Chan Kam v. United States

This is an appeal from an order, of the District Court denying petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The appellant is a Chinese woman who was arrested on the 26th day of August, 1913, at Dinuba, Cal., upon a warrant issued by the Department of Labor for the arrest of the appellant on the charge that she was in the United States in violation of the act of February 20, 1907 {34 Stat. pt. 1, p. 898, c. 1134), as amended by the act of March 26, 1910 (36 Stat., pt. 1, p. 263, c. 128) in this: That she was a prostitute, and had been found an inmate of a house of prostitution and practicing prostitution subsequent to her entry into the United States.

In her petition to the District Court she alleged that she was arrested on the aforesaid warrant and taken before the Inspector of Immigration at Fresno, in the state of California, and was examined upon the warrant; that subsequently the Secretary of the Department of Labor had ordered that she be deported from the United States. A copy of the testimony taken upon her examination is attached to the petition.

*991 [1] The alleged illegality of her restraint consists in the abuse of discretion on the part of the immigration officers in…