Government ends immigrant widow's penalty case against woman in Missouri
news release from Armstrong Teasdale law firm, St. Louis, Mo.

Close Story Published: Dec 22, 2009 at 11:14 AM CST

Story Updated: Dec 22, 2009 at 11:43 AM CST

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The U.S. government gave immigrant widows in Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New York and Texas a holiday present on Friday when it agreed to end legal efforts to deport them following the deaths of their husbands.

In Missouri, those efforts began in 2006 when Sgt. Robert K. Kells, of suburban St. Louis, died in a motorcycle accident only nine months after marrying his wife Khamphee, a native of Thailand.

His death had catapulted his family into the national controversy over the “widow penaltyâ€