> Immigrant workers, living and paying taxes in the United States, want
> the rights to apply for citizenship, to reunify their families, and to
> have a voice on the job without regard to legal status...rights denied
> by their undocumented status and outdated laws.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3873221.html
St. Paul student to be deported 22 days before graduation
Published May 9, 2003
A senior at Como Park High School in St. Paul is being deported three weeks before he would have become the first member of his family to wear a cap and gown.
But time has run out for Tchisou Tho and his family, who have been living here illegally.
After fleeing Communist rule in Laos in 1975, the family settled in France. They came to the United States 13 years ago on visitors' visas, settling with relatives in Sacramento, Calif. They moved to Minnesota in 1993 to find work and good schools.
Immigration authorities accuse the family of defying a judge's order to leave voluntarily before March 26. They have been ordered to surrender to immigration officials Wednesday, 22 days before Tchisou's graduation.
"I think it would great to be able to finish off the year with my friends; that's always been my goal," Tchisou, 18, said Thursday, after finishing a four-hour advanced-placement calculus exam.
Tim Counts, of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said, "it's a fairly clear-cut situation.
"The family defied a judge's order and overstayed, and the law doesn't give us much flexibility at all," he said. "Frankly, we feel we've been more than generous and have given them ample time."
Como Park High School teachers and administrators, as well as staff members in the office of U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., have been trying to help Tchisou (pronounced Tee-soo) since he divulged his problems.
"It's sad enough to say goodbye to students at graduation," Principal Sharon Eichten said. "But this would be even sadder to say goodbye under these circumstances because everyone here can vouch for what a great kid Tchisou is."
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/ dave /