In re Hersvik

Gn June 4, 1924, petitioners were alien residents of the United States, and had been such residents for a period of more than three years immediately prior to said date. They were seamen by occupation. On June 4, 1924, they shipped' on an American vessel as a p'art of the crew, engaging for a voyage to the port of Antofagasta, in the republic of Chile, and return. Upon the arrival of the ship on its return voyage, on the 11th day of July, 1924, at the port of San Pedro, Cal., petitioners were detained by the immigration officers as being aliens not entitled to be admitted to the United States.

Petitioners do not come within the class known as immigrants, defined in section 3 of the Immigration Act of 1924 as being aliens “departing from any place outside the United States destined for the United States,”'for they did not depart trom any foreign place, but departed from the United. States for a continuous voyage which ended in a United Sta1 es port. They were not subject to the collection of a head tax by the express rules of the immigration department, which excepts from that tax (rule 1, subdivision e) “aliens who, starting from a port of the United States, return thereto after…