End of a Long Road : Family’s Struggle to be Reunited With Romanian Grandmother Pays Off

It had taken a days-long hunger strike by her family, some unusual bureaucratic maneuvering, a grueling 10-hour train ride though Romania and a 20-hour overseas flight to get Livia Groza to the United States. And when the journey finally ended Tuesday, she headed straight for the kitchen.

Not to eat, but to work. It was her party, but Groza couldn’t resist helping out with a tremendous array of Romanian delicacies that her family had prepared at their Westminster home to celebrate her long-sought immigration.

Finally, after everyone else had been served, the guest of honor agreed to sit down. Sampling a piece of soft bread with an amazed look on her face, Groza whispered to her 9-year-old granddaughter in her native tongue: “In Romania, the bread is as hard as the table.”

It had been a long road to the table.

In late 1984, her son-in-law, 31-year-old Vasile Sofroni, had eluded armed Romanian border patrol guards and sneaked through trenches to escape what he calls the oppressive life style of the East Bloc regime. A maintenance worker, he eventually settled in Westminster and was able to bring his wife, Lia, and two young children to the United States to be with him.

But Groza was left behind.

For three years, her family in the United States desperately implored U.S. officials to allow her to immigrate, citing her failing health and inability to work. Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) offered assistance. But the Immigration and Naturalization Service rejected her visa application last May, saying that Groza, now 55, was still young enough to support herself and thus did not have to be with her family.

So, with traditional immigration routes exhausted, Lia and Vasile Sofroni camped outside the federal immigration office in Westminster in July and went on what ended up being an 80-hour hunger strike.

News media publicized their story throughout the Southland. Dornan renewed his calls for assistance. And outgoing INS Western Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell appealed directly to higher federal officials for help in the case.

The INS reversed itself. On their second review, federal officials decided that Groza’s poor health and the Romanian government’s refusal to let her work after she had applied for a visa warranted a rarely used humanitarian visa.

“We had all the right ingredients (for a humanitarian) visa,” said Dornan aide Patricia Fanelli, who worked on the Groza immigration for a year and helped welcome her Tuesday. “It was a very compelling case--a woman under an extremely suppressive government, with her family gone, and she’s sick and unable to work.”

With her visa finally approved, Groza said a tearful goodby to friends in Romania, took a 10-hour train ride from her village of Giulvaz to the Romanian capital of Bucharest, and flew to New York City, where she was met by Vasile Sofroni. They flew together to Los Angeles.

After withstanding a media onslaught upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport, Groza met her daughter and two grandchildren, who arrived late at the airport and made their way through the crowd to embrace Groza tearfully. “I feel very, very happy, very lucky,” Lia Sofroni said.

The Sofronis are taking a two-week vacation with plans to go to Disneyland, Las Vegas and San Diego.

But Groza said she doesn’t particularly care what they do. “I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to stay here with my family and be happy,” she said in Romanian.

And she said she has no desire to return to her homeland, wanting instead to leave the memories behind.

Explained her son-in-law, Vasile Sofroni: “Here, we got everything. There they stand in line three, four hours for piece of bread. There, if you want to go from the village to the city, they ask you why you want to go. . . . Here, we have freedom? Why go back?”