Author: Noah Mota Pinto

               My research last week at the National Archives   in Washington consisted of Japanese and Chinese immigrants who were detained by Immigration services and used Habeas Corpus in order to try and get into the United States. Most of those that I research consisted of sons of merchants that were detained on account of differing testimonies.

               One example that I have is of the child Lim Show[1] who was seven when he arrived in the United States. He was the merchant son of Lim Jew who was a member of the firm Fay Yuen and Co in San Francisco.  Lim Show was denied access on account that the child was only able to answer simple answers and that any witnesses to the parentage was were only able to see the son for a few seconds. I could not find out what happened to him. One example at the opposite end of the spectrum of these particular type of case is the experience of Young Fook[2] and Young Yin, who arrived here on February 17, 1918. They were seeking admission as the sons of Young Pang who was a merchant of the firm of Quang Yah company. The immigrant Young Fook and Young Yi were denied on the allegation that they were not the sons of Young Yi as the is a discrepancy in the testimonies of both Young Fook and Young Yin in their immigration interrogation. I also cannot find out what happened to them, but it is most likely that they were deported  Other types of records that I found at the National Archives were Japanese families who immigrated to the United States and were detained due to discrepancies that the immigration had with the immigration laws of the United States. One example of this is the case of the  Yamashita[3] family who arrived in the United States with his family and was detained due the irregularity of their case.  Yamashita’s case families case is unique as the parents admitted that they were laborers in Japan , which regular would disqualify them from entering the United States. But due to the fact that  Miss Yamashita’s father was a farmer in the United States and partly due to a treaty between Japan and America that stipulated that America should issue passports to the laborers who are children of immigrants who lived  in the United States, they were allowed by the law to enter the United States.  Another unique part of this case was that sons (who were adopted) of Yamashita had American passports. What the outcome was of this unique case is unknown. What is unique about this case is that it involves the conflict of interest between the law of America and the international treaty between America and Japan.

               Out of all the cases that I read during our stay at the National archives, most of the files that I researched during our most recent outing had unknown conclusions. The best that I can do is infer from the text in the files that they were deported from the United States.

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[1] Lim Show, File 54085/32, Accession E9, subject correspondence,1906-1932 , Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, RG 85 (National Archives, Washington D.C).

[2] Young Fook, Young Yi, File , Accession E9, subject correspondence, 1906-1932, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, RG 85 (National Archives, Washington D.C).

[3] M Yamashita and Family, File 54004/18 Accession E9, subject correspondence,1906-1932 , Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, RG 85 (National Archives, Washington D.C).

This Friday, I went on my second trip to the National archives in order to research my group topic for Immigration history class In between the two trips, the topic of the group project had changed, as it switched from the broader topic of the workings of Angel island and the disparities between the treatment of the Chinese and the Japanese (in terms of medical treatment and interrogations) to the narrower topic of Habeas Corpus and deportation.  Due to me, not emailing the professor my research number beforehand; I had to wait for the staff to pull the immigrations papers that I asked for. When I finally got my papers at 3:00; I started to comb over them and write the information down on my computer; instead of using the must faster method of taking pictures on my phone; because I was saving my phone battery for my trip to Philadelphia. During my look at the immigration papers, I found a lot of appeals from either son of merchants or Chinese Americans who can here before the Chinese exclusion act.  I also found a lot of papers about Asian children that arrived either unsupervised or with their parents into the port of San Francisco and were able to enter the United States.  Here are some examples of the records:

54790/57

Ting Chuck Fan was 63 years old when he arrived in America as a merchant of the firm of Lun Sing & CO. He was detained because the Bureau was unable to find his name on the partnership of the firm, He arrived in America multiple times in the past, but law changed after the last time he left the US. *(There was a need for pre-investigation of witnesses and merchants) This was also compounded on the fact that most his witnesses were put on a “blacklist” (Does not exist). He was later released .[1]

54790/64

Tom Wing Sing came on SS Nile and was the son of Citizen. He was initially denied for not satisfy evidence as to claimed relationship as there was a Disparity in the testimony of the immigrants (use of Burial grounds and whether or not he attended school) [2]

54790/69

Wong Kee claimed to be a merchant’s son but was denied due to lack of evidence and disparities in his

Testimony (such as birth date, last time he saw father, if his father was even in the United States ) was thought to have committed fraud.[3]
54072/3

Kimoto Ohta was a girl of sixteen from China who came to America in order to stay with her father, she was admitted into the United states after she was found out by the review board as a sound and prominent individual. [4]

54072/21

Love Ceon Chong was a merchant who came to the United States February 8^th 1928 and was deported June 28 1916 , but was able to file for appeal for a return certificate was denied [5]

54072/40

Hisa Ito was a Japanese photo bride who arrived on April 7, 1916, but was detained of trachoma, and was able to appeal for a rehearing for consideration for hospital treatment, it is unknown whether or not she got her treatment. [6]

All these records could help my group understand the judicial concept of Habeas Corpus and how it can apply to Asian immigrants. Another benefit that these records can apply to the project is the different between the Japanese and the Chinese experience of the Appeal system. The records of the children that I found can also reveal to the rest of the group, how the appeal court in Washington was lenient on children.   Some of these records also reveal a bias or an unwellness among the staff of angel island to accept any Chinese or Japanese immigrants. Another thing about the records that I noticed is that the interrogation questions reveal a need for detail among the staff of the angel island, as these people like to know about every detail of the house and village that the Chinese immigrant used to live in.  This is because; as was revealed on the angel island movie, the Chinese did not record where people lived at the time. Another part of that movie that I was reminded of when I went through the records was the part about paper sons and picture brides.

1.Commisioner of Immigration, letter, San Francisco, California, File: 54790/57

Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, (National Archives, Washington D.C.)

2. Commissioner of Immigration, letter, San Francisco, California, File: 54790/64

Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, (National Archives, Washington D.C.)

3. Commissioner of Immigration, letter, San Francisco, California, File: 54790/69

Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, (National Archives, Washington D.C.)

4.Commisioner of Immigration, letter, San Francisco, California, September 30, 1915, File: 54072/3

Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, (National Archives, Washington D.C.)

5. Commissioner of Immigration, letter, San Francisco, California, July 1, 1916, File: 54072/21, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, (National Archives, Washington D.C.)

6. . Commissioner of Immigration, letter, San Francisco, California, April 4, 1916, File: 54072/40

Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, (National Archives, Washington D.C.)

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During my trip to the national archives I found at lot of records detailing the way that Immigration services worked back in the day and the procedure in which they processed people. Another aspect that I found out was that the immigration services perspective of an immigrant changed according to nationality or race. Many people I found out were smuggled into the United states from Mexico and were deported back there via the port of San Francisco. I also found out that many aliens went by alias in order to avoid being deported.  Most of my time consisted combing through tons of records in a tedious repetition of reading and photographing the records. I eventually worked so hard that I no longer felt hungry.  Here is the list of records that I found:

545556/1 -Jitsuyo Akioka – He was deported at the port of San Francisco, and he was a native to Japan-  His expenses caused by the deportation were played in full by authorities, and he arrived at at Calexico California

545556/2 Wong Hong- 17 year- He was a Chinese Laborer, and he was arrested as being a public charge No expenses accord via deportation, He entered via Mexico

7338/ 30 years -Chon Hing alias John Moore – He is a  Native of Singapore who arrived a San Francisco via Honolulu, but  could not be deported right away as he was a subject of Great Britain. There was a  plan  by the Immigration department for him to be called up for military service in order to be deported   His  Bond set at $1000 ,  He originally came via American Hawaiian company, but that was   discontinued by the time of his arrest, it was revealed that he deserted the ship Georgian at San Francisco, He also  admitted that he had a sister in china and was sending money to her.  The records show that the investigation was incomplete but the department  deported him anyway, He was eventually deported to China

54558/9 Low Gum Joe – Lom Gum Joe was the son of Low ah form who came to America  before the Chinese Exclusion Act – Charges were brought by the department that Low Gum Joe made many trips to china and came back via false or misleading statements , These charges were dropped and Low Gum Joe was let go

54353/502 Hindu – Morchu Singh was arrested and held in bond that was to be extended – noted to have completed all the requirements to reside in the US as a resident alien- A man by Mr. Pierce vouched for him noting all of his qualities, that he was intelligent, he spoke English, and was a excellent and efficient employee . Singh worked for him in Yolo county. It turns out that Singh  could not come back when he left in 1918 because Immigration services had  changed law to exclude Hindus from India who lived at around a certain latitude , immigration services wrote kindly and courteous tone , and raised him as ideal immigrant – He was let go

Kiyont Sagara arrive in SS Korea Maru- He was interned at Angel Island in order to determine if she had a disease, none found- $500 deposit returned

54353- 596 Johanne Lohmann – He was  47  years old at the time and was imprisoned on Angel island because he was an alien enemy , if found that he was an illegal alien he would be imprisoned at interment camp due to President Proclamation , His  Interrogation consisted of questions about how he thought about the Germans and their war effort or if he did any acts of violence against the United States  and he was deported. He arrived to the United States in August 30 1915

54352/601 – Conrad Andre 36 years of age  – enemy alien – interned at San Francisco- He was as a  German Vice consul at Cobu  and he was  excluded as an Alien enemy. His interrogations included questions about his job.

I was surprised to find out the amount of Chinese that came or were smuggled in from Mexico. I also was surprised to find out that enemy aliens during the First World War were screen and interned if they could not reasonably justify their presence in the United States or if Immigration Services suspected them. I thought that that only happened in the Second World War.  A final thing that I found out, while I was combing through the records was that if a person was here legally and was found to be intelligent and sophisticated that the immigration records would praise them and allow them to stay. This was surprising to me as this went against my preconceived notion of Immigration Services as full of racist and nativist officials. This could be beneficial to our project as we could use these examples to prove how biases effected the officials and the process of immigration was at the time. It could also prove that  the racist bias  against immigrants among the officials of Immigration services only went so far against characteristics of the immigrant.