Bill Seeks Residency for Slain Man’s Widow

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) has introduced a bill that would grant permanent United States residency to Jasmin Salehi, the Korean-born woman who faces deportation because her American husband was murdered before she could apply to stay in the country.

The bill, introduced Wednesday, is the House version of a bill introduced in the Senate in March by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. “Ms. Salehi took all the proper steps to becoming a legal permanent resident in this country,” Sherman said in a statement. “She has suffered enough from the death of her husband.”

Salehi called the bills “my last hope.”

The 32-year-old Sherman Oaks resident learned late last year that she faced deportation because she had been married to her husband just 11 months, rather than the two years required for residency, when he was killed.

Cyrus Salehi, 38, was shot to death in February 1996, after handing over $400 to robbers at a Denny’s restaurant in Reseda, where he was manager and co-owner.

In September, the Immigration and Naturalization Service decided to allow Jasmin Salehi to stay in the country for one year so she could attend the trials of her husband’s killers.

Both the gunman and the getaway driver were convicted this spring.