United States v. Hemet

156 F. 285, 1907 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118
CourtDistrict Court, D. Oregon
DecidedSeptember 27, 1907
DocketNo. 4,964
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 156 F. 285 (United States v. Hemet) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Hemet, 156 F. 285, 1907 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118 (D. Or. 1907).

Opinion

WOR VI vRTON, District Judge.

The defendant is charged by information of the district attorney, with having brought within this country, in violation of Act Feb. 20, 1907, c. 1134, 34 Stat. 898 [U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1907, p. 3891, two aliens, to wit, Y. Oguri and Y. Kokehara, who are Japanese from Kobe, Japan, and who were, it is alleged, without passports and disqualified by the executive order of the President of the United States, issued March 14, 1907, to enter the [286]*286United States, in and upon a certain French bark St. Uouis, of which he, the said Hemet, was master, and not immediately sending said aliens back to the country whence they came, and failing to detain them on board said bark, contrary to the provisions of section 19 of the act alluded to.

The bark left Kobe, Japan, for Australia February 2, IDO?1, and . came to Portland from the latter country, arriving in Astoria August 24th, and in this port August 29th. The two Japanese shipped on the vessel as seamen, for the “round voyage.” After their arrival in this port, they applied to the immigration officer for admission into the United States; their purpose being, as they stated under oath, to seek employment at manual labor. The matter was submitted to the board of special examiners, and, after examination had, the board adopted a motion excluding the parties from admission, basing its action upon the last proviso of section 1 of the immigration act and paragraph “b” of rule 22 of the immigration rules and regulations adopted in pursuance thereof. This occurred September 6th. The Japanese were then taken aboard the bark, and the defendant notified of what had been done, and required to deport them to the port whence they came. They remained aboard until the 18th or 19th, when they escaped; and, the vessel being now about to depart, the master is unable to take them with him.

The question is presented whether Oguri and Kokehara are subject to deportation. This requires an examination of the act of February 20, 1907, and the .rules and regulations adopted by the Commissioner General of Immigration in pursuance of the act. The proviso of section 1 alluded to .reads as follows:

“That whenever the President shall be satisfied that passports issued by any foreign government to its citizens to go to any country other than the United States or to any insular possession of the United States or to the Canal Zone are being used for the purpose of enabling the holders to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labor conditions therein, the President may refuse to permit such citizens of the country issuing such passports to enter the continental territory of the United States from such other country or from such insular possession or from the Canal Zone.”

Section 2 of the act provides that certain enumerated classes of aliens shall be excluded from admission into the United States, such as idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, professional beggars, persons afflicted with tuberculosis, etc. But there is no regulation debarring the entry of any alien not having a passport from his home government. If such a regulation exists, I am not aware of it. The President, in pursuance of the proviso above set out, on March 14, 1907, issued an order which, after quoting the proviso, reads as follows:

“And whereas, upon sufficient evidence produced before me by the Department of Commerce and Labor, I am satisfied that passports issued by the government of Japan to citizens of that country or Korea and who are laborers, skilled or unskilled, to go to Mexico, to Canada and to" Hawaii, are being used for the purpose of enabling the holders thereof to come to the continental territory of the United States to the detriment of labor conditions therein;
“I hereby order that such citizens of Japan or Korea, to wit, Japanese or Korean laborers, skilled and unskilled, who have received passports to go to [287]*287Mexico, Canada or Hawaii, and come therefrom, be refused permission to enter the continental territory of the United. States.
“It is further ordered that the Secretary of Commerce and Labor be, and he hereby is, directed to take, through the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, such measures and to make and enforce such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry this order into effect.”

Rule 21 of the Commissioner General of Immigration was adopted in Rid of the executive order, and reads:

“Japanese and Korean laborers. — The following rule Is promulgated for the purpose of giving effect to an executive order of the President Issued on March 14, 1907, reading:
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“(a) Aliens from Japan and Korea are subject to the general immigration laws.
“(b) Every Japanese or Korean laborer, skilled or unskilled, applying for admission at a seaport or at a landborder port of the United States and having in his possession a passport issued by the government of Japan, entitling him to proceed only to Mexico, Canada, or Hawaii, shall be refused admission.
“(c) If a Japanese or Korean laborer applies for admission and presents no passport, it shall be presumed (1) that he did not possess when he departed from Japan or Korea a passport entitling him to come to the United States, and (2) that he did possess at that time a passport limited to Mexico, Canada, or Hawaii.
“(d) If a Japanese or Korean alien applies for admission and presents a passport entitling him to enter the United States or one which is not limited to Mexico, Canada, or Hawaii, he shall bo admitted, if it appears that he does not belong to any of the classes of aliens excluded by the general immigration laws.
“(e) If a Japanese or Korean alien applies for admission and presents a passport limited to Mexico, Canada, or Hawaii, and claims that he is not a laborer, either skilled or unskilled, reasonable proof of this claim shall be required in order to permit him to enter the United States.”

_ It seems to me that the President has correctly interpreted the proviso, which means that the order shall extend to and comprise such citizens of any foreign government as shall have passports therefrom to any country other than the United States and are using such passports for the purpose of enabling the holders to come into the United States to the detriment of labor conditions. It does not, as I read it, extend to all citizens of the government issuing such passports, but only to the citizens of such government to whom the passports defined have been issued; and the President may, as he has done, refuse them permission to enter. There is no discrimination here between the citizens of different nations. The law is general, and extends to all aliens alike, of whatsoever nation or clime, and the “favored nation” idea has no place in the controversy. But rule 21, in my opinion, goes beyond the authority of the act in excluding Japanese and Koreans who are without passports from their government vouchsafing their entrance into this country direct. I say this because such is the effect of subdivision “c” of the rule. The Commissioner General’s authority for making any rules is found in section 22 of the act:

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Bluebook (online)
156 F. 285, 1907 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hemet-ord-1907.