A Certificate, a Prison Term, and a One-Way Ticket Out of Spokane
Federal Judge Hanford ordered Jim Slick deported after ruling that the Chinese laborer's revenue certificate was void because he had already served time at McNeil's Island.
Jim Slick, a Chinese laborer who had recently made Spokane his home, was arrested there on July 9, charged with illegally obtaining a certificate from the revenue officials, and his trial was begun before Judge Hanford yesterday afternoon. The evidence showed that the man had served a term in the United States prison at McNeil's Island, whereupon Judge Hanford held that the certificate had been illegally secured, and was, in view of the imprisonment, therefore void. The prisoner was ordered deported.
“The certificate had been illegally secured, and was, in view of the imprisonment, therefore void. The prisoner was ordered deported.”
Chinese exclusion was enforced through paperwork as much as patrols: a certificate could be challenged, a prior conviction could void it, and a single hearing could end a person's life in the country. Jim Slick's case in Spokane shows how the immigration bureaucracy turned past imprisonment into grounds for removal. The same logic—criminal records, document validity, deportation—still drives immigration debates today.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.