Three Chinese Hop Pickers Ordered Deported in Seattle
A federal commissioner rejects claims of long residence and orders three men returned to China, while two others are discharged.
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.
Five Chinese were tried by United States Commissioner Kiefer yesterday on the charge of being unlawfully in the United States in violation of the restriction act. They had been hired to go to Slaughter to pick hops, and were arrested by Customs Inspector Coblents last Thursday. At the trial they all claimed to have resided in the country for various periods up to twenty-five years, but the testimony of those named Kem, Hong and Un Yah was discredited by the commissioner, and they were ordered to be deported. Their lawyer gave notice of appeal to the federal court. The others were discharged.
“They had been hired to go to Slaughter to pick hops, and were arrested by Customs Inspector Coblents last Thursday.”
The Chinese Exclusion Act made Asian immigrants deportable and criminalized their labor migration; even hop-picking work could lead to arrest. The case shows how federal immigration enforcement operated in Seattle and the Northwest, with appeals as the only brake—a precursor to today's deportation fights. The men's claims of up to twenty-five years in the country underline how long immigrant communities had already been rooted here.
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