White

This was a petition by the appellees to the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Washington, Northern Division, for a writ of habeas corpus. It was alleged in the petition that the petitioners were born in Russia; that they left Russia with their own free will; that they were seeking to enter the United States of their free will and good faith, intending to make the United States their permanent residence and home, and fully intending to obey and comply with all the laws of the United States; that they were being detained at the United States Detention Station in the city of Seattle, Wash., by the United States Commissioner of Immigration, contrary to the statutes in such cases made and provided. The court thereupon issued the writ, to which, and to the petition, Henry M. White, Commissioner of Immigration, made return that the petitioners were aliens and Russians; that they arrived at the port of Seattle, Wash., on December 19, 1913, and made application for admission to the United States; that they were held for special *769 inquiry by the Immigrant Inspector, and a board of special inquiry was appointed in accordance with the provisions of section 25…