Zhenxing Jiang, 33, who was in the country illegally since 1995, suffered a miscarriage on February 7, 2006, after reporting for an appointment with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Philadelphia. During a hearing September 4 in New York, U.S. Immigration Court Judge Barbara A. Nelson granted Jiang's request for political asylum based on China's one-child policy. Jiang and her husband have two sons. The ruling means she now has permanent legal immigrant status.
Helen Gym of Asian Americans United, a Philadelphia-based advocacy group, said the ruling overjoyed her. But she stressed that many concerns remain about U.S. immigration policy, from separation of families and treatment of those in custody to what she said was secrecy and a lack of accountability for federal immigration officials.
The political asylum petition of her husband, Tian Xiao Zhang, 36, falls under the jurisdiction of Philadelphia's immigration courts and remains pending under appeal, Bortnick said. (Source: Joann Loviglio, AP, San Francisco Chronicle, Sep 7, 2007).