But when Mr. Ng, who had overstayed a visa years earlier, went to immigration headquarters in Manhattan last summer for his final interview for a green card, he was swept into immigration detention and shuttled through jails and detention centers in three New England states.
In April, Mr. Ng began complaining of excruciating back pain. By mid-July, he could no longer walk or stand. And last Wednesday, two days after his 34th birthday, he died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Rhode Island hospital, his spine fractured and his body riddled with cancer that had gone undiagnosed and untreated for months.
In 2001, a notice ordering him to appear in immigration court was mistakenly sent to a nonexistent address, records show. When Mr. Ng did not show up at the hearing, the judge ordered him deported. By then, however, he was getting married, and on a separate track, his wife petitioned Citizenship and Immigration Services for a green card for him — a process that took more than five years. Heeding bad legal advice, the couple showed up for his green card interview on July 19, 2007, only to find enforcement agents waiting to arrest Mr. Ng on the old deportation order.
The Korean has only this to say: Americans, be grateful. You are the luckiest people in the whole world. Don't complain when you are down on your luck. At least you won't be snatched away from your life and die in a jail cell because of a wrong address.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
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oh gosh, that's horrible! At least they could've had a doctor check him out! I think when someone is no longer to stand is a pretty BIG indication something is wrong with him :P
ReplyDeleteWrong address? Ridiculous. They should've given him another chance before trying to deport him.