bhicaji balsara became the first known indian-born person to gain naturalized u.s. citizenship. as a parsi, he was considered a 'pure member of the persian sect' and therefore a free white person. the judge emile henry lacombe, of the southern district of new york, only gave balsara citizenship on the hope that the united states attorney would indeed challenge his decision and appeal it to create "“an authoritative interpretation”" of the law. the u.s. attorney adhered to lacombe's wishes and took the matter to the circuit court of appeals in 1910. the circuit court of appeal agreed that parsees belong to the white race and were ""as distinct from hindus as are the english who dwell in india”." kumar mazundarwas was also considered “caucasian” and thus eligible for citizenship. between 1913 and 1923, about 100 indians were naturalized. naturalization of indian immigrants ended in 1923, when the supreme court ruled in "united states v. bhagat singh thind" that indians were ineligible for citizenship because they were not “free white persons” and their status as “caucasian” was not enough to be considered “white”. the court also argued that the racial difference between indians and whites was so great that the "great body of our people" would reject assimilation with indians. about 50 indians’ citizenship was revoked after this ruling, but dr. sakharam ganesh pandit fought the ruling of denaturalization. he was a lawyer and married to a white american, and he regained his citizenship in 1927. however, no other naturalization was permitted after the ruling, which led to about 3,000 indians leaving the united states. many other indians had no means of returning to india. one such immigrant, vaisho das bagai, committed suicide in despair. “the return migration was large enough to render questionable the idea of immigration as a one-way system.”