Deportation by Arrhythmia
Snapshots from Indian-American history
this month, that year
July 29, 1913
– An immigration
case file for Arjan Singh (Case File
No. 12815/8-4).
Arjan Singh arrived in San Francisco aboard the S.S. Persia from Manila on July 29, 1913. On July 31, Singh was interrogated by a board including Inspectors R.E. Peabody, H. Schmoldt, and Interpreter D.S. Dady Burjar. After the interrogation, Singh was taken into custody on the grounds that he was “alleged to become a public charge at the time of [his] entry into the Philippine Islands.” Included in the case file is a medical certificate that stated that Singh was afflicted with arrhythmia, which would affect his “Ability To Earn A Living.” Singh’s case was part of a larger warrant for the deportation of nearly a dozen other Indian men who also arrived aboard the S.S. Persia.
Alice Itty is a volunteer for the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA). She currently works for the Alliance for Downtown New York. This column’s material is from SAADA. https://www.saada.org/.
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