Whitfield v. Hanges

222 F. 745, 138 C.C.A. 199, 1915 U.S. App. LEXIS 1478
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 22, 1915
DocketNo. 4175
StatusPublished
Cited by68 cases

This text of 222 F. 745 (Whitfield v. Hanges) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whitfield v. Hanges, 222 F. 745, 138 C.C.A. 199, 1915 U.S. App. LEXIS 1478 (8th Cir. 1915).

Opinion

SANBORN, Circuit Judge.

George Flanges, Demetrios Lamper, Steve Pantza, and Peter Francas, citizens of Greece, were resident aliens who had been admitted to the United Stktes pursuant to its acts of Congress prior to 1907. Two of them owned and operated the Main Café in Mason City, Iowa, where they had lived for years, and two of them were employed in the café. They were arrested by the immigrant inspector on October 24, 1913, and such proceedings were had that he found them guilty, recommended their deportation, and held them in confinement in the charge of the sheriff when, on their petition, the court below issued a writ of habeas corpus and, after a return thereto, an answer to the petition, and a full hearing, ordered their discharge. The inspector has appealed from this order on the grounds that the hearing of the appellees w~as full and fair, and that he committed no abuse of discretion or arbitrary action.

[748]*748The deportation of the appellees was recommended by the inspector, and they were held in confinement under his finding that they were guilty of the charge that they were aliens employed by or in connection with a music or dance hall, or other place of amusement, habitually frequented by prostitutes, or where prostitutes gather, that they were aliens connected with the management of a house of prostitution, and that they were aliens found receiving, sharing or deriving benefit from a part or the whole of the earnings of prostitutes. Act Feb. 20, 1907, c. 1134, § 3, 34 Stat. 899, as amended by Act March 26, 1910, c. 128, § 2, 36 Stat. 264 (Comp. St. 1913, § 4247). Before entering upon a review of the proceedings of the inspector, the hearing he gave to the appellees, and the finding and recommendation of deportation he made to his superior, under which appellees were held, it is well to call to mind the.rules and principles which govern proceedings in cases of this nature.

[1] A full and fair hearing on the charges which threaten his deportation and an absence of all abuse of discretion and arbitrary action by the inspector, or other executive officer, are indispensable to the lawful deportation of an alien. Where, by the abuse of the discretion or the arbitrary action of the inspector, or other executive officer, or without a full and fair hearing, an alien is deprived of his liberty, or is about to be deported, the power is conferred and the duty is imposed upon the courts of the United States to issue a writ of habeas corpus and relieve him. The Japanese Immigrant Case, 189 U. S. 86, 100, 101, 23 Sup. Ct. 611, 47 L. Ed. 721; Chin Yow v. United States, 208 U. S. 8, 10, 12, 13, 28 Sup. Ct. 201, 52 L. Ed. 369; Low Wah Suey v. Backus, 225 U. S. 460, 468, 32 Sup. Ct. 734, 56 L. Ed. 1165; Ex parte Petkos (D. C.) 212 Fed. 275; United States v. Chin Len, 187 Fed. 544, 109 C. C. A. 310; United States v. Williams (D. C.) 185 Fed. 598, 604; United States v. Williams (D. C.) 193 Fed. 228, 231.

[2] An alien, as well as a citizen, is protected by the prohibition of deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process and the equal protection of the law. This principle is universal. It applies “to all persons within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States without regard to any differences of race, of color, or of nationality.” Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, 369, 6 Sup. Ct. 1064, 30 L. Ed. 220; U. S. Rev. St. § 1977 (2 Comp. Stat. 1913, § 3925).

An alien is entitled to a hearing upon and a decision of the charge that he has violated the acts of Congress and is therefore liable to deprivation of his liberty and deportation, according to “the fundamental principles that inhere in due process of law.” It is not competent for an inspector, or the Secretary of Eabor, or any executive officer—

“arbitrarily to cause an alien who has entered this country and has become subject in all respects to its jurisdiction and a part of its population, although alleged to be illegally here, to be taken into custody and deported without giving him an opportunity to be heard upon the questions involved, his right to be and remain in the United States. No such arbitrary power con exist where the principles involved in due process of law are recognized.” Japanese Immigrant Case, 189 U. S. 86, 100, 101, 23 Sup. Ct. 611, 47 L Ed. 721; Wong Wing v. United States, 163 U. S. 228, 237, 238, 239, 16 Sup. Ct. 977, 41 L. Ed. 140.

[749]*749[3] Indispensable requisites of a fair hearing according to these fundamental principles are that the course of proceeding shall be appropriate to the case and just to the party affected; that the accused shall he notified of the nature of the charge against him in time to meet it; that he shall have such an opportunity to be heard that he may, if he chooses, cross-examine the witnesses against him; that he may have time and opportunity, after all the evidence against him is produced and known to him, to produce evidence and witnesses to refute it; that the decision shall be governed by and based upon the evidence at the hearing, and that only; and that the decision shall not he without substantial evidence taken at the hearing to support it. In re Rosser, 101 Fed. 562, 567, 41 C. C. A. 497; In re Wood & Henderson, 210 U. S. 246, 254, 28 Sup. Ct. 621, 52 L. Ed. 1046; Interstate Commerce Commission v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., 227 U. S. 88, 91-93, 33 Sup. Ct. 185, 57 L. Ed. 431; Ex parte Petkos (D. C.) 212 Fed. 275-278; United States v. Sibray (C. C.) 178 Fed. 144, 149. That is not a fair hearing in which the inspector chooses or controls the witnesses, or prevents the accused from procuring the witnesses or evidence or counsel he desires. Chin Yow v. United States, 208 U. S. 8, 11, 12, 28 Sup. Ct. 201, 52 L. Ed. 369; United States v. Sibray (C. C.) 178 Fed. 144, 149; United States v. Williams (D. C.) 185 Fed. 598, 604; Roux v. Commissioner of Immigration, 203 Fed. 413, 417, 121 C. C. A. 523.

[4] The Secretary of Labor is authorized to make or approve such rules “not inconsistent with law” for the enforcement of the immigration laws as he deems desirable. Act Feb. 20, 1907, c. 1134, § 2, 34 Stat. 898, as amended by Act March 26, 1910, c. 128, 36 Stat. 263 (Comp. St. 1913, § 4244), and Act March 4, 1913, c. 141, 37 Stat. 736 (Comp. St. 1913, § 932).

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Bluebook (online)
222 F. 745, 138 C.C.A. 199, 1915 U.S. App. LEXIS 1478, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitfield-v-hanges-ca8-1915.