The past three days have been like a dream for Steve Li.

After spending more than two months at a detention center in Arizona, Li, who was on the verge of being deported to Peru, is back in San Francisco – the only place he’s ever considered home.

“Finally, this nightmare was over, but it’s still surreal to me,” the 20-year-old City College student said Monday. “I’ve been everywhere lately, it’s been an emotional rollercoaster.”

Since his return Saturday, Li has mostly avoided the media and appreciated simple things – sleeping in his own bed, a sushi dinner, and dim sum with friends and family.

But he knows that his citizenship status is far from resolved. Thousands of Facebook fans and college students got the media and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to look closely at his immigration case.

Feinstein introduced a private bill Friday to delay Li’s deportation to Peru – a country where he has no friends or family – but rarely are those bills passed, and it is unclear whether Congress will debate and pass the Dream Act next month. The legislation, if passed, would grant undocumented immigrants citizenship if they entered the United States before age 15 and were attending college.

“I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend,” Li said. “It might have been my destiny to go through that, it all led up to me being an activist so the Dream Act could pass for all the people going through the same situation.”

Uncertain future

However, unless his bill passes or is reintroduced, or the Dream Act passes, Li’s stay is only guaranteed for 75 days after the end of this congressional session.

“People in these situations are pretty much in limbo at best and, at worst, deported,” said Anna Gallagher, a lawyer for a Washington, D.C.-based law firm who wrote a book on private bills and pardons in immigration.

The 108th Congress passed three of the 39 private immigration bills introduced between January 2003 and December 2004, while the 109th Congress didn’t pass any between January 2005 and December 2006, Gallagher found. She does not believe any private bills will pass this congressional session either.

She attributes the dwindling numbers to “political reasons, and some legislators think it’s more appropriate to pass immigration reform rather than piecemeal.”

Since 1997, Feinstein has introduced 29 private immigration bills and had not introduced one since October 2009. Only four have been signed, all of them in 2000, said her spokesman, Phillip LaVelle.

Feinstein is “still trying to see what transpires” leading up to the start of the new session Jan. 5 before deciding whether to reintroduce Li’s bill, LaVelle said.

But as someone who always looks at the positive side, Li said he is not worried that the freedom he is slowly getting reacquainted with could be temporary.

“As long as I’m here and able to use my voice and help myself and all those people in the same situation, I don’t feel like it’s a countdown,” he said. “It’s just one step closer toward the Dream Act.”

A new goal

The Li family hasn’t been the same since Sept. 15, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested them because their tourist visas had expired and their case for asylum was denied.

While Li’s parents were released from Sacramento County Jail and are being electronically monitored while awaiting deportation to China, he was sent to Arizona, where he was scheduled to be deported last week. ICE planned to deport Li to Peru because he was born and lived there until his parents brought him to the United States at age 11. His parents moved to the South American country in the 1980s to escape China’s one-child policy.

Li, whose legal name is Shing Ma Li, is now hoping to get a work permit to begin looking for a job to support himself and his mother, who stopped working after she was taken into custody. His dream to transfer to San Francisco State University for nursing school, and ultimately open a free clinic for the immigrant community, is still alive.

But, for now, his priority remains pushing for the Dream Act because he met other people at the detention center who didn’t have the support of thousands like he did. His next step will be lobbying with the Asian Law Caucus, which provided his legal support, to push for the Dream Act.

“I will never forget those people that I met inside,” he said. “Their stories and faces will be with me for the rest of my life as I’m fighting for people who are law abiding, tax paying but are currently undocumented.”

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Freed-student-Steve-Li-returns-to-S-F-3165454.php

It seemed that all odds were against Steve “Shing Ma” Li, a City College of San Francisco student who has been incarcerated for more than two months, awaiting deportation to a country where he had no friends or family.

But Friday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced plans to release Li from a detention center in Florence, Ariz., where he has been in custody since Oct. 8. His destination is not Peru, his country of birth, but back home to San Francisco, where he is expected to arrive today.

“I was so happy to find out that he is coming home and hopefully be able to study, because in jail he told me that is all he wanted to do,” said his father, Xin Guang Li, 55. “But I’ll have to see him to believe it’s true.”

Li’s reversal of fortune came after U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., intervened. On Monday, Li was scheduled to fly out, but Friday, Feinstein introduced a private bill to stall the deportation process.

“I decided to introduce a private bill on Steve’s behalf because I believe his removal would be unjust before the Senate gets a chance to vote on the Dream Act,” Feinstein said in a statement.

Feinstein hopes for passage

The Dream Act, which failed to pass in Congress in September, would grant undocumented immigrant children citizenship if they entered the United States before age 15 and were attending college.

Feinstein said the act will be brought to the floor again in December, and she hopes Congress will pass it before the end of this year.

“This important legislation would allow youngsters such as Steve Li to continue making a contribution to the United States, the country that they grew up in and call home,” Feinstein said in the statement.

Private bills are often last resorts in immigration cases. Only a small fraction of them are approved, but simply introducing a bill puts a deportation on hold.

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice attributed Li’s release to Feinstein’s bill. Kice said in a statement that “Mr. Li’s removal has been stayed, and the stay will remain in effect for 75 days after the end of the Congress.”

Li’s lawyer, Sin Yen Ling, said the 20-year-old nursing student will be on a supervised release program with ICE. She booked a Greyhound bus ticket for him Friday night because he does not have an ID and cannot board a plane.

“I proactively called (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and it just so happened that they informed me that they were going to release him,” Ling said Friday afternoon. “Otherwise, typically they just drop you off and say, ‘Good luck, and find a way home.’ ”

Student, Internet campaign

Li had the support of thousands of college students and Facebook members who lobbied Feinstein and other legislative leaders to intervene on his behalf.

“I really didn’t think we were going to get this far,” Ling said. “Obviously Sen. Feinstein’s bill really was the key to delaying and now stopping his deportation, but we wouldn’t be where we are now if it wasn’t for the community support.”

His case attracted attention because he says he no longer has ties in Peru. His parents were born in China but moved to the Latin American country in the 1980s to escape the government’s one-child policy. They brought Li to the United States when he was 11.

The three were arrested in San Francisco on Sept. 15 because they were allowed to stay in the United States only through 2002. Li’s parents were released and wear electronic ankle bracelets as they await deportation to China, but their son has spent the past six weeks in Arizona.

City College student Marilyn Luu, 21, was one of the many who worked to get her friend freed.

“It just makes me think of all the times when people have told me, ‘Yeah, you can try but it’s not going to work,’ ” Luu said. “But now it’s confirmed – nothing is impossible.”

http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/Steve-Shing-Ma-Li-freed-as-Feinstein-intervenes-3165628.php

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has asked immigration authorities to halt the deportation of City College of San Francisco nursing student Steve “Shing Ma” Li while she considers introducing a bill that would allow him to stay in the United States temporarily, her office said Sunday.

The California Democrat‘s effort came as Li’s attorney said his removal flight to Peru would no longer happen today, as initially planned. The lawyer, Sin Yen Ling, said the immigration officer that told her of the change of plans did not give her any more details.

“Why? I don’t know,” said Ling, whose client is at a detention center in Florence, Ariz. “They wouldn’t provide me with additional information, but I do think it has a lot to do with the advocacy work that’s been happening.”

In a phone interview late Sunday, Li said, “It’s a miracle. Not a big one, but it’s still something, and every day that I’m here means I have a chance to not get deported and stay in San Francisco.”

Li’s case has attracted attention because the 20-year-old says he has no real connection to Peru, nor relatives or friends there. His parents were born in China but moved to Peru in the 1980s to escape the government’s one-child policy. They brought Li to the United States at age 11.

The three were arrested in San Francisco Sept. 15 because they were only allowed to stay in the United States through the end of 2002. Li’s parents were released and wear electronic ankle bracelets as they await deportation to China.

Many of Li’s supporters, who include thousands of college students and visitors to his Facebook page, rallied outside Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer‘s office in San Francisco on Friday, trying to get her to intervene. Supporters have also engaged in letter-writing campaigns targeting Boxer, Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

Dream Act supporter

Feinstein’s office noted her support for the Dream Act, which if passed would grant undocumented immigrant children citizenship if they entered the United States before age 15 and were attending college. In a statement Sunday, Feinstein said it would be unjust to deport Li before the bill can be voted on.

“I have asked ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to halt the deportation proceedings while I consider introducing a private bill that will allow Mr. Li to remain in the United States on a temporary basis,” Feinstein said.

Private bills are often last resorts in immigration cases. Only a small fraction of them are successfully passed by Congress. However, merely introducing a bill could put Li’s deportation on hold, Ling said.

After meeting with Li’s attorney and mother Friday, Boxer’s staff reiterated her support for the Dream Act. Boxer does not introduce private bills, a spokesman said.

A spokesman for Pelosi, Drew Hammill, said she believes Li’s case “is a textbook example of the pressing need for comprehensive immigration reform and passage of the Dream Act,” and is “working with other members (of Congress) to recommend that ICE grant deferred action.”

Reprieve denied

Ling asked for a deferral of Li’s deportation after his arrest, but said she received a fax from Immigration and Customs Enforcement Friday denying the request. The decision was made in Arizona and could be reversed by ICE Director John Morton.

“The reality is ICE is as bureaucratic as any other federal agency,” Ling said. “So it’s just a matter of getting John Morton’s attention to say look, the Arizona office denied deferred action and there’s something wrong with the decision, and do something about it.”

Virginia Kice, an ICE spokeswoman, said in an e-mail Sunday that the agency never confirms the timing of a removal in advance but that Li “remains in ICE custody while the agency seeks to make arrangements for his removal.”

Friend has hope

One of Li’s friends from City College, 20-year-old Christian Hip, said he was hopeful after learning Li will not be deported today.

“It means we get to do something at least for one more day,” he said.

But Hip, who is also of Chinese descent but was born in the United States, is preparing for the worst. After finding out through Facebook that Li could be deported, he contacted his parents in Lima, Peru. The country has a large population of immigrants from China.

“My parents have additional rooms and they’re retired, so they have time to pick him up and take care of him,” he said. “It makes me feel relieved that he may have a hand even though I’m not there with him.”

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Feinstein-seeks-to-block-Steve-Li-s-deportation-3165596.php

 

When Steve “Shing Ma” Li saw he had a message waiting from his lawyer Thursday evening, he was hoping for good news.

The 20-year-old San Francisco City College student has kept in touch daily with his lawyer and mother since he was taken to a detention center in Florence, Ariz. He knew that they, along with thousands of others, had been advocating against his deportation to Peru.

But his lawyer’s voice gave it away. He wouldn’t be getting the news he’d wanted.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Li said of the phone call with his lawyer Sin Yen Ling. “She told me I might be getting deported on Monday.”

Ling heard Wednesday that a plane ticket to Peru had been booked for Li.

“I’m afraid to believe it; I don’t believe it,” Li’s mother, Li Maria Ma, 50, said, dabbing her eyes and blowing her nose through a stack of paper towels Thursday afternoon. “There are so many people that did so much to help Steve stay in San Francisco, his home.”

Li’s family was arrested Sept. 15 because they were allowed to stay in the United States only through the end of 2002, and his family’s case for political asylum was denied. His parents, who were born in China, were released from custody and are being electronically monitored by immigration officials.

For Li, returning to Peru, where he was born, means entering a land of nothing – he has no friends or family there. His parents fled China in the 1980s to escape that country’s one-child policy. They decided to leave Peru in 2002 because of political instability.

Li’s story and fight to stay in the United States to continue studying nursing, grabbed the attention of thousands, from Facebook users to students at City College, San Francisco State University and UCLA. They have written letters and organized call-ins to California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Education adopted resolutions denouncing Li’s deportation and supporting the DREAM Act, which if passed, would grant undocumented immigrant children citizenship if they entered the United States before age 15 and are attending a two- or four-year college.

Li’s family knows little about his pending deportation, and Virginia Kice, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said, “For security reasons, ICE never discusses the timing of removal and will only confirm the action after it is completed.”

Li’s supporters have yet to get any legislative intervention.

Feinstein’s spokesman Gil Duran declined to comment.

Boxer’s spokesman Zachary Coile said the office does not introduce private bills in immigration cases but does provide help to thousands of families who need assistance with immigration matters, including help in contacting federal immigration officials.

Ling said she has never heard of Boxer issuing a private bill to help individuals like Li, “but there’s always a first.”

“She’s sort of our last hope at this point,” Ling said.

Supporters haven’t given up hope either.

They are staging a “study-in” today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in front of Boxer’s San Francisco office, asking people to dress in scrubs, graduation robes or caps. The last-ditch effort involves sending letters and petitions into the office every 30 minutes.

“I was kind of discouraged to see that nothing has changed,” said Kevin Shue, a 20-year-old City College student who has known Li since their junior year at George Washington High School. “But at the same time, we can still fight within the means of the law for him.”

Thousands of people have already written letters to Boxer and Feinstein, but Li said he plans to write to them himself.

“I can’t believe that it’s happening to me, that my life might change forever on Monday if I get deported,” he said. “I had goals and dreams here. I’m hoping for a miracle.”

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Steve-Li-fears-he-ll-be-deported-Monday-3166231.php