Thread: Widow of man who died rescuing kids may be deported

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... IU7HE6.DTL

(05-1 15:17 PDT SAN FRANCISCO - The widow of a man who drowned while trying to rescue two boys off San Francisco's Ocean Beach on Sunday afternoon now faces a second sorrow: She may be deported to Kenya because her husband died before the couple had a chance to apply for her U.S. residency.

Marlin Coats, 29, died after he was caught in a rip current while trying to help 11- and 14-year-old brothers who were struggling in the surf near Lincoln Way. The boys made it back to shore with the help of other beachgoers.

Now, Coats' family is appealing to the boys' family to come forward and support their plea to keep his wife, Jacqueline, in the country.

"This is their time to come forward to help us since Marlin lost his life trying to help them," said Marlin Coats' sister-in-law, Cassandra Coats of Oakland.

Four days before he died, Coats had signed immigration papers stating that he had married his girlfriend of two years, 26-year-old Jacqueline Muhoro, on April 17 and was seeking permanent residency for her.

But the application is incomplete and now can't be finished, putting Jacqueline Coats at risk of being deported, said her attorney, Thip Ark of San Francisco.

"I feel like I have nothing to live for. I have nothing to go home to," Coats, tearful, said today. "I'm established here. I've been here four years. ... It would be like starting a new life."

Jacqueline Coats came to the Bay Area from Kenya on a student visa in 2001 to study mass communications at San Jose State University. But her visa lapsed when she had to drop a class because it conflicted with a mandatory course for international students, she said.

E-mail Janine DeFao at jdefao@sfchronicle.com.

I'm from hawaii the thing that most people don't know is that whenever you're caught in a rip current, dont' fight it...go with it, and swim in the same direction as it is taking you..then when you're further out from shore, it will have likely subsided..then swim parallel to avoid being caught in it again. and voila..ur good to go.

That's really sad, but I guess..she can fight it, it's wat most illegals do anyways.

But her visa lapsed when she had to drop a class because it conflicted with a mandatory course for international students, she said.

Something's not right about this statement.