242 F. 838 | 6th Cir. | 1917
By due procedure under the Chinese Exclusion Act, appellant was by a commissioner adjudged to be “a Chinese person and a person of Chinese descent, and * * * a laborer unlawfully within the United States,” and was accordingly ordered deported to China. Upon a trial de novo in the District Court, the commissioner’s decision was sustained, and deportation ordered.
Appellant produced but two witnesses to sustain his claim of birth in the United States. Both these witnesses testified they were cousins of appellant — one of them, Woo Kong, that appellant was a son of Woo Yeh; the other, Woo Shang, gave the name of appellant’s father as Woo Sen. The one said the father was in the general merchandise business, and was agent for a railroad and a steamship company; he seemed to know nothing of the father’s being a farmer. The other
The trial judge refused to credit the testimony of the two corroborating witnesses, saying:
“The manner of these two witnesses on the witness stand and their contradictions in the course of their direct examination, as they testified before this court, and particularly the manner and contradictions of this doctor LWoo Kong], lead this court to believe that no credit can be given to their testimony at all.”
In the opinion of the trial judge appellant’s claim to citizenship was finally left to rest solely upon his unsupported statement. Careful consideration of the testimony convinces us that we would not be justified in disturbing the conclusion of the court below. It is, of course, entirely possible that appellant has told the entire truth, and that he is entitled to remain here. If so, his deportation is a serious hardship. But the absence of satisfactory evidence to prove it, through death of witnesses or otherwise, is his misfortune, and not the fault of the courts, -which are not at liberty to disregard the express statute, requiring affirmative and satisfactory proof of his right to remain, nor the settled rules governing appellate administration. Ng You Nuey v. United States, supra, 224 Fed. at page 343, 140 C. C. A. 26.
The judgment of the District Court must be affirmed.