Judge Hanford Rules on Chinese Exclusion Law
A landmark decision in U.S. District Court affirms the government’s power to deport Chinese residents through summary proceedings rather than formal indictments.
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Judge Hanford, of the United States court, handed down a very important decision yesterday, bearing upon the Chinese exclusion act. By it he held that it is not necessary to have a presentment or indictment by a grand jury in order to proceed against a Chinese person for being illegally in the United States. Judge Hanford noted that if the court required formal jury trials for every arrest, the government would be unable to carry out the law, as the number of Chinese persons who might enter the country clandestinely could paralyze the courts. He ruled that the law permits an information to be filed by the United States attorney, upon which the accused may be brought to trial, and if the judge finds the necessary facts, he may issue process for the removal of the accused to his own country.
“If everyone of them arrested must be tried as a criminal for the purpose of punishing him... the government has tied the hands of its officers.”
This ruling highlights the systemic use of legal mechanisms in Seattle and the broader U.S. to enforce exclusion and xenophobia. It remains a stark reminder of the state-sanctioned violence and dispossession inflicted upon Chinese residents during the late 19th century.
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