The Test Case of Chin Fook
A legal battle over the constitutional rights of Chinese residents in 1890s Seattle.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The hearing of Chin Fook, a Chinese man charged with being illegally in the United States, was concluded yesterday before United States Commissioner James Kiefer, and it is one that those who heard it will remember for a long time on account of its highly exciting incidents. Chin Fook was caught about three weeks ago by a deputy marshal on the streets of Seattle and was supposed to have been one of the gang of forty men that landed at Smith's Cove a few nights before. When Commissioner Kiefer started to examine Chin Fook, his attorney, W. H. White, objected to the questioning, upon the ground that he was not bound to answer anything that might tend to criminate him. Mr. White then advised his client not to answer. Attorney White then advised and commanded the interpreter not to put the commissioner's questions. The interpreter was scared, and the court was so astonished that the commissioner thought best to adjourn. When the case came up again, Mr. White renewed his objection. Commissioner Kiefer then ruled that the man was not charged with a criminal offense and was bound to answer. The man again refused to answer, and the commissioner ruled that his refusal was sufficient ground for finding that he was not lawfully in the United States and he was ordered deported. Attorney White gave immediate notice of appeal, stating he would make a test case of whether a Chinese resident can be made to testify against himself.
“I will apply to the circuit court for his removal from his office upon the ground that he is denying a defendant his constitutional rights and is violating the law.”
This 1892 case highlights the precarious legal standing of Chinese immigrants under the Chinese Exclusion Act era. The struggle to assert constitutional protections against self-incrimination in immigration proceedings mirrors modern debates over the rights of undocumented individuals within a complex and often hostile federal bureaucracy.
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