After living in California for 12 years, Chinese national Che Chenping was ready for a visit home.
He obtained the necessary documents for his departure and return journey, and traveled to China, where he spent the next year reconnecting with friends and family.
But when he returned to San Francisco on October 8, 1888,
Ping and his fellow immigrant passengers were denied disembarkation.
Just days earlier, President Grover Cleveland had signed the Scott Act, which revoked the legal documents that allowed him to re-enter the United States.
The policy threatened to separate families and deprive Chinese immigrants of their homes and livelihoods. Ping challenged the decision, launching a legal battle for the rights of thousands of Chinese immigrants.
But her case inspired an even more controversial policy that continues to affect immigrants around the world.
Discrimination against Chinese immigrants began decades earlier,
when the California Gold Rush created a huge demand for labor. Initially, Chinese immigrants were welcomed as reliable workers and became an integral part of frontier communities.
Many built railroads and worked in mines, while others ran laundries, restaurants, and general stores. The Burlingame Treaty of 1868 even granted China trading status with the United States and allowed unrestricted immigration between the two countries.
But as large numbers of Chinese immigrants gained success, American workers began to see them as a threat. Politicians and labor leaders condemned them for lowering wages, and violence against Chinese people became increasingly common.
This anti-Chinese sentiment soon found its way into California courts.
In 1854, after a murder trial in which a white man was convicted of murdering a Chinese man, the California Supreme Court overturned the conviction, saying that Chinese eyewitness testimony was inadmissible.
The court ruled that Chinese nationals could not testify against white defendants, citing similar precedents barring blacks and Native Americans from testifying.
The decision effectively legalized violence against California's Chinese population, sparking mob attacks and segregation campaigns. In no time anti-China sentiment reached the federal level.
In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act,
the first federal law to expressly restrict immigration based on nationality.
In practice, the act barred the entry of all ethnic Chinese immigrants except diplomats, and barred existing immigrants from obtaining citizenship.
It also meant that Chinese individuals could not leave and return to the United States without first applying for a re-entry certificate.
This policy remained in place until October 1, 1888, when the Scott Act imposed a complete ban on re-entry, trapping Che Ching-ping and thousands of other Chinese immigrants.
In court, Ping argued that he had followed proper protocol to obtain a re-entry certificate, and that the government had not honored his legally issued document.
This argument was so strong that his case was sent to the Supreme Court. But the judges ruled against Ping, invalidating thousands of legal re-entry certificates at once.
The decision resulted in Ping's deportation and 20,000 Chinese immigrants unable to return to the United States. But even more important than the court's racist ruling was the rationale behind it.
Traditionally, the Supreme Court has been considered a check on the other two branches of the US government, ruling on policies approved by Congress and the President.
In this case, however, the court said it had no authority to rule on the Scott Act, because Congress had designated immigration policy as a "matter of national security." This decision set a unique precedent.
Until Ping's case is overturned, the congressional and executive branches can claim national security concerns to pass whatever immigration laws they want.
During the 20th century, foreign government officials used this power to freely discriminate against immigrant groups. The Asiatic Barred Zone Act of 1917 banned the entry of all South Asians.
And a wave of immigration in the 1920s extended restrictions across Asia,
Eastern Europe, and Southern Europe.
Many of these restrictions were lifted after World War II, and the Chinese Exclusion Act itself was finally repealed in 1943—60 years after it was enacted.
But the US government continues to use this precedent to deploy sudden and sweeping immigration policies, targeting journalists and dissidents as well as ethnic groups.
Little is known about what happened to Cha Chen Ping after his exile.
But the injustices suffered by him and thousands of other Chinese Americans continued to affect the rights and freedoms of immigrants.
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