United States v. Martineau

• Decision Date: 06 June 1938
• Docket Number: No. 321.,321.
• Citation: 97 F.2d 503
• Parties: UNITED STATES ex rel. DI TOMASSO v. MARTINEAU, Immigration Inspector and District Commissioner of Immigration for Connecticut.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

97 F.2d 503 (1938)

UNITED STATES ex rel. DI TOMASSO v. MARTINEAU, Immigration Inspector and District Commissioner of Immigration for Connecticut.

No. 321.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

June 6, 1938.

Edward L. Fenton, of Springfield, Mass., for appellant.

Robert P. Butler, U. S. Atty., and V. J. Sacco, Asst. U. S. Atty., both of Hartford, Conn., for appellee.

Before L. HAND, SWAN, and CHASE, Circuit Judges.

SWAN, Circuit Judge.

The relator is an alien who arrived in this country in 1919; he was then only nine years old. In 1930 he was convicted in the city court of Hartford, Connecticut, of maintaining a house of prostitution, soliciting for purposes of prostitution and engaging in prostitution. Upon appeal to the superior court, which vacates the prior judgment and involves a trial de novo, a charge of fornication was substituted for the former charges. To this he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, the superior court judge who imposed the sentence recommending that he be not deported on the charge for which he was convicted and sentenced. Thereafter hearings were held before an immigration inspector and resulted in the issuance by the Secretary of Labor of a warrant of deportation, dated June 5, 1931, under which the alien was taken into custody. Thereupon he sued out a writ of habeas corpus. After long delay, for which no reason is disclosed by the record, an order was entered on October 14, 1935, discharging the writ. On November 22, 1935, he filed a motion for a rehearing and a second petition for habeas corpus. The latter was dismissed but the court allowed the motion for rehearing as a motion to reopen the judgment and amend the original petition. See Salinger v. Loisel, 265 U.S. 224, 229, 44 S.Ct. 519, 521, 68 L.Ed. 989; Wong Doo v. United States, 265 U.S. 239, 44 S.Ct. 524, 68 L.Ed. 999. While the motion was pending, the State Board of Pardons granted the alien a pardon for the aforesaid crime of fornication. Thereafter on February 28, 1938, an order was entered dismissing the second writ and remanding the relator to the custody of the respondent. From this order the alien has prosecuted the present appeal in forma pauperis.

The warrant of deportation charges that the alien "has been found assisting a prostitute, and that he has been found receiving, sharing in or deriving benefit from the earnings of a prostitute." These charges are grounds for deportation under section 19 of the Immigration Act of 1917, 8 U.S.C.A. § 155. Mita v. Bonham, 9 Cir., 25 F.2d 11; Benetazzo v. Bonham, 9 Cir., 19 F.2d 520. If there was evidence to support the action of the Secretary of Labor in issuing his order, his findings are not subject to review by the courts. Costanzo v. Tillinghast, 287 U.S. 341, 53 S.Ct. 152, 77 L.Ed. 350. The district court examined the evidence and was satisfied that the charges were proved. With this conclusion we agree.

The appellant raises various objections to the conduct of the hearings before the inspector. The first is as to the admission in evidence of the record of testimony taken in the city court. The strict rules of evidence applicable in judicial proceedings do not obtain in deportation inquiries before the immigration authorities. See U. S. ex rel. Bilokumsky v. Tod, 263 U.S. 149, 157, 44 S.Ct. 54, 57, 68 L.Ed. 221; United States v. Curran, 2 Cir., 12 F.2d 639, 640; Ghiggeri v. Nagle, 9 Cir., 19 F.2d 875, 876; Hays v. Zahariades, 8 Cir., 90 F.2d 3. But in any event it is immaterial whether or not the city court record was properly...