INS Will Let Widow Stay for Accused Killers’ Trial

Jasmin Salehi, the South Korean immigrant who may be forced out of the country because she had not been married long enough when her American husband was murdered, can stay for the trial of his accused killers, the Immigration and Naturalization Service said Friday.

However, Salehi, as well as the deputy district attorney prosecuting the man who allegedly shot her husband of 11 months, expressed concern that she could still be deported when the trial ends.

“After the trial is finished, where am I going to go?” the 32-year-old Van Nuys resident said. “This is my place to live.”

Salehi’s unusual predicament has caught the attention of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills), who have lobbied the INS on her behalf. After her situation was reported in Thursday’s Times, Salehi has received dozens of telephone calls offering legal advice or moral support.

On Friday the INS district director in Los Angeles, Richard K. Rogers, said Salehi’s so-called parole status was extended, in part because the district attorney’s office requested that she be allowed to stay in case she was needed to testify.

Salehi had been awaiting a certified letter from the INS. When it arrived, she would have had 30 days to leave the country or face deportation proceedings.

Salehi, a native of Seoul, met Cyrus Salehi in 1993, when she was in Los Angeles visiting her sister, a fashion design student. They met at a downtown Denny’s restaurant where Cyrus, a manager, began flirting, using some of the few Korean words he knew. “You’re pretty,” he said.

The couple wed in March 1995. That June they went to the INS to ask for an interview so Jasmin could apply for residency. Because of a backlog of applications, they were told they would have to wait until this August, 14 months later, for their appointment.

In February of this year, Cyrus Salehi was shot and killed during a robbery at a Denny’s in Reseda, where he was part-owner. He had handed over $400 from the cash register but was slain anyway.

According to immigration law, since their marriage had not lasted two years, Jasmin was not eligible for residency.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Shellie Samuels, who is prosecuting Cyrus Salehi’s accused killers, wrote a letter last month asking the INS to allow Salehi to stay in the country for the trial. But Samuels, who noted that Salehi has attended every court appearance, said she really hopes officials would grant permanent residency.

“I wouldn’t consider it especially magnanimous if [the INS] said, ‘You can stay for the trial and then we’ll deport you,’ ” said Samuels. “I just think most people would find that unconscionable.”

The outpouring of support Salehi received Friday encouraged and astonished her.

“Phone after phone after phone,” the quiet woman said in her evolving English. “They say, ‘Anything I can do to help?’ I don’t even know who they are.”

There have also been offers of a perhaps less altruistic sort.

Some callers say, “‘I’m a citizen. You could marry me and stay.”