Ex parte Petkos

• Decision Date: 18 April 1913
• Docket Number: 736.
• Citation: 212 F. 275
• Parties: Ex parte PETKOS.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

212 F. 275

Ex parte PETKOS.

No. 736.

United States District Court, D. Massachusetts.

April 18, 1913

Edward P. Barry, of Boston, Mass., and John R. McHugh, of Boston Mass., for petitioner.

William H. Garland, Asst. U.S. Atty., of Boston, Mass., for respondent.

MORTON District Judge.

This is a petition for writ of habeas corpus, whereby the petitioner an alien immigrant, seeks to secure his discharge from the custody of the immigration officials at the port of Boston by whom he is now detained for deportation. The order for deportation was made in the first instance by a Board of Special Inquiry, upon the grounds that:

The petitioner was afflicted with 'psoriasis, a chronic noncommunicable skin disease which will cause him to seek treatment from time to time;' that 'it is a well-known fact among laymen that the odor of this particular disease is at times so annoying that, it would seem to the Board, it would be very difficult for him to get employment in a place where there may be men working in close proximity to him. We therefore considering all the facts and circumstances surrounding this case, vote to exclude him, first, as likely to become a public charge, and, second, as being afflicted with a physical defect which will affect his ability to earn a living.'

The decision of the Revisory Board was:

'Previous decision sustained for previous reasons, except it is the opinion the appearance of the disease rather than the odor will be offensive.'

The petitioner then appealed to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, by whom the order of deportation was affirmed, apparently upon the findings of the subordinate boards. No evidence was submitted to the immigration authorities as to the characteristics of psoriasis or its effect upon a person's ability to earn a living.

The petitioner offered testimony at the hearing on this petition that psoriasis is the commonest form of skin disease, constituting one-third of all skin diseases; that it is attended with no odor and is characterized by whitish scales on the skin; that, except in rare cases, it does not appear on the exposed part of the body, such as the face or hands; and that, so far as known to the medical witness who testified for the petitioner, and whose experience covered five or six hundred cases, it never disables a person from working. This testimony was not controverted, and the facts appear to be in accordance therewith.

The petitioner does not contend that the hearing before the immigration officials was conducted in an unfair manner, or that he was not accorded an adequate opportunity to present such evidence as he desired, nor does he deny that he is afflicted with psoriasis. He insists that the disease cannot in any way affect his ability to earn a living, and that the record returned here by the Immigration Commissioner shows that both the Board of Special Inquiry and the Revisory Board based their conclusions to the contrary on arbitrary and erroneous assumptions as to facts, not within their knowledge, and of which there was no evidence whatever.

Congress has created a special set of tribunals to hear and determine all questions relating to the admission of immigrants. The jurisdiction of these tribunals is, within their province exclusive and final. No appeal from them lies to the United States courts. The law courts have undertaken to re-examine proceedings in immigration cases sufficiently to make certain that the person whose deportation has been ordered received a 'fair hearing,' that the action of the immigration officials was not 'arbitrary,' and that they did not abuse the discretionary powers vested in them; but that is all. Whether in a given case the evidence warrants an order of deportation is a matter as to which the...