Fong Yue Ting v. United States

Under a 1892 amendment to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese residents in the U.S. were required to obtain certificates of residence or face summary deportation, with the statute requiring at least one credible white witness to confirm residency. Fong Yue Ting and Wong Quan (defendants), longtime Chinese residents, were arrested without having obtained certificates; Lee Joe (defendant) had applied and brought Chinese witnesses, but was denied a certificate for lacking a white witness as the statute required. All three were ordered deported without a proper hearing and petitioned for habeas corpus, arguing their detention violated due process; the circuit court dismissed the petitions, and the men appealed to the Supreme Court.