In re Domingsil-Mercado

Petitioner is detained by the District Director of Immigration and Naturalization Service pursuant to a deportation order. His petition for a writ of habeas corpus prays for his release on the ground that the deportation order is invalid. An Order to Show Cause was issued on August 9, 1956, and the cause has been argued and submitted upon the record of the proceedings before the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Petitioner is a citizen of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. On April *910 16, 1927 he was admitted to Hawaii as-a United States national. He remained in Hawaii until April 1934, when he departed and arrived at the port of San Francisco on May 1, 1934. That same day the Philippine Independence Act, 48 Stat. 456 , 48 U.S.C. § 1232 et seq. became effective. Section 8(a) (1) of the Act provided that “For the purposes of the Immigration Act of 1917, the Immigration Act of 1924 (except section 13(c) ), this section, and all other laws of the United States relating to the immigration, exclusion, or expulsion of aliens, citizens of the Philippine Islands who are not citizens of the United States shall be considered as if they were aliens.”

Upon petitioner’s arrival in…