282 F. 795 | 3rd Cir. | 1922
This is an appeal from an order of the District Court discharging the relator on a writ of habeas corpus. The facts, so far as material to this case, are: The relator, who is 39 years of age, immigrated to this country from Czecho-Slovakia in 1889. Between that time and 1914 he returned to his native country two or three times, and at one time remained there about 4 years. In 1914 he went back and served in the Austrian army until 1920, when he returned to this country. He was married in 1905, and his wife had four children, all of whom died. In 1915 his brother, Andreos, who was in the same army, was killed, and left a widow, Anna Maria Plichta. George Plichta, the relator, had immoral relations with his brother’s widow. Since his return in 1920, he corresponded with, her, and finally sent her $240 to pay her fare here. On his advice she posed as his wife, and he testified at Ellis Island on her arrival that she was his wife, thinking it would facilitate her admission into the country. He intended to get a divorce, he said, and marry her. His wife, who was living in New York, appeared and testified against her husband. He was arrested on a departmental warrant, charging him with having “procured or attempted to procure or import a woman for an immoral purpose,” contrary to the Act of February 5, 1917 (39 Stat 889), which provides in section 19 (Comp. St. 1918, Comp. St. Ann. Supp.' 1919, § 4289% j j) that:
“Any alien who shall import or attempt to import any person for the purpose of prostitution or for any other immoral purpose * * * shall, upon the warrant of the Secretary of Labor, be taken into custody and deported.”
The act further provides that the Commissioner General of Immigration, under the direction of the Secretary of Labor, “shall establish such rules and regulations * * * as he shall deem best calculated for carrying out the provisions of this act.” Section 959. One of the rules thus established was Immigration Rule 5, subd. (b), which provides that:
“Preferably, at the beginning of the hearing, under the warrant of arrest, or, at any rate, as soon as such hearing has proceeded sufficiently far in the development of the facts to protect the government’s interest, the alien shall be allowed to inspect the warrant' of arrest and all the evidence on which it was issued.”
Another rule was No. 22, subd. 3:
“The application must state facts showing prima facie that the alien is within one or more of the classes subject to deportation after entry, and, except in cases in which the burden of proof is upon the alien [Chinese] involved, should be accompanied by some substantial supporting evidence. If the facts stated are within the personal knowledge of the inspector reporting the case, they need not, of course, be in affidavit form. But if based upon statements of persons not sworn officers of the Government except in cases of public charges covered by subdivision 4 hereof, the application should be accompanied by the affidavit of the person giving the information or by a transcript of a sworn statement from that person by an inspector.”
After the hearing before the Immigration Inspector, a warrant of deportation was issued by the Acting Secretary of Labor. Thereupon the alien filed in the District Court a petition for writ of habeas corpus
“the warrant of arrest was not supported by some substantial evidence as required by the rules of the department, * * * and that the alien did not have a full, fair and impartial hearing after he had been arrested.”
Whether or not evidence is sufficient to justify deportation is for the determination of the department, and its decision on the sufficiency of facts is final, and the District Court is without jurisdiction to review the sufficiency of the evidence on which the order of deportation is based, if the alien has had a hearing according to law. The Japanese Immigrant Case, 189 U. S. 86, 23 Sup. Ct. 611, 47 L. Ed. 721. But if it appears that the procedure prescribed by law for the determination of the facts on which the order is based was disregarded, and the respondent did not have a fair hearing in accordance with the rules of the department, the District Court has jurisdiction to issue the writ of habeas corpus to review the case. Chin Yow v. United States, 208 U. S. 8, 28 Sup. Ct. 201, 52 L. Ed. 369. The respondent was imprisoned for deportation without having been accorded the legal rights to which he was entitled under the statute and rules of the department. Habeas corpus is the usual remedy for unlawful imprisonment Chin Yow v. United States, supra.
The learned judge below stated, in his opinion that-—
“It was admitted by the Immigration Inspector that the evidence upon which the warrant of arrest had been issued was not read to the alien.”
The appellant says that the Immigration Inspector did not make the flat admission attributed to him by the court, but said that it was customary to read the evidence upon which the warrant of arrest was based to the alien, but whether or not it was done in this particular case he could not say. Whether or not the court was in error as to the exact admission made, we are of opinion that the facts before him justified the conclusion reached. The appellant argues that it was not necessary to comply exactly with the rule in this case because the alien knew the facts; that the warrant of arrest was based upon the testimony of the alien given before the Immigration Inspector at Ellis Island, when he testified on the arrival of Anna Maria Plichta, in an effort to have her landed, and therefore he need not be allowed to inspect the warrant of arrest and all the evidence on which it was based.
[B] In other words, the contention is made that under certain circumstances it is discretionary with the inspector as to whether or not he will disregard the rules of the department, made pursuant to the authority of the statute. We are unable to subscribe to this proposition. Assuming that the warrant of - arrest was based upon the alien’s testimony at Ellis Island, and upon that alone, he would not know that fact without actually inspecting the warrant and- all the evidence on which it was based. If the appellant’s, position prevails, the adminis
[G] After reaching the conclusion that “the alien did not have a full, fair, and impartial hearing after he had been arrested,” the judge considered the merits of the case and, inter alia, said:
“It is not necessary to comment upon the evidence produced at the hearing before the Immigration Inspector. None was offered, except the testimony of the alien. That being the only evidence at the hearing, I see no reason why it should not be taken as true, and that his purpose in attempting to bring a woman to this country was for the purpose of marrying her after he had become divorced from an unfaithful wife, and should not be deemed immoral under the statute.”
'He further said that, in view of the fact that others might take a different view of the testimony, he did not base his decision on the absence of evidence of the commission of the offense, but on the ground that the application for the warrant of arrest was not supported by some substantial evidence. When it appears that the alien did not have a full and fair trial—
“the courts must deal with the matter somehow; and there seems to be no way so convenient as a trial of the merits before the judge.” Chin Tow v. United States, 208 U. S. 8, 13, 28 Sup. Ct. 201, 202 (52 L. Ed. 369).
We are unable to say, from the case as presented to us, that the court below reached an erroneous conclusion, and the order is affirmed.