Case Summary

It was June 9th, 1913, when Mac Fock petitioned for a writ of Habeas Corpus having been held by Ellis DeBruler for what he believed to be for deportation. Fock had returned from China in March of that year and was denied admission and then appealed to the Secretary of Labor where he presented a certificate, he received in 1896 discharging him from prison for being charged with unlawful entry in the U.S. In return, DeBruler presented he held Fock under order of deportation to the Republic of China. It was also presented that Fock had applied for admission as a returning native born when there existed documented evidence that he was born in China. In his reply, Fock argued that an investigation of the immigration office pronounced the certificate genuine and thus he perceived he had the right to re-enter the U.A. In hearing the court states that the certificate could not be considered evidence and was issued fraudulently. The court then ruled in August of 1913 that the motion of the respondent, for the writ to be discharged, be granted. The writ was then discharged and Fock remanded to custody.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

• Deportation

Sites of significance

• U.S. Immigration Station (Seattle, Washington)

Outcome

Writ denied

Fate of bound party

Remained in custody

Case Citation

RG 21: US District Court, Western Division of Washington, Seatle. No. 2500

Source material(s)

Case File

Length of case file

Between 51 and 75 pages

Repository(s)

• National Archives and Records Administration, Seattle Branch, Washington (Seattle, WA) (Seattle, Washington)

State

• Washington

Point(s) of law cited

U.S. Const. amend. V.|U.S. Const. amend. XIV.|Statue 26 at large of United States Statutes, Section 25 of the Chinese Exclusion Act of February 1907, Section 14 of Chinese Exclusion Act 1888

Tag(s)

• 14th amendment

People

• Fock, Mac (petitioner)
• Fock, Mac (bound party)
• Place, Victor M. (petitioner attorney)
• Brown, L. Frank (petitioner attorney)
• DeBruler, Ellis (holding party)
• DeBruler, Ellis (responding party)
• DeBruler, Ellis (respondent)
• Brockway, Earl B. (respondent attorney)
• Cushman, Edward E. (judge)
• Neterer, Jeremiah (judge)

• Additional parties

  Crosby, Frank L. (Clerk)

  Jacoby, Joseph R. H. (Marshal)

  Anderson, H. R. (Deputy)

  McGettrick, Felix W. (United States Commissioner)

  Mouror, Henry A. (Witness)

  Levine, Benjamin Morris (Notary Public)

  Senter, John H. (United States Attorney)

  Manning, A. A. (Unknown)

  Bujers, W. A. (Notary Public)

  Lakin, Ed M. (Deputy)

  Tindall, Philip (Notary Public)