Yee Yet
192 F. 577 (D. New Jersey, 1911)
Chin Wah v. Colwell
187 F. 592 (Ninth Circuit, 1911)
In re Yuen
188 F. 350 (D. Massachusetts, 1910)
United States v. Wong Lee Foo
108 P. 488 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1910)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 F. 109, 1904 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-fah-chung-gasd-1904.