Immigrant of the Day: Jacqueline Coats (Kenya)

For Kenyan immigrant Jacqueline Coats, Mother’s Day 2006 began as the most idyllic of American experiences. It started with a Sunday brunch with her mother-in-law.  She next accompanied her U.S.-born husband, Marlin Coats, and a throng of his brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews to a family gathering at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. But the wondrous day took a tragic turn. Marlin — an assistant manager of a cellular phone store and a former lifeguard — heard two boys he didn’t know crying for help in the surf. He didn’t hesitate. Marlin pulled a 14-year-old boy to safety. But he got caught in a riptide trying to rescue the boy’s 11-year-old brother. The second boy survived. Marlin Coats did not.

Her husband’s death left Jacqueline Coats battling a different kind of riptide — because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were pushing to deport her because of problems with a student visa. Now U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, numerous California lawmakers, Coats’ American family by marriage and her Oakland employer are rallying to her cause so that the Kenyan woman can remain permanently in the United States.

Coats came to U.S. in 2001 to attend San Jose State University. During her stay, she met Marlin Coats, a U.S. citizen and a dependable, family-oriented man. Her husband’s large family became like her own. They celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving together. But she lost her legal immigration status. She had come on a student visa. When time conflicts between classes left her three units short, immigration officials were notified. Deportation proceedings began 11 days before her wedding, she said. After the wedding, attorneys advised Marlin Coats to enter a petition for residency in his wife’s name. Although her immigration status had lapsed, she had entered legally, so nothing prevented her from staying. The papers were signed and ready to go last year when Marlin Coats and his family wnet Ocean Beach for Mother’s Day 2006.

After his death, Marlin Coats was awarded one of the Coast Guard’s highest honors, the Gold Lifesaving Medal. Jacqueline Coats faces possible deportation.  For stories about her case, click here and here.

We previously have reported on the class action challenge to the “widow penalty” like that facing Jacqueline Coates.

KJ