DATARAM VALIEAM, HASSOMAL GHANSWANDAS AND RUPCHAND ASSANDAS, PETITIONERS AND APPELLEES, VS. THE INSULAR COLLECTOR OP CUSTOMS, RESPONDENT AND APPELLANT.

It appears from the record that said appellees arrived at the port of Manila on the steamship Niko Maru
on the 27th day of October, 1919, and asked permission to enter the
Philippine Islands. Some question arose concerning their right to
enter, and a board of special inquiry was appointed for the purpose of
examining into that question. The investigation commenced on the 4th
day of November, 1919. The only witnesses presented were the applicants
themselves.

After hearing the evidence, the board of special inquiry found
that said applicants were not entitled to enter the Philippine Islands.
From that decision an appeal was taken to the Collector of Customs, who
affirmed the same. Later, the applicants presented a petition for the
writ of habeas corpus in the Court of First Instance of the city of
Manila. After a consideration of the record made in the department of
customs, the Hon. George R. Harvey reached the conclusion that the
petitioners were entitled to enter the Philippine Islands, granted the
writ of habeas corpus, and ordered the petitioners discharged from the
custody of the law. From that decision the Collector of Customs
appealed to this court.

The appellees base their right to enter the Philippine Islands upon
the claim that they are merchants. An examination of the record shows
that they came from India, and from that part of India the inhabitants
of which are prohibited from entering territory of the United States
unless they belong to one of the exempted classes. They did not present
any of the proofs required by the Act of Congress of February 5, 1917,
to show that they belonged to one of the exempted classes. In the
absence of such proof, the Collector of Customs was not only justified,
but it was his duty under the law, to deny the right of the appellees
to enter the territory of the United States.

The appellee, Dataram Valiram, attempted to show, by his own
declaration, that he had been in the Philippine Islands before on
several different occasions, covering a period of six or seven years,
and that while here, on the former occasions, he was employed or
engaged as a merchant; that when he left the Philippine Islands in 1917
or 1918, he severed his relations with the people with whom he had been
engaged (if his statement is true) as a merchant; that he was returning
at the present time for the purpose of engaging again in business as a
merchant. In other words, he was returning to the Philippine Islands to
become a merchant.

The theory of the law (Act of Congress of February 5, 1917) is,
that aliens who desire to enter the territory of the United States
shall enter because they are and have been merchants in the country
whence they came, and not because they desire to enter the territory of
the United States in order to become merchants. Upon the theory of the
appellees, all aliens belonging to the prohibited classes— Chinamen and
Indians—might enter the territory of the United States.

Aliens, even of the merchant class, who belong to the prohibited
class, must furnish the evidence required by law before they can enter
the territory of the United States. The appellees not having furnished
the evidence required by law, the department of customs was justified
in denying their right to enter.

There being no abuse of power or discretion shown on the part of
the department of customs, the judgment appealed from is hereby
revoked, and it is hereby ordered and decreed that the petitioners be
returned to the custody of the Collector of Customs in order that the
order of deportation heretofore made by him may be carried into effect,
with costs against the appellees. So ordered.

Araullo, Street, Avancena, and Villamor, JJ., concur.