Gov. Wilson’s Former Maid Allowed to Remain in U.S.

SAN DIEGO — In a case freighted with political overtones, a former maid for Gov. Pete Wilson was given permission Thursday by a judge to remain in this country despite problems with her immigration application two decades ago.

Immigration Judge Rico Bartolomei ruled that Josefina Delgado Klag did not make a deliberate misrepresentation on her application for permanent resident status. INS attorney Jesus Clemente said the INS will reserve its right to appeal the ruling.

Klag, 54, a native of Mexico, was a maid for Wilson and his then-wife Betty for three years while Wilson was mayor of San Diego. Klag’s attorney, Richard Pray, called the investigation of Klag’s immigration status “a witch hunt” initiated for political purposes.

As she left the court, Klag told reporters that the Wilsons knew she was in this country illegally when she was hired to clean their apartment. Sean Walsh, a spokesman for Wilson, denied the allegation.

“The governor did not know if she was legal or illegal, he had every reason to believe that she was legal,” Walsh said. “We don’t know why she would say that.”

In the late 1970s, it was not illegal to hire an illegal immigrant.

The matter of Klag’s immigration status surfaced in 1995. Democrats claimed it showed the Republican Wilson to be hypocritical in backing Proposition 187 and taking a tough stand against illegal immigration.

“In office he attacks illegal immigrants. At home he hired illegal maids to clean his toilet bowl,” said Bob Mulholland, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party.

Wilson has since paid $15,000 in back Social Security payments and penalties for three housekeepers from 1971 until 1990.

A relieved Klag said she had no fear because she did not do anything wrong. “This was political,” she said.

At issue before Bartolomei was whether Klag should be deported because on her application she did not disclose a 1976 marriage.

Klag testified in Spanish that she believed the 1976 marriage, which lasted eight days, had been annulled. She remarried in 1978.

Bartolomei ruled that Klag may have misunderstood the question and that there was no indication that her answer was “willfully misleading.”