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From the Los Angeles Times
Norwalk couple ordered deported after turning to courts for legal residency
The Indian man and his English wife overstayed tourist visas and went to immigration officials in 1997, believing they would be granted green cards. After the decade-long battle, a federal court rules
By Anna Gorman
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 2, 2008
An Indian man and his English wife who voluntarily turned themselves in to immigration authorities more than 10 years ago in hopes of gaining legal residency are facing deportation after a federal court ruled against them, their attorney said this week.
Jayantibhai and Indiraben Desai overstayed tourist visas in the early 1980s and have lived here ever since, buying a home in Norwalk, paying taxes and raising two U.S.-born sons. Jayantibhai Desai obtained a work permit and works as a travel agent; Indiraben is a homemaker.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that it didn't have jurisdiction to review the immigration judge's decision ordering them to leave the country.
"I am so worried about my kids and being separated," Indiraben Desai said. "I don't know what is going to happen."
The 9th Circuit decision came on the same day as a congressional hearing about the shortage of immigration judges and the inadequate supervision of the Executive Office of Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts nationwide. During that hearing, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) criticized the lack of resources for the courts and the politicization of the hiring process.
The Desais' attorney, Carl Shusterman, said he believes the outcome of his clients' case is exactly what Lofgren had in mind when she talked about the breakdown of immigration courts.
The Desais willingly landed in immigration court in 1997. They believed that they would be given green cards and permission to stay in the country.
The case was delayed for several reasons, including the loss of the file and the transfer of the judge. When the Desais finally presented their case in 2004, they explained that their U.S.-born sons, who were still teenagers, depended on them financially and emotionally. One of their sons had ulcerative colitis, an inflammation of the colon, and depended on his father's insurance for his extensive medical bills.
A judge ruled against them, saying that their son could receive Medi-Cal and that they could travel to the U.S. as tourists to visit their sons.
The Board of Immigration Appeals found that the judge had made incorrect findings and said the family would "suffer some hardship" as a result of the parents' deportation. But the board upheld the order of deportation, saying that the hardship wasn't extreme enough for the couple to qualify for green cards and that the "children may be able to take care of themselves due to the fact that they are nearing the age of adulthood."
The Desais appealed to the 9th Circuit, but the court said it didn't have jurisdiction to rule on the case.
As the case was going through the court system, the couple's eldest son turned 21 and filed a petition to legalize his parents. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved the petition, but the government attorneys and the Board of Immigration Appeals declined to reopen the case.
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles, said the couple had exhausted their appeals and that the agency now intended to carry out the judge's order.
"This couple had their day in court," Kice said. "In fact, this couple had their decade in court. Courts at all levels determined they didn't have a legal basis to be in the U.S."
anna.gorman@latimes.com
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/immigration/la-me-deport2-2008oct02,0,4915358.story
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