Missed court date, Minneapolis woman faces deportation

[New Beginnings 32]

Missed court date, Minneapolis woman faces deportation

Hoa Nguyen, of Minneapolis, is in jail, set to be sent back to Vietnam despite being married to a U.S. citizen.

When Hoa Nguyen was shackled and jailed for failing to make an immigration hearing last month, she presented her reason to stay: Dan Hanson, her Illinois-born husband.

"I went down there [to jail] and thought, 'OK. Here I am. I'm her U.S.-citizen husband,'" Hanson said. "What can we do to make this right?"

Apparently, not much.

Nguyen, 29, came here from Vietnam on a student visa 10 years ago, earned a bachelor's degree at Luther College and a master's degree at the University of Minnesota, got married and made a life in Minneapolis. But she failed to file for a green card and missed a court date in August; she was jailed in Sherburne County.

Last week, an immigration judge denied Nguyen's motion to re-open her case, noting that her arguments did not constitute the "exceptional circumstances" needed to grant the motion. She now faces deportation, possibly within the next two weeks.

Her husband, friends, roommates and family are making the case online and in letters to elected officials that deporting Nguyen for one to five years would be an overreaction to what amounts to a paperwork problem.

"Part of the faith we're supposed to have in our system is that you're given the opportunity to right your wrongs," Hanson said. "And our wrongs, in this case, are not criminal. They're not violent. They're not malicious. They're clerical. And we're sorry."

Officials with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency could not be reached Saturday for comment.

Nguyen and Hanson met at Luther College in Iowa and begin dating after graduating in 2003. They married in November, then traveled to Vietnam early this year to marry there as well.

When they returned in February, Nguyen was stopped at the airport by immigration officers, who told her there was an issue with her status as a student.

Nguyen had enrolled as a Ph.D. student in French literature but was taking a break, Hanson said. They didn't know she no longer qualified as a student. The fact that the pair had gotten married further complicated things.

"If you're on a student visa, your intent is to be here and leave," Hanson said. "Once you get married to a U.S. citizen, they assume your intent is to immigrate."

He thought Nguyen was working to sort out the situation, according to his affidavit, and was unaware she had received a notice to appear in court on Aug. 13. The day after Nguyen missed the hearing, four immigration agents knocked on the door of their house in Uptown, where they live with fellow Luther grads, and took her away.

Friends have signed letters to elected officials, brainstormed ideas, updated a website (www.freehoa.org) and read Nguyen's notes from jail.

In one, addressed to her roommates ("Hello Colfax Ranchers") Nguyen sounds optimistic, despite her motion being denied: "I trust that you heard the latest from Dan, and while it's not the most pleasant of news, it puts a step behind us and a new one in front."

Some people have focused on the fact that, worst-case, Nguyen would spend several years with family members who love her in a safe country. That's true, Hanson said, but not the whole story.

"She'd live -- but how are we supposed to live," he said, his voice breaking. "We're almost 30. We want to have kids. If she's gone for the next six years, we could miss out on that opportunity. I don't think the fact that she's not going to die justifies this action."

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

Bachelor's degree, Master's degree, yet so ignorant as to not give a rodent's behind about her immigration status and, to top it off, fails to appear in court. I'm sorry, but I can't feel sorry for her.

[Old Dominion 26]

Are we funding all her years in graduate school? What kind of work could she be trusted with, if she can't even pay attention to our laws.

[Rings 10]

Bachelor's degree, Master's degree, yet so ignorant as to not give a rodent's behind about her immigration status and, to top it off, fails to appear in court. I'm sorry, but I can't feel sorry for her.

Ditto

[New Beginnings 32]

Those are my thoughts too. She seems like a very intelligent person and has everything else in her life together... but she has a "clerical error" with this??

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Agree with the above posters. "I didn't know" or "I forgot" are excuses apt of a 4 year old.