How Anti-Chinese Racism Became U.S. Immigration Doctrine 

By: Oliver Ma

In 1893, the United States arrested Fong Yue Ting, a Chinese person, and subjected him to

deportation. Fong called up witnesses to prove he was in the United States legally. But because

his witnesses were Chinese and not white, his immigration judge ruled against him (the Chinese

Exclusion Act of 1882 required Chinese people to have white witnesses to stay in the

country). The judge sentenced Fong to a year of hard labor and then deportation. Fong fought

back, arguing that the Chinese Exclusion Act is racist and violates the Constitution. He was right.

The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, deprivation of liberty without due

process, and the right to an attorney for criminal proceedings. But the Supreme Court approved

his deportation anyway. How?

The nine-judges of the Supreme Court based their decision on race, asserting that Chinese

people were dishonest by nature. Specifically, it stated that the testimony of Chinese persons was

untrustworthy as past cases were “attended with great embarrassment, from the suspicious

nature, in many instances, of the testimony offered to establish the residence of the parties,

arising from the loose notions entertained by the witnesses of the obligation of an oath.”

Therefore, the Chinese Exclusion Act’s requirement of requiring “at least one credible white

witness” made sense, and as such, Fong Yue Ting’s deportation was valid.

Amazingly, this egregious decision from the 1890s is still the foundation of our modern

deportation system. One important legal ramification of this case is that the Supreme Court ruled

that deportation is a civil proceeding, not a criminal proceeding. In other words, it created a

binding precedent that deportation is not punishment. See, e.g., Santelises v. Immigration and

Naturalization Serv., 491 F.2d 1254, 1255-56 (2d Cir. 1974) (“It is settled that deportation, being

a civil procedure, is not punishment and the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth

Amendment accordingly is not applicable.”). This meant that the protections of the U.S.

Constitution do not apply to Fong Yue Ting or to anyone being deported.

These protections matter because without them, marginalized communities are particularly at

risk and exposed to inhumane conditions. For instance, as of September 2025, more than 59,000

people, the vast majority of whom are people of color, are in ICE detention centers. They do not

have the right to an attorney, the right to challenge their detention, and most have not been

convicted of any crime. Regardless, they are stuck in detention for months or even years,

especially people with disabilities. During this time, they often lose their jobs, housing, and

access to their families.

I love telling this story. Fong Yue Ting, a court case from the 1890s, with sheer racism as

legal justification, is still the foundation for tens of thousands of people to be locked up without

trial every year. What a revealing fact about our legal system. Here, hatred of Chinese people in

the 1890s led to a policy that devastates all immigrant communities today.  And it is just one of

dozens of examples in American history of white supremacy-driven racism towards one group

causing suffering down the line for all communities of color. The rights of the AAPI community

have always been under attack in the United States, from the Chinese Exclusion Act, to the

internment of Japanese Americans in World War 2, to the rise of AAPI hate crimes in 2020,

to Florida’s recent law punishing Chinese people who purchase property in the state with a

felony charge.

Fong Yue Ting’s story is a timely reminder that the fates of America’s many immigrant

communities are intertwined, and Asian Americans have an important role to play in fighting for our collective liberation. A great place to start is volunteering with your county’s rapid response network to protect immigrant families.

Mandatory certificate of residence that Chinese people were required to carry