DREAM Act Student May Be Deported on Monday

Jessica Kwong writes for the SF Chronicle:

When Steve “Shing Ma” Li saw he had a message waiting from his lawyer Thursday evening, he was hoping for good news.

The 20-year-old San Francisco City College student has kept in touch daily with his lawyer and mother since he was taken to a detention center in Florence, Ariz. He knew that they, along with thousands of others, had been advocating against his deportation to Peru.

But his lawyer’s voice gave it away. He wouldn’t be getting the news he’d wanted.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Li said of the phone call with his lawyer Sin Yen Ling. “She told me I might be getting deported on Monday.”

Ling heard Wednesday that a plane ticket to Peru had been booked for Li.

“I’m afraid to believe it; I don’t believe it,” Li’s mother, Li Maria Ma, 50, said, dabbing her eyes and blowing her nose through a stack of paper towels Thursday afternoon. “There are so many people that did so much to help Steve stay in San Francisco, his home.”

Li’s family was arrested Sept. 15 because they were allowed to stay in the United States only through the end of 2002, and his family’s case for political asylum was denied. His parents, who were born in China, were released from custody and are being electronically monitored by immigration officials. Click here for more.

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