Student Who Fled China Wins Asylum

Shortly after being granted political asylum Tuesday, a jubilant Chen Yiwei stepped outside the Los Angeles Federal Building, looked up at the sky and took a deep breath.

“I’m free! I’m free!” Chen shouted in Mandarin, according to her attorney, Dorothy Harper.

“She was absolutely joyous. It was a delight to see her smile,” Harper said.

Immigration Judge Roy J. Daniel’s decision to grant Chen political asylum ended more than two months of detention for the 22-year-old former student, who said she fled China after the Beijing crackdown in June.

Chen, who said she is wanted by Chinese authorities for participating in pro-democracy activities in Beijing’s Tian An Men Square and in her hometown of Xiamen, was seized by U.S. immigration authorities June 24 when customs officials at Los Angeles International Airport detected the false passport she said was necessary for her escape.

Her bid for political asylum had been delayed at least twice previously while immigration authorities investigated her application and waited for a letter from the U.S. State Department on whether Chen should be freed.

During her incarceration at an Immigration and Naturalization Service detention center in Inglewood, Chen’s plight attracted a flood of public support nationwide. Harper said so many concerned individuals--including some from Texas, Rhode Island and Tennessee--contacted her to offer their support that her answering machine ran out of tape and her office ran out of paper for the facsimile machine.

Tuesday afternoon, at the end of a three-day closed hearing, Chen looked nervous as Daniel read his opinion, said Peter Mok, a member of the Western American Assn. of Chinese Political Refugees who was helping to interpret in court Monday and Tuesday.

After the judge granted Chen political asylum, there was a delayed reaction as an interpreter relayed the good news.

“Then she hugged her attorney and cried,” Mok said.

Chen then turned toward Daniel and bowed to the judge to thank him, Mok said.

Very Tired

The publicity-shy Chen declined to be interviewed at length or to be photographed after her release, saying that she was extremely tired.

“When I heard the news, I was very happy,” Chen said in Mandarin during a telephone interview from a friend’s Rosemead home Tuesday night.

Mok said supporters from the political refugees association were planning to treat her to a Chinese dinner on her first night of freedom.

“Because for two months she hasn’t had Chinese food,” he said.

Tuesday evening, Harper, who has relied on an interpreter to communicate with her client, declined to detail how she successfully argued for political asylum for Chen. She said the long-awaited State Department letter did arrive, but she would not elaborate on any of the evidence or facts presented in court.

Harper said that during the hearing, USC Prof. Stanley Rosen, a China scholar, testified about the political conditions in China.

Other Clients

Harper, who said she is representing an unspecified number of other Chinese nationals in their applications for political asylum, said Chen is her only client to have fled China. The others are Chinese already living here, she said.

Four other Chinese nationals are known to be detained by immigration officials in Inglewood, but Ira Bank, an attorney who represents some of them, said they have asked that he not discuss their cases with the press.

Harper does not believe Chen’s case sets a legal precedent.

Chen has no immediate plans other than to rest, Mok said. The political refugees association cannot assist her financially but will help her find a host family and aid her in anything else she decides to do, he said.

Although fatigued, Chen is still ecstatic about her newly won freedom, Mok said. After the court hearing, “she didn’t even want to go get her things from the detention center,” he said.

“She didn’t want to go back,” he said.

“She said she has never been this happy before,” said Mok, who was among a group of volunteers who visited Chen once a week during her detention. “Freedom is very important.”