The affidavit upon which this proceeding is based charges that the defendant is now unlawfully within the limits of the United States, and it is further charged therein that the defendant—

The sufficiency of this affidavit is not to be determined by the strict rules applicable to pleadings, and, giving to it a very liberal construction, the affidavit may be construed as charging that the defendant is a Chinese laborer, and not lawfully entitled to remain in the United States. The special referee to whom the case was referred, with instructions to hear the testimony and report to the court the facts, and to recommend such judgment as in his opinion ought to be entered, has filed his report, in which he says:

No exceptions have been taken to the findings or recommendation of the special referee.

The general practice of the court, in proceedings like this, is to give judgment in favor of the defendant without further inquiry, when such judgment has been recommended by the referee, and no exceptions are taken to the particular findings of fact which justify such recommendation; but it is apparent from the report of the referee in the case now before the court that his recommendation that the defendant be discharged is based entirely upon what he considers the legal effect of the action of the collector of the port of San Francisco in permitting the defendant to land in this country upon her arrival from the Chinese empire. I am unable to concur in the conclusion of law thus reached by the referee. The action of the collector in permitting the defendant to land at the port of San Francisco does not have the same effect as the decision of an officer or special tribunal expressly empowered by law to hear evidence and pass upon questions specially referred to such officer or tribunal for final determination, such, for instance, as the decision of the officers of the land department in a contest between citizens, or between a citizen and the government arising under the pre-emption, homestead, or other laws providing for the sale and disposition of public lands. It is, of course, well settled that the decisions of the officers of the land department in such cases are binding upon the parties affected, and can only be set aside for fraud, imposiiion, or mistake of law. Johnson v. Towsley, 13 Wall. 72 ; Steel v. Smelting Co.. 106 U. S. 447 , 1 Sup. Ct. 389. The same rule applies to the action of a board or officer clothed by law with the duty of approving or rejecting claims against a county, town, or city. Thus, in Osterhoudt v. Rigney, 98 N. Y. 222 , it is said:

But the action of a collector of customs in permitting a Chinese alien to land in this country is not in any sense judicial, and does not fall within the rule applicable to decisions of special tribunals of the character of those which have been referred to. The law does not give to such order or permission the effect of a judgment that such person is entitled to remain in the United States. The only effect of such permission is that the passenger claiming the right so to do is *424 allowed to land, and if subsequently such alien is arrested, and charged with being unlawfully within the United States, the order of the collector of customs, under which such person was permitted to land, is not even prima facie evidence of his right to remain in the United States, and the court, in such a proceeding, inquires into the truth of the matter, unembarrassed by such order of the collector. In re Li Foon, 80 Fed. 881 . See, also, U. S. v. Jung Ah Lung, 124 U. S. 621 , 8 Sup. Ct. 663; U. S. v. Chung Shee, 22 C. C. A. 639 , 76 Fed. 951 . In the present case the evidence clearly shows that the defendant has upon more than one occasion admitted that she was born in China, and her general appearance indicates that she is a Chinese person. It also appears that she first came to the United States on January 20, 1.897, and is a laborer. No attempt has been made by the defendant to explain or deny that, upon the several occasions testified to by the witnesses, she made the statement that she was born in China; and there is nothing whatever in the evidence which tends in the least degree to discredit the truth of such admission, and it must therefore be accepted as true. Judgment will be entered for the deportation of the defendant in accordance with this opinion and the findings this day filed.