United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. Woo Jan, 245 U.S. 552 (1918)

United States v. Woo Jan

No. 586

Argued January 17, 1918

Decided January 28, 1918

245 U.S. 552

Syllabus

Section 21 of the Immigration Act of February 20, 1907, c. 1134, 34 Stat. 898, empowers the Secretary of Labor, when satisfied that an alien has been found in the United States in violation of that act, or is subject to deportation under the provisions of that act or of any law of the United States, to cause such alien within the period of three years, etc., to be taken into custody and returned to the country whence he came; § 43, however, provides that the act shall not be construed to repeal, alter, or amend existing laws relating to the immigration or exclusion of Chinese persons or persons of Chinese descent. Held that § 43 preserves the judicial proceedings prescribed by the Chinese Exclusion acts for the cases to which those acts apply, and that, where the ground was a violation of the Exclusion Acts and not a violation of the Immigration Act, the summary administrative method provided by § 21 cannot be used. United States v. Wong You, 223 U. S. 67, distinguished.

The case is stated in the opinion.