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Aug 29, 2007 11:35 pm US/Pacific
Widow Of Man Who Died Saving Boys May Be Deported
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ―
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Jacqueline and Marlin Coats
CBS 5
First, Jacqueline Coats lost her husband when he dove into a fierce Pacific Ocean riptide to rescue two boys. Now Coats, an immigrant from Kenya, might be forced to leave the U.S.
Her husband died in May 2006 before he filed her residency application. He was a citizen, and she was not.
If a private bill filed in January asking Congress to grant her legal status fails, she'll likely be deported.
Attorneys agree that in such cases, their hands are tied by current immigration law, which voids residency applications if the American citizen entering the petition for their foreign-born spouse dies before it's adjudicated.
If the couple has been married for more than two years, and the application is pending, the foreign-born spouse can reapply.
But in the Coats' case, the application had not even been filed.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
