Biography
T. H. Li was a Chinese student held by US immigration authorities for deportation to China. A page headed May 16 bound into the Daily Worker PDF dated May 18, 1931 (PDF page 2), reports that the International Labor Defense obtained a writ of habeas corpus after protests. It expected to obtain bail the following Tuesday and sought funds because the amount was not yet fixed. NYU students and professors and the Chinese Students Alliance in America urged that he be allowed to depart voluntarily to a country of his choice. Neither the expected bail release nor voluntary departure is established as completed; the student’s initials are not expanded.
The Daily Worker of May 20, 1931, page 1, reports that ILD attorneys Shorr and King argued Li’s case before Judge Woolsey in federal court the previous day, seeking voluntary departure to the Soviet Union. A decision was still awaited. The page 4 Burck cartoon also identifies his threatened deportation to China. Neither the hearing, the hoped-for departure nor the cartoon establishes an actual release or completed deportation.
The Daily Worker of May 29, 1931, page 1, explicitly dates Li’s Ellis Island confinement from May 15. It says bail was reduced from $3,000 to $1,000 and arranged by the New York ILD, but the body says he will be out this morning. Despite the headline saying is bailed, actual departure remains prospective in the article. His appeal was expected during the summer, with a decision awaiting the Serio case; no completed release, deportation or custody total is inferred.
