STUCK IN HAWAII

 

ARRIOLA AND QUAN

Two Chamorro men, Richard Borja Arriola and John Concepción Quan, wanted to fly to California in 1947, armed with "Guam passports" and certificates of "Guam citizenship." Guam was a US possession so no problem flying to the States, right? Wrong.

In 1947, Guam was still under Navy rule and the Chamorros of Guam were not US citizens (except for a few exceptions). The Governor of Guam in 1947 was still a Navy officer, at that time Rear Admiral Charles A. Pownall. Guam residents were considered "nationals" of the US. This meant they fell under the "protection" of the US and owed allegiance to the US, but did not have all the rights which a US citizen had.

US Immigration in Hawaii, where Arriola and Quan arrived separately, said that Pownall could determine, for Guam's purposes, who was a "citizen of Guam," but that being a "Guam citizen" did not automatically make the person a US national, for reasons which will soon be clear as the story continues. US Immigration wanted to make certain that Arriola and Quan were indeed US nationals.

ARRIOLA

ARRIOLA'S HONOLULU ARRIVAL RECORD

Held for Proof of Status

The first red flag for US Immigration in Hawaii went up when it became known that Arriola was born in Saipan in 1926. In 1926, Saipan was under Japanese jurisdiction. Even though Arriola moved to Guam at the age of 6, before World War II, and lived with one of the Goyo families (Josefina Díaz Pérez, a widow, whose son Pedro served as senator), US Immigration did not count him an American national, being born on an island under Japan in 1926 and in 1947 a United Nations Trust Territory only entrusted to provisional US administration.

Pownall considered Arriola a US national, having lived on Guam for so long, but US Immigration said he could not be a US national if he was not born on Guam or Samoa.

QUAN

QUAN HELD FOR BSI IN HONOLULU

"Board of Special Inquiry"

Quan was even more bewildered by his detention because US Immigration had no problem letting him travel to the US mainland earlier in 1946 where he stayed quite a long time. Furthermore, there was no question that Quan was born on Guam in 1923, long after Guam became a US possession.

But there was a technicality. Quan's father was Chinese, born in China. According to the rules in force between 1900 and 1940, in order to be considered a US national, both your parents had to be US nationals, which Quan's father was not.

A second problem was also found. The rules in force between 1907 and 1922 stated that any female who was a US national who married a non-national lost her status. Quan's Chamorro mother, Engracia Concepción, married Quan during those years, so she lost her status as a US national. John ended up being born in 1923 the son of two non-US nationals!

When Pownall heard what happened to Arriola and Quan, he demanded their release and freedom to travel, but US Immigration basically said Pownall's authority extended only as far as Guam's shoreline. The US Navy and US Immigration were thus at odds, something rare at the time.

Travel records show that Quan returned to Guam after this. I don't know what was the next step for Arriola.

All this became resolved for Quan in 1950 when the Organic Act conferred US citizenship on Quan, but not for Arriola who was born in pre-war Saipan, whose only resort was the naturalization process, or to wait till 1986 when US citizenship was extended to the Northern Marianas.