210 F. 918 | D.N.D. | 1914
This is a proceeding by habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of imprisonment of the above-named persons by a commissioner of immigration and the sheriff of Grand Forks county, N. D., acting under authority of such commissioner. All of the defendants are Austrians. Two of them arrived by steamer at Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada, in the month of April, 1912. Three of them arrived at the port of Halifax in May, 1913. They vary from 19 to 34 years in age and are in sound health. , They were all examined by Canadian inspectors of immigration at the port of entry and passed. They all had through tickets to Winnipeg, and proceeded at once to that city, where they had acquaintances, and some of them relatives. They have since worked as common laborers upon railroads and farms in the province of Manitoba. In the month of September, 1913, they' were at work as harvest hands near the village
The men worked for him as members of his threshing crew until October 2d, when they were arrested by an immigration inspector. They were all examined by him under oath, and their testimony taken in shorthand, and it is now before me as part of the return to the writ. They had no counsel, but gave their evidence with transparent candor. As part of his report, the inspector used the following language as to each alien:
“Attention is especially callea to. the fact that this alien claims that he was virtually kidnapped and taken into the United States against his will. Considering his attitude and willingness to answer all questions put to him, I believe he is telling the truth.”
The inspector further found, however, that these aliens were in the United States in violation of law: (1) Because they entered under a contract to perform manual labor; (2) because they entered by wagon road instead of a port, and without inspection; (3) because they were persons likely to become a public charge.
The aliens all testified, however, that they were in perfect health, and had been since their arrival in Canada, and there was no evidence whatever to support the last finding. Each man had $45 on liis person at the time of the arrest. The inspector reported the evidence and his findings to the Secretary of Commerce and Rabor, who thereupon issued his warrants directing that petitioners be deported to the country whence they came.
In the meantime Rongtin had been arrested for violating the Alien Rabor Raw, and bound over to the grand jury, and the deportation of the aliens was suspended in order that they might be used as witnesses upon his trial. At the next term of court Rongtin was indicted, and was arraigned for plea in the month of December, 1913. Upon his examination, it appeared that he was a man of substance and character in the community where he had lived for many years; that he owned a half section of land upon which he resided with his wife and 'chiE dren; that he had never been arrested before, or charged with any crime. He made a frank statement of what he had done, and informed the court that he was not aware that he was violating any law, but was simply trying to get laborers to thresh his grain. Counsel for the government'confirmed his statements as the result of their investiga
The aliens have been detained in jail. After the case against Long-tin had been disposed of; they supposed that they would be permitted to return to Canada. It-was then that they learned for the first time that the government contemplated deporting them to' Austria. Thereupon their counsel sued out a writ of habeas corpus, to. test the right of the Commissioner of Labor to deport them to that country. The facts above recited as to Mr. Longtin are a part of the records of the court. The petition and return disclose the facts as to the petitioners,, and it is conceded by the government that the Secretary- of Labor at the time he issued his warrants had before him no evidence except, that which is now before the court. . ......
It is clear .from the evidence that petitioners are illegally in the United States. It is equally clear that their entry was the result of an innocent mistake on their part, and on the part of Mr. Longtin. It is the right and duty of the Department of Labor to deport them, but this power ought to be exercised by a just government with scrupulous regard to the rights of petitioners. They do not cease to be human, beings simply because they are aliens, nor are they wholly outside of the protection of the Constitution. The evidence presenting no controverted issue of fact, the determination of the country to which they should be deported is wholly a matter of law, and the decision of that question by administrative officers is not binding upon the court.
“That the deportation of aliens arrested within the United States after entry, and found to be illegally therein, provided for in this act, shall be to- the trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific ports from which said aliens embarked for.the United States, or if such embarkation was for foreign contiguous territory, to the foreign port at which such aliens embarked for such territory.”
These three sections are to be read together, and a meaning arrived at, if possible, which will give effect to all their provisions. ■ In the great majority of cases the alien comes direct from the country of his nativity, and in case of deportation should be returned 'there. The Department, as the cases on the subject show, has been zealous to make this a universal rule. That would simplify matters. But, like most universal rules, it will work cruel hardship in individual cases. The general rule under the statute clearly is that the alien shall be deported to the country whence he came. This, of course, is not necessarily the country of his nativity or citizenship. Section 35 gives a specific definition of the words “whence he came” in certain cases. The-first
There are some general observations in the last paragraph of the opinion in Frick v. Lewis, 195 Fed. 693, 701, 115 C. C. A. 493, which indicate a different interpretation of the statute. These observations, however, were not necessary to the decision, and, when the facts of that case are examined, nothing is found which conflicts with the interpretation above indicated. In that case- the petitioner, a Russian, entered the United States at the port of New York in 1904. After residing in the state of Michigan for six years, but without becoming an American citizen, he crossed the river to the Canadian city of Windsor for the purpose of introducing a woman into the United States for immoral purposes. He was in Canada only an hour, and, so far as the decision shows, that was the only time he was ever in that country. It was held that he was subject to deportation to Russia. Clearly he ought not to have been deported to Canada, because that country had never received him into its population, neither did he embark for
“The command of the section is ‘to dispqse of the party as law and justice require.’ All the freedom of equity procedure is thus prescribed; and substantial justice, promptly administered, is ever the rule in habeas corpus.”
■See, also, In re Gut lun (D. C.) 84 Fed. 323. The court evidently overlooked this statute in United States v. Williams (D. C.) 187 Fed. 470.
It is therefore ordered that judgment be entered in each of these cases directing the Commissioner of Labor, in whose custody the petitioner is, to deport him forthwith to the Province of Manitoba, in the Dominion of Canada, and forbidding such commissioner, or any person acting under his direction or authority, or under the direction or authority of the Secretary of Labor, to deport said petitioner to any other place than above specified, or to restrain him of his liberty longer than shall be reasonably necessary to execute such judgment.