[213 U.S. 138, 139] Section 3 of the act of Congress of February 20, 1907 (34 Stat. at L. 898, 899, chap. 1134, U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1907, pp. 389, 392), entitled An Act to Regulate the Immigration of Aliens into the United States, reads as follows:

Sec. 3. That the importation into the United States of any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import, or attempt to import, into the United States, any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, or whoever shall hold or attempt to hold any alien woman or girl for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor in any house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, any alien woman or girl, within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall, in every such case, be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned not more than five years, and pay a fine of not more than five thousand dollars; and any alien woman or girl who shall be found an inmate of a house of prostitution or practising prostitution, at any time within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall be deemed to be unlawfully within the United States, and shall be deported as provided by sections twenty and twenty- one of this act.

The plaintiffs in error were indicted for a violation of this section, the charge against them being based upon that portion of the section which is in italics, and, in terms, that they wilfully and knowingly did keep, maintain, control, support, and harbor in their certain house of prostitution (describing it), for the purpose of prostitution, a certain alien woman, to wit, Irene Bodi, who was, as they well knew, a subject of the [213 U.S. 138, 140] King of Hungary, who had entered the United States within three years. A trial was had upon this indictment; the plaintiffs in error were convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for eighteen months.

Messrs. Benjamin C. Bachrach and Elijah N. Zoline for plaintiffs in error.

[213 U.S. 138, 141] Assistant Attorney General Fowler for defendant in error.

[213 U.S. 138, 143]

Statement by Mr. Justice Brewer:

Mr. Justice Brewer delivered the opinion of the court:

The single question is one of constitutionality. Has Congress power to punish the offense charged, or is jurisdiction thereover solely with the state? Undoubtedly, as held, Congress has the power to exclude aliens from the United States; to prescribe the terms and conditions on which they may come in; to establish regulations for sending out of the country such aliens as have entered in violation of law, and to commit the enforcement of such conditions and regulations to executive [213 U.S. 138, 144] officers. United States ex rel. Turner v. Williams, 194 U.S. 279, 289, 48 S. L. ed. 979, 983, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 719. See also Fong Yue Ting v. United States, 149 U.S. 698, 708, 37 S. L. ed. 905, 911, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1016; Head Money Cases (Edye v. Robertson) 112 U.S. 580, 591, 28 S. L. ed. 798, 801, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 247; Lees v. United States, 150 U.S. 476, 480, 37 S. L. ed. 1150, 1151, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 163; United States v. Bitty, 208 U.S. 393, 52 L. ed. 543, 28 Sup. Ct. Rep. 396.

It is unnecessary to determine how far Congress may go in legislating with respect to the conduct of an alien while residing here, for there is no charge against one; nor to prescribe the extent of its power in punishing wrongs done to an alien, for there is neither charge nor proof of any such wrong. So far as the statute or the indictment requires, or the testimony shows, she was voluntarily living the life of a prostitute, and was only furnished a place by the def