Exhibit M, Letter from Ngim Ah Oy to her Father Ngim Lin
ca. 5/17/1939
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Twenty-three year-old Lee Puey You arrived in San Francisco on April 13, 1939, claiming to be the daughter of a U.S. citizen. Traveling under the name Ngim Ah Oy, Lee had left her poverty-stricken family in war-ravaged China to marry Woo Tong, a widower 30 years her senior. Immigration officials interviewed her for three days about her family’s history, her village, her home, and her neighbors. When her answers differed from those of her “father,” officials ordered her deported. While Lee’s “family” appealed her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, she spent 20 months on Angel Island. Years later, she recalled, “sitting at Angel Island, I must have cried a bowlful of tears.” Lee was deported in 1940, but in 1947, after the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Acts, she returned to the United States posing as a war bride to marry Woo Tong. When she finally met him, she discovered his wife was still alive. She was forced to live with the couple and work for them until Woo died in 1950. After Woo’s death, Lee Puey You met and married Fred Gin, and together they raised four children. In 1955, she was investigated for entering the country using false documents. Lee confessed to this, and was ordered deported, but this time, her appeals were successful. She was allowed to stay and became a U.S. citizen in 1959. This letter was seized by the Immigration Service and used as evidence that Ngim Ah Oy was trying to secretly match her and her father’s answers to questions asked by immigration inspectors. See an additional letter Lee Puey You wrote to her father months earlier on December 21, 1938 that was also seized as evidence.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
National Archives Identifier: 6587596
Full Citation: Exhibit M, Letter from Ngim Ah Oy to her Father Ngim Lin; ca. 5/17/1939; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/exhibit-m-letter-from-ngim-ah-oy-to-her-father-ngim-lin, June 15, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
