Federal court temporarily stops another deportation

The federal court temporary blocked another deportation, this time of a Chinese national who claimed he was cheated out of his more than $50,000 investment in the CNMI.

U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge David A. Wiseman on Wednesday ordered that Fu Chen’s removal from the CNMI be stayed pending court order.

Wiseman issued the order after Stephen C. Woodruff, counsel for Chen, filed a petition for habeas corpus in connection with his detention pending removal.

Chen named as respondents in his petition the Department of Homeland Security, DHS Enforcement and Removal Operations supervisor Beth Limrick, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

According to Woodruff in the petition, Chen entered the CNMI lawfully and held a long-term business entry permit at least until Dec. 10, 1998. The petitioner invested more than $50,000 in the CNMI but was ultimately cheated out of his investment by a local man, Woodruff said.

Chen pursued legal remedies but had difficulty doing so and it is his understanding that the local man passed away before he could realize any recovery of his investment.

Chen had borrowed the money in China and fears imprisonment if he returns without repaying it.

On Dec. 21, 2009, Chen went to the USCIS Application Support Center in Garapan to seek help with his problem.

USCIS, Woodruff said, did not consider Chen for any form of discretionary relief such as humanitarian or public interest parole pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act. Instead, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services advised Chen to go see ICE in Puerto Rico, Saipan. Chen did so and that’s when DHS initiated removal proceedings against him.

Woodruff said that, on April 8, 2011, the immigration judge directed Chen to be removed.

This, Woodruff said, despite the fact that his client was placed in removal proceedings only 24 days after the advent of federal immigration control in the CNMI.

The immigration judge denied Chen’s motion to stop his deportation.

Chen’s situation, the lawyer said, is precisely the kind of case that “screams for an exercise of discretion,” yet DHS and immigration judge refused to even engage in an exercise of discretion.

On Tuesday, Wiseman also temporarily stopped the deportation of Mariano Angel Shiano, a citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia who is a habitual offender. Shiano filed the same petition.