White v. Chin Fong

Background

A Chinese man who had lived in the United States as a merchant and kept a fixed place of business for at least a year left for China in 1912 intending to return. Immigration officials held him for deportation as a Chinese person not entitled to be in the United States, and the Commissioner of Immigration concluded his original entry was obtained by fraud and ordered deportation. The District Court remanded him to the Commissioner's custody for deportation, but the Court of Appeals reversed and discharged him, finding the Commissioner had ignored evidence about his merchant status. The Supreme Court agreed to review that appeal.

Reasoning

The key question was whether an immigration official could decide that a longtime resident’s original entry was unlawful, or whether someone who had lived and worked in the United States and then departed with intent to return must receive a court-based inquiry into that right. The Court distinguished people trying to enter the country (subject to executive decisions) from those who had been here and left (entitled to judicial investigation). It relied on the Act of November 3, 1893, which requires two credible witnesses other than Chinese to prove a claimant was a merchant in the United States at least one year before departure. Because the Commissioner did not consider the evidence on that statutory question and instead treated the entry as fraudulent, the Court held the deportation order void and affirmed the appellate court’s discharge.

Real world impact

The decision means immigration officials may not cancel a previously recognized right to return without a proper court inquiry when the person had been living and working here and left intending to come back. It protects the ability of such merchants to rely on earlier adjudications and the specific statutory proof rules for merchant reentry. The ruling still allows executive control over persons seeking first-time admission.