Pregnant wife of Marine killed in Iraq denied U.S. entry

Red tape frustrates Maryville family
By Robert Wilson (Contact)
Wednesday, October 1, 2008



Robin and Michael Ferschke of Maryville are fighting a tangle of government red tape in an attempt to get government officials to allow their daughter-in-law, Hotaru Ferschke, to immigrate to the U.S. She is a native of Okinawa, Japan, and is pregnant with the child of their son, Marine Sgt. Michael Ferschke, who was killed Aug. 10 during a mission in Iraq.


The widow of U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Michael Ferschke Jr, Hotaru Ferschke, is being denied re-entry to the U.S. by the American embassy in Japan. Sgt. Ferschke was killed in action Aug. 10 in Iraq. The couple had planned for their child to be born in the U.S.

MARYVILLE - Mikey Ferschke is 100 percent American. At least he will be when he's born.

But for Mikey, being an American is proving somewhat easier than being in America.

Mikey is the unborn son of Marine Sgt. Michael Ferschke Jr. of Maryville, who was killed by an enemy bullet while serving in Iraq on Aug. 10, and his widow, Hotaru Ferschke of Japan.

The baby is still a couple of months short of arrival. At birth he will be named Michael Harvey Ferschke III.

His father was an American, and therefore so is he, federal law states.

However, Mikey's mother has hit a bureaucratic roadblock that is keeping her from coming to the U.S. so the baby can be born on American soil as his father had wished.

Robin Ferschke, Sgt. Ferschke's mother, is fighting to help her daughter-in-law come to the U.S. lawfully, using what she considers common sense and the authority of a couple of U.S. senators as her firepower.

Michael and Hotaru Ferschke had only been married a month when he was killed. They met and fell in love in Okinawa when he was stationed there and she worked as an administrative assistant at the base, Robin Ferschke said.

Hotaru Ferschke came to East Tennessee in late August to lay her 22-year-old husband to rest. She returned to Japan with the intention of coming back to America to give birth to the baby in his father's homeland.

"She says Michael's memories are here," Robin Ferschke said. "She wants to do as Michael wanted," have the baby in Maryville and bring him up here.

But as Hotaru Ferschke began laying the foundation for her return to the U.S., she was told at the American embassy in Japan that she did not qualify for immigration because she and Sgt. Ferschke had not been married the requisite two years before he died.

A series of overseas phone calls began about a week ago, with Hotaru Ferschke getting closer to her due date and the time when a long plane trip would be out of the question healthwise.

Robin Ferschke sought the help of both of Tennessee's U.S. senators, and personnel in Lamar Alexander's office, led by Heather Downs, constituent services representative, have been working with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to speed the process along.

Downs has been in almost daily touch with the Ferschkes, as has the office of Sen. Bob Corker.

The Ferschkes' plight "did touch me, actually," Downs said. "We're really all the same, and that could be my son and daughter-in-law. There are people out there trying to help her so she doesn't feel alone."

Resolution of the problem may be forthcoming soon, said Lee Pitts, a spokesman for Alexander. Hotaru Ferschke may be able to obtain a visa for immediate entry to the U.S., Pitts said.

In addition, she is supposed to go to her doctor in Japan on Thursday to determine if she is able to make the trip.

Hotaru Ferschke's case is not unique, according to attorney Brent Renison of Lake Oswego, Ore., who represents an organization called Surviving Spouses Against Deportation.

Renison said he saw news reports about the Ferschke case and has offered his services in helping Hotaru Ferschke get to the U.S., where she plans to become a naturalized citizen, according to Robin Ferschke.

Renison said there are hundreds of cases nationwide in which spouses of U.S. military personnel are deported or face other prohibitions after their spouses die.

"Their whole theory," he said, "is that if your spouse dies, you are no longer a spouse" and are not entitled to the rights afforded to one married to an American citizen.

The paperwork process to get into or stay in the country is lengthy and complicated, Renison said.

His organization also is pushing a U.S. House resolution introduced by Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., to end what is known as the "widow penalty."