Ping immigrated to California legally, and worked there for 12 years before leaving for a visit to his family. He knew that immigration laws were getting more restrictive, but carried a government certification promising he could return. But while he was traveling back to California, the law changed. His government papers were now worthless. When he arrived in San Francisco, he was detained, held for months, and finally deported.
This happened in 1888, not 2017. Ping, full name Chae Chan Ping, was caught on the horns of America’s first immigration ban, the Chinese Exclusion Acts. From 1882 to 1943, these laws prohibited all Chinese nationals, except merchants and students, from entering the country. Although the 1882 act permitted Chinese with a certificate of prior residence to return to the U.S., while Ping was on the steamer ship from China to California, Congress declared these certificates invalid.
