In re Sugano, 9682.

• Decision Date: 15 February 1930
• Docket Number: No. 9682.,9682.
• Citation: 40 F.2d 961
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
• Parties: In re SUGANO.

40 F.2d 961 (1930)

In re SUGANO.

No. 9682.

District Court, S. D. California, S. D.

February 15, 1930.

J. Edward Keating and Theodore E. Bowen, both of Los Angeles, Cal., for petitioner.

Samuel W. McNabb, U. S. Dist. Atty., and Gwyn S. Redwine, Asst. U. S. Dist. Atty., both of Los Angeles, Cal., for Immigration Department.

McCORMICK, District Judge.

This is a proceeding in habeas corpus directed by an alien against the Immigration Service of the government. It is contended that the detention of the alien under a warrant of deportation is illegal.

The sole question is whether or not the alien was accorded a fair hearing by the immigration authorities within the meaning of applicable law.

There are two essential prerequisites before aliens can be deported. It must satisfactorily appear from the evidence, first, that the person illegally entered into the United States and is found herein in such unlawful status, and secondly, the deportation proceedings before the immigration authorities must have been fairly conducted. Each of the aforesaid requirements is equally important, and, unless both are shown by the record of proceedings before the Immigration authorities, there has not been "due process of law" that is guaranteed to all persons by constitutional government in the United States, and in such event the judicial power of the government should prevent deportation. In speaking of the power of immigration authorities in such proceedings against aliens ineligible for American citizenship, the Supreme Court, in Kwock Jan Fat v. White, 253 U. S. 464, 40 S. Ct. 566, 570, 64 L. Ed. 1010, said, "The acts of Congress give great power to the Secretary of Labor over Chinese immigrants and persons of Chinese descent. It is a power to be administered, not arbitrarily and secretly, but fairly and openly, under the restraints of the tradition and principles of free government applicable where the fundamental rights of men are involved, regardless of their origin or race. It is the province of the courts, in proceedings for review, within the limits amply defined in the cases cited, to prevent abuse of this extraordinary power, and this is possible only when a full record is preserved of the essentials on which the executive officers proceed to judgment." If this pregnant language is applied to the record before us, it seems clear that the petitioning alien has not been accorded that fair and open hearing that he should have received from the immigration authorities of the United States.

The Bureau file in evidence reflects a sincere but an erroneous belief by the immigration officials that deportation is justified when an alien admits or confesses to facts that show that he has unlawfully entered and in that status remains within our country. The law however, guarantees to him a fair hearing wherein such facts shall be established and this last requirement, in my opinion, is of equal legal importance and should be jealously safeguarded by the courts. It is only by strict observance of lawful authority by governmental officers that human rights can be safeguarded against arbitrary and oppressive authority.

Coming now to the pertinent facts disclosed by the record, it appears that the warrant of deportation was based solely upon the oral admissions of the alien at an investigation of his status conducted by Inspector Bliss at Los Angeles, Cal., on March 11, 1929, at which the only persons present were said inspector, a Japanese interpreter, employed by the immigration service, and the Japanese alien who apparently was unable to convey his thoughts through, or speak, the English language. The examination was conducted through such interpreter, and all statements of the alien were spoken in his native tongue and conveyed to the inspector through the interpreter. This investigation took place three days subsequent to the petitioner's arrest. At the time of his arrest, having attempted to escape, he was shot by...