Thread: US Congress intervenes on Japan immigration cases

US Congress intervenes on Japan immigration cases

43 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Senate took the unusual step of intervening to normalize the immigration status of two people born in Japan whose unique personal tragedies left them in legal limbo.

In one case, the Senate recognized the marriage of a woman from Okinawa to a late US Marine, allowing her to move to the United States with their young son.

Sergeant Michael Ferschke, who was serving in Iraq, married Hotaru Nakama over the telephone in July 2008 after learning they were expecting the child. He died in combat a month later.

US immigration authorities did not recognize the marriage as it was never "consummated," as required under an obscure law dating from the Korean War, said Senator Jim Webb, who sponsored the new Senate measure.

"This legislation will right a wrong for a Marine who paid the ultimate sacrifice for his country and for his family," said the Virginia Democrat, a former combat Marine. The bill earlier passed the House of Representatives.

Separately, the Senate normalized the immigration status of Shigeru Yamada, a California resident in his late 20s who entered the United States as a child. He lost legal status in 1995 when his mother was killed in a car accident.

Yamada was arrested in California after a routine stop and faced deportation to Japan, where he has no family and does not speak the language, according to Representative Bob Filner, a California Democrat who has worked on the case for years.

So-called "private bills," which only affect individuals, are rare in the US Congress.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101204/pl ... 1204011036

So-called "private bills," which only affect individuals, are rare in the US Congress.

That is unless you happen to be an illegal invader with a SOB story demanding something. Then these so called "private bills" become more common it seems.