Chinese couple face deportation after nearly 20 years in US
Couple entered the country illegally in 1999 and have since had two children after creating a new life in Connecticut
A Chinese couple who have lived in the United States for nearly 20 years after entering the country without residency visas are due to be deported during the Lunar New Year holiday, according to US media reports.
Huang Zhelong and his wife Li Xiangjin were due to be deported back to China from the town of Simsbury in Connecticut on Friday, the reports said.
Huang and Li entered New York from China without proper visas in 1999, according to the NBC news website. They moved to Connecticut in 2006 where they started a nail salon business. The couple have two sons, aged five and 15, who were born in the United States, making the children US citizens.
The couple were ordered by immigration judges to leave the country five years ago but were granted stays, their lawyer, Erin O’Neil-Baker, was quoted as saying. Both applied for permanent residency but were turned down. The orders of removal were now being enforced.
O’Neil-Baker told NBC the couple would need to take their children with them or they would be placed in state custody.
