California immigration lawyers, advocates and members of the undocumented immigrant community in California have been closely following the case of Steve Li, the San Francisco community college student who is awaiting deportation. This week, Li was granted a temporary reprieve when California Sen. Deanne Feinstein introduced legislation that would halt his deportation proceedings.
20-year-old Li was expected to be separated from his parents and sent back to Peru where he was born. Li has no contact with that country, apart from the fact that it is his country of birth. He moved with his parents to San Francisco when he was 12 years old. Li did not know he was in the country illegally until he was arrested in September by immigration authorities. The parents, who are Chinese by origin, have been ordered to return to China, where they had lived before they traveled to Peru.
Now Sen. Feinstein has taken the unusual and extraordinary step of preparing private legislation that would block Li's deportation. As a California immigration lawyer will tell you, it is quite rare to have a sitting senator interfere in a private case. It’s obvious that Sen. Feinstein believes that a case like this involves not just Li's future, but also the futures of other children of undocumented immigrants.
This is not a permanent solution to Li’s problems. The legislation would only temporarily block proceedings, and give Li time until Congress begins to consider legislation that would create a path to citizenship for children of undocumented workers who attend college in the country or enlist in the military. California immigration lawyers have strongly supported such a proposal that would give these children, a legal and clear cut path to permanent residency.
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