Widow of Good Samaritan Faces Deportation
Bay Area Groups Issue an Appeal for Compassion
A Mother’s Day outing at Ocean Beach in San Francisco last May turned into adouble tragedy for a Bay Area family. Marlin Coats, 29, was caught in adangerous riptide while trying to save two boys, ages 11 and 14, who werestruggling against the tide. The two boys were rescued and they survived.Marlin drowned.
Now Marlin’s widow, 26-year-old Jacqueline Muhoro Coats, a native of Kenya,must not only bear the devastation of her personal loss, but also facesdeportation back to her country of origin. The newlyweds had signed papersrequesting Permanent Residency status for Jacqueline four days before thetragic accident. Sadly, the papers had not yet been filed at the time of Marlin’sdeath. Now Jacqueline will be deported unless the U.S. Congress intervenes.
Jacqueline Muhoro came to the United States in 2001 on a student visa. Her visastatus lapsed when she fell three credits short of the required academic load.She had to drop a course that conflicted with two classes she was required totake. Jacqueline immediately notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement ofher lapsed status and requested reinstatement. In 2003, her reinstatement wasdenied.
Jacqueline met Marlin, a San Francisco native, in February 2004. The couplefell in love and on April 17, 2006, 11 days after her deportation proceedingsbegan, Jacqueline and Marlin were married.
On May 10, 2006, four days before tragedy struck, Marlin and Jacqueline went tothe office of their attorney, Thip Ark and signed Jacqueline’s application forpermanent residency. But before the papers were filed, Marlin died andJacqueline was left grieving and fearing removal from the country.
“I feel like I have nothing to live for. I have nothing to go home for,”Jacqueline told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’m established here. I’vebeen here four years… It would be like starting a new life.”
“I want to stay in this country so I can put flowers on Marlin’s grave,”Jacqueline said in another interview. “I don’t think I can cope if I wereforced to leave him and his family.”
Marlin has a close knit family, including parents who live in the BayviewHunter’s Point area of San Francisco, a twin brother and six other siblings.They have embraced Jacqueline as a daughter and have rallied to support her.
“She [Jacqueline] spent her First American Christmas with us, her firstAmerican Thanksgiving,” Ramona Burton of San Francisco, one of Marlin’s sister,told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I can’t imagine looking around andnot seeing her there. She needs to be there.”
The Bay Area community has also rallied around Jacqueline. The San Franciscochapter of the NAACP, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and the SanFrancisco Police Department have all passed resolutions in support ofJacqueline’s right to remain in the country. The Black Alliance for JustImmigration and the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 192, Jacqueline’s union ather job at the Alameda County Transit Authority, have initiated separatepetition drives on her behalf.
“We are initiating this petition drive as an appeal for compassion to Congressand immigration authorities,” said Rev. Kelvin Sauls, pastor of Downs UnitedMethodist Church in Oakland and a member of the Black Alliance for JustImmigration.
Rev. Amos Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco and presidentof the San Francisco Chapter of the NAACP; Rev. Cecil Williams of GlideMemorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco; Rev. J. Alfred Smith, pastorof Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland; and Rev. Phillip Lawson of theInterfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights have endorsed the petition drive.
The petition calls upon Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi to sponsor privatelegislation granting Jacqueline permanent residency and Congress to pass thelegislation.
Marlin Coats was a Good Samaritan who, without regard to his personal safety,attempted to save the lives of two young boys. His widow, Jacqueline deservesthe same compassion that Marlin showed.
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Priority Africa Network (PAN)
P O Box 2528
Berkeley CA 94702
Tel: (510) 527 3917
PriorityAfrica@yahoo.com
http://www.priorityafricanetwork.org/page.aspx
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