Leng May Ma v. Barber, 14252.

Decision Date05 February 1957
Docket NumberNo. 14252.,14252.
PartiesLENG MAY MA, Appellant, v. Bruce G. BARBER, District Director Immigration and Naturalization Service, San Francisco District, Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Jackson & Hertogs, Gordon Dale, San Francisco, Cal., for appellant.

Lloyd H. Burke, U. S. Atty., Charles Elmer Collett, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.

Before HEALY, BONE, and LEMMON, Circuit Judges.

HEALY, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from the denial by the court below of a petition for the writ of habeas corpus seeking a stay of deportation.

Petitioner is a native of China. She claimed acquisition of United States citizenship at birth on the statutory ground that her father was a United States citizen. She arrived in this country in 1951, and was by the Immigration Service accorded hearings on her claim but failed to establish her identity as a United States national to the satisfaction of the Service. Thereupon she was ordered to surrender for deportation to China. She petitioned the Service for a stay on the ground that she would be subjected to physical persecution and probable death if she were to return to China, seeking this relief on the basis of § 243(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 8 U.S.C.A. § 1253(h), reading as follows:

"The Attorney General is authorized to withhold deportation of any alien within the United States to any country in which in his opinion the alien would be subject to physical persecution and for such period of time as he deems to be necessary for such reason."

The Service notified petitioner that no stay of deportation could be granted her inasmuch as aliens excluded from the United States are not eligible for relief under the above statute. She then brought this proceeding in habeas corpus.

The question for decision is whether an alien seeking admission to the United States is "within the United States" after his application for such admission has been decided against him. This court has recently held the contrary, stating that the status of such "person released by the immigration authorities on bond is still that of a person without the United States seeking admission." Jew Sing v. Barber, 9 Cir., 1954, 215 F.2d 906, 907, certiorari granted 348 U.S. 910, 75 S.Ct. 296, 99 L.Ed. 714, judgment vacated for mootness, 1955, 350 U.S. 898, 76 S.Ct. 175, 100 L.Ed. 790.

Some doubt is cast on our holding in Jew Sing because of the granting by the...

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5 cases
  • Application of Paktorovics
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • November 26, 1957
    ...1956, 142 F.Supp. 379, affirmed, 2 Cir., 245 F.2d 875, rehearing granted and reaffirmed, 2 Cir., 1957, 247 F.2d 769; Leng May Ma v. Barber, 9 Cir., 1957, 241 F.2d 85, certiorari granted, 1957, 353 U.S. 981, 77 S.Ct. 1283, 1 L.Ed.2d 141. Those District of Columbia cases Ng Lin Chong v. McGra......
  • Leng May Ma v. Barber
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • June 16, 1958
    ...found ineligible for entry and ordered excluded. The District Court denied a writ of habeas corpus, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. 9 Cir., 241 F.2d 85. We granted certiorari. 1957, 353 U.S. 981, 77 S.Ct. 1283, 1 L.Ed.2d 1141. We conclude that petitioner's parole did not alter her status......
  • Dong Wing Ott v. Shaughnessy
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
    • July 5, 1957
    ...F.2d 769. PER CURIAM. Affirmed on the opinion of District Judge Murphy below, D.C.S.D.N.Y., 142 F.Supp. 379; and see also Leng May Ma v. Barber, 9 Cir., 241 F.2d 85, certiorari granted 77 S.Ct. ...
  • United States ex rel. Lue Chow Yee v. Shaughnessy, 297
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
    • July 5, 1957
    ...F.2d 769. PER CURIAM. Affirmed on the opinion of District Judge Kaufman below, D.C.S.D.N.Y., 146 F.Supp. 3; and see also Leng May Ma v. Barber, 9 Cir., 241 F.2d 85, certiorari granted 77 S.Ct. ...
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