Luther alumna faces possible deportation
A 2003 Luther alumna is currently incarcerated and facing deportation to her native country of Vietnam after a clerical error regarding her graduate student visa
By: Sam Wiles , Staff Writer
Hoa Nguyen (‘03) was alone in the Minneapolis home she shares with her husband Dan Hanson (‘03) Aug. 14 when four immigration officers forcibly detained her for failing to attend a court date where she was to discuss a change in her student visa status.
After Nguyen and Hanson were married in the U.S. in Nov. of 2008, the couple traveled back to Vietnam in January to have a ceremony with Nguyen’s family. On their return voyage to the U.S. they were stopped by immigration officials and notified that she needed to re-apply for a form of citizenship.
After being denied more time to sort through the process, Nguyen received a letter mandating she appear in court Aug. 13. Nguyen confused the date, thinking she was to appear Aug. 23 and missed her court appearance. She was arrested the day after.
Nguyen had a distinguished personal record of academic accomplishment while at Luther College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude. She presented her personal research in Japan in 2002. She was a Preus Scholarship recipient (the college’s most prestigious academic scholarship) and the recipient of Luther’s international student award.Nguyen had recently obtained a master’s degree in French literature from the University of Minnesota, where she also taught, and was planning to obtain a Ph.D. in French literature prior to her arrest.
Nguyen and Hanson felt that their marriage would be a safety net against anything that could happen with her status as an immigrant.
“I went down there [to jail] and thought, ‘OK. Here I am. I’m her U.S.-citizen husband,’” Hanson said in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
After discovering that Nguyen could be deported for a minimum 5 years, Hanson took their situation to friends and family, the online community, the media and anyone else who would listen. Hanson started the Web site FreeHoa.org, which features letters from friends and community members, updates about the situation and even a
note from Nguyen from jail.
“Hoa and I have tried to legally comply with the immigration laws of this country. And we got tripped up. We would like to be responsible for those mistakes, yet the punishment we are receiving is, frankly, harsh.” Hanson said in a video posted on the site.
Hanson also asks that anyone wanting to help write personal letters to Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, as well as any Minnesota congressmen.
Hanson fears that at their present age, starting a family will be especially difficult if Nguyen is unable to return to the U.S. for 5 years.
While school was out of session during Nguyen’s time at Luther, she stayed with Dr. David Judisch and his family in Decorah. Judisch is the heading a campus effort trying to aid the ‘FreeHoa’ project.
“There have been multiple Luther Admin and Faculty who have written letters to multiple politicians. We’re all saddened by this. She has meant a lot to us. This is a very, very sad state.” Judisch said.
“Regardless of what infractions have occurred, deporting someone is way too extreme. At this point we don’t know whether or not this deportation will come through. It very well may be. Any assistance that this campus can provide by letting their voices be heard would be a positive help in shortening the time she would have to spend away from the US,” Judisch added.
Recently, Hanson has organized several letter writing parties across the country and has organized a benefit concert. Also the ‘FreeHoa’ effort has reached out to American Families United, a group that attempts to aide people in similar immigration situations.
A Learning Experience
While I certainly sympathize with the Hansons' situation and think that the possible deportation proceedings are a bit too harsh for the situation, I do urge anyone who is ever considering navigating the turbulent waters of immigration law and regulations to take note and take heed -- when it comes to immigration in the United States, all of the cards are on the dealer's side. You are completely at the mercy of the system.
Having married an Australian woman, we've been here and done this before. The rules and regulations are well-spelled-out in the multitudes of forms and instructions on the USCIS website but you absolutely must follow it to the exact instruction and never push your limits on what's desired and required by the officials and the system or you will find yourself in dire straits in a very short time.
In order to properly immigrate my wife, I steeped myself into the law and regulations, spending days and weeks reading up on every requirement. When we were processing my wife's paperwork, I spent hours upon hours pouring over the documentation, instructions, and rules to make sure I got everything exactly right. I double-, triple-, quadruple-checked every form, every box, every instruction to make sure we hadn't missed anything; paged through each packet to ensure we hadn't missed a page or a signature or a supplement that was required, agonized over the payments and their documentation. This is the sort of attitude you must take when dealing with the immigration system in order to be successful. Anything less and you will miss something critical.
I knew from the moment I read the Hanson's story of the number of infractions that had occurred. Getting married under a student Visa is completely acceptable, but you must immediately file for a change of status (I-485) and pursue a greencard. You are in no way allowed, once you are married, to leave the country until this process is complete unless you file (and pay the fee -- there's always a fee) for a special dispensation from the government to leave. My wife was stuck here for 3 years after our marriage before she could go home. That's the breaks.
Missing an appointment at the processing centres is bad enough -- I can't even imagine missing a court date. On days when we had an appointment, we would set every alarm available in the house and have people call us to make sure we were up and on our way in time, and we didn't sleep very much the night before. If we hit traffic on the way, we completely freaked out because it was THAT important to make sure you get there on time and not miss.
This is the system we have. Is it great? Obviously, no. But is it navigable? Absolutely, and if you understand the playing field, it makes it so much easier. In short, this system is designed to make it as hard as possible for you if you mess up even by a little; I am not surprised at the issues the Hansons are experiencing.
That being said, I wish them well and hope it is all resolved peacefully in the end.