From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


UMNS# 04516-Pastors' adopted daughter faces threat of


From "NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>
Date Wed, 3 Nov 2004 17:19:20 -0600

Pastors' adopted daughter faces threat of deportation 

Nov. 3, 2004	 News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470* 
Nashville {04516}

NOTE: A photograph is available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Feature
By Steve Smith*

Smuggled into the United States from China six years ago so she could get a
good education, Maggie Arnold earned straight A's, finished as valedictorian
of her high school class, led her student government at college and amassed a
risumi full of academic awards.

Her adoptive parents, the Revs. David and Candace Arnold, both United
Methodist pastors in Central Pennsylvania, are as proud as a mother and
father can get. 

However, Maggie, 19, may get kicked out of the country or forced to return to
her homeland, all because her entry into the United States six years ago was
not documented. 
The Arnolds, who adopted Maggie legally four years ago when she was attending
high school in their town, are urging Congress to pass an immigration bill
solely for her or to renew provisions that would allow people like her to
obtain "green cards" allowing them to stay in the country. They also want the
government to approve her amnesty petition.
 
"I hate to think of abandoning my dream I had since I was a little girl -
that is, becoming an educated person," says Maggie. 

"I am very scared because I don't know what's going to happen to me if I do
have to go back," she says. She is concerned about her education, her safety
and her ability to practice Christianity.

If Maggie, a junior math major at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., is
deported or leaves on her own, she must live in China for 10 years before
applying for re-entry into the United States.

The Arnolds and their supporters are focusing on an immigration policy, which
expired in early 2001, that would allow undocumented immigrants like Maggie
to become legal if they have U.S. relatives, are offered jobs that U.S.
residents cannot fill, or pay $1,000 fines. In 2001, Congress was debating
whether to renew the policy, but the terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center and Pentagon shoved the issue aside as lawmakers launched a war on
terror.

"We're doing everything we can to make sure she's able to stay in the
country," says David Arnold, pastor at Rockville United Methodist Church in
Susquehanna Township. His wife is associate pastor at First United Methodist
Church in Mechanicsburg. "If they come after (Maggie), they're going to have
to take me first.
 
"The immigration people are running all over the country chasing bad guys and
have bigger fish to fry than a 19-year-old Chinese girl who is a straight-A
student in a Christian school, a valedictorian of her senior class in high
school, and a leader of her student government in college."

So far, immigration officials have not threatened to deport Maggie, but
without proper documentation, she cannot work legally in the United States or
gain admission to the country's top graduate schools.

Wanting a good education

When Maggie, born Qiao Qi Jiang, was 12, her biological parents in the small
coastal village of Fuzhou paid smugglers $40,000 to $50,000 to sneak her into
the United States so she could get an education not afforded women in the
communist country.
 
Clutching the arm of a woman posing as her mother, Maggie landed in New York
City, only to wind up dumped in the city's Chinatown. Concerned about being
stuck in a Brooklyn school unable to speak fluent English, Maggie got her
parents to reach relatives in the United States, who hooked her up with the
owner of a Chinese restaurant in Perry County, Pa. The Arnolds served as
pastors in the area and patronized the eatery regularly.

The clergy couple became impressed by what they called Maggie's sweet nature
and hard work. The owner told them about her plight, and soon the shy girl
asked the couple to adopt her so she could remain in the United States to
pursue her educational goals.

Two months and a ton of "prayerful consideration" later, the Arnolds legally
adopted Maggie; her birth parents had consented to signing away their rights.

Now, Arnold says, he, as a father, is deeply concerned about his daughter's
future. "To even think of all that she has gone through and to finally find a
family who adopted her, loved her and to face having to give all of that up
is truly depressing," he says. "Maggie needed a family, needed somebody to
look after her. This is the hardest working, most driven person I've ever
met."

Maggie, meanwhile, says her meager upbringing and limited opportunities in
China have made her grateful for the outpouring of support from U.S.
residents.

"I am thankful to those who have tried all their ways to try to keep me
here," Maggie says. "At the same time, I like to thank God the most, who has
always been present with me."
 
United Methodists in the Central Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference
are writing letters to congressional representatives, and 2,800 people have
signed the online petition at www.getmaggieagreencard.com.

Allan Durning, a retired corporate controller and U.S. Army colonel living
near Harrisburg, formed the Web site Sept. 1 to publicize Maggie's case after
meeting her in a local Chinese restaurant and reading about her ordeal in a
newspaper. He is forwarding comments from people who sign the online petition
to lawmakers in Washington.

"Of all the Chinese restaurants in the Harrisburg area, she was eating at the
only one my wife and I go to on the weekends," Durning says. "It seemed to me
God was saying to me, 'You thought something had to be done for Maggie, now
do it.'"
 
'A lot of Maggies'

Craig Trebilcock, an immigration attorney in York, Pa., has been retained by
the Arnolds to push Maggie's case through the legislative labyrinth. He warns
that if immigration officials begin deportation proceedings against Maggie,
she's as good as gone.

Under immigration laws, people who enter the United States legally - such as
on visas - but later become illegal when their stays expire, can become legal
residents through relations to American families. Not so for Maggie because
she was smuggled into the country - unless Congress takes special action,
Trebilcock says.

"There are a lot of Maggies out there who are excellent people and being
forced into the shadows," he says. "During the past two years, most
congressmen and senators don't want to touch immigration issues with a
10-foot pole. In the eyes of the American public, being soft on immigration
and pro-immigrant could be construed as being soft on terrorism. I don't see
the logic in that because the country was founded by immigrants."

Trebilcock adds that he's "cautiously optimistic" that something will happen
in Maggie's favor as the debate over immigrants cools. 

"When people look at these situations, they need to look at the cost to the
country by keeping somebody as talented as Maggie out of the mainstream and
fearful of her future," he says. "In the United States, she can contribute
amazing things to the future of this country, and we should be seizing on her
talents."

*Smith is a freelance writer residing in Dallas.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service


Browse month . . . Browse month (sort by Source) . . . Advanced Search & Browse . . . WFN Home