Ex parte Owe Sam Goon

The petitioner, a native of China, came here in 1873 or 1874. In 1894 he registered and received his certificate as a Chinese laborer. He was arrested in Tucson on February 19, 1915, having been found in a refrigerator car, together with a fellow countryman. His case was heard by the immigration department, and not before a commissioner or judge, on the theory that he had recently entered the United States from Juarez, Mexico. To establish this fact one Pasqual Carrion of Juarez testified on February *655 26th, before an immigration inspector at El Paso, that he had seen petitioner a number of times in a laundry at Juarez, the last time being in August or September of 1914. This testimony was not taken in the presence of petitioner, but the witness Carrion identified a photograph of petitioner as that of the man seen by him in the laundry at Juarez.

Under Chinese Exclusion Act May 6, 1882, c. 126, 22 Stat. 58 , a Chinese alien unlawfully in the country is entitled to a hearing before a commissioner or judge before he may be deported. At such hearing the ordinary rules of evidence are generally applied. Under Immigration Act July 4, 1864, c. 246, 13 Stat. 385 , however, any alien…