United States v. Sisson

• Decision Date: 12 June 1913
• Docket Number: 270-274.
• Citation: 206 F. 450
• Parties: UNITED STATES ex rel. MOORE v. SISSON, U.S. Chinese Inspector.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

206 F. 450

UNITED STATES ex rel. MOORE v. SISSON, U.S. Chinese Inspector.

Nos. 270-274.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

June 12, 1913

Appeals from the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

Robert M. Moore, of New York City, for appellants.

H Snowden Marshall, U.S. Atty., and John Neville Boyle, Asst U.S. Atty., both of New York City, for appellee.

Before LACOMBE, COXE, and WARD, Circuit Judges.

COXE Circuit Judge.

We think that three propositions are clearly deducible from the testimony as it appears upon the present record.

First. The relators are Chinese persons not permitted by law to remain in this country.

Second. 'The country from whence they came' is Canada.

Third. There is no evidence that they came from China; the contention that they did do so is based solely upon conjecture and presumption.

The officers of the government saw fit to bring the proceedings against these relators under the Immigration Act instead of the Chinese Exclusion Acts and must follow strictly the provisions of the former act; they cannot invoke the provisions of both.

Section 20 of the Immigration Act is explicit that the alien must be deported 'to the country from whence he came. ' That country is Canada. There is nothing deserving the name of evidence to show that these aliens came from China or any other foreign country. The briefs presented by the government refer to these persons as having been born in China and speak of that country as the land of their 'nativity and citizenship.' We are unable to find anything in the record to support this statement. Most of them testify that they were born in this country, either in New York or San Francisco. Assuming that this testimony is entitled to little weight, it does not aid the government's contention. A finding that a Chinese person was not born in San Francisco does not prove that he was born in China. We can take judicial knowledge of the fact that there are Chinese persons in Canada and Mexico and, indeed, in almost all the countries of the world and that Chinese children are constantly being born in these countries. The mere fact that an alien is found to be a Chinese person does not prove that he came from China, or that he is a citizen of China or that he was ever within the bounds of the Chinese empire or republic. There are many Frenchmen here who were not born in France, many Englishmen who...