In Orphan’s Case, a Humanitarian Gesture From INS

Guy Taylor, a 16-year-old Canadian orphan, entered an INS hearing office in Los Angeles on Friday wearing a Dodgers baseball cap, a black Raiders jersey and baggy jeans--the epitome of an average American kid.

He left smiling 20 minutes later, holding a certificate that allows him to continue living the life of an average American kid, at least for a year.

“I won,” the lanky teenager said as he walked out of the downtown Federal Building.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service had threatened to deport Guy after he came to the United States this spring to live with his grandmother, Oleta Hansen of Garden Grove, who became his legal guardian after his Canadian mother died.

But under federal immigration law, Guy does not qualify for legal residence through his grandmother because he is 16, one year too old. He has no relatives in Canada, so deportation would have meant living in a foster home.

On Friday, the INS reversed its previous position and approved a rare “humanitarian parole,” which allows Guy to live with Hansen until Aug. 14, 1999, when he can apply for a renewal.

“This is only a year, but it’s more than what we had,” said a tearful Hansen as she hugged Guy and clutched the INS certificate.

The request for a humanitarian parole was a last-ditch effort, said Guy’s attorney, Carl Shusterman, who waived his fees to take the case. Guy’s only other hope for staying with his grandmother would have been to get Congress to pass a bill specifically for him, the lawyer said.

In his 20 years as an immigration attorney, Shusterman said, he had never seen anyone win a humanitarian parole.

To get permanent residency status, he said, Guy must marry an American citizen or find a high-skills job that most Americans cannot fill.

“This is strictly a year-by-year situation,” Shusterman said.

Humanitarian parole, when granted, usually goes to foreign nationals who want to enter the United States for emergency medical care, an INS official said.

“It is really discretionary, and it’s really used sparingly,” said Richard Rogers, district director for the INS. He declined to say how often such approvals are issued.

He added: “There is no category in the law to fit these people into. But the compelling need for them to be in the United States overrides that.”

Rogers said Guy’s troubles are not over. He is still technically an illegal immigrant and is not entitled to such benefits as a Social Security number, which would enable him to get a summer job, Rogers said.

“This is not the ultimate relief,” he added.

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Guy’s mother, Teresa, died in British Columbia in April of a drug overdose that is still under investigation. The Canadian government granted legal guardianship of Guy to Hansen, a retired hospital worker, and her husband, Charles. But when she tried to bring her grandson to the United States for his mother’s funeral in May, Hansen said, border officials told her he could not legally enter the country.

“I more or less had to beg and plead on my knees to get him in,” she said.

Since then, Hansen has appealed to several government officials, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), both of whom have written to the INS on Guy’s behalf. Hansen even wrote to President Clinton, whose office referred the matter to the Justice Department.

“All I want is to keep my grandson with me,” she said. “He is all I have.”

Hansen believes that the letters from Rohrabacher and Feinstein and the interest of the media helped sway the INS to allow Guy to stay.

“I think it was just a great outpouring,” she said.

Guy has begun attending Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, where he has made several friends.

He said he likes living in California. “It’s about the same as Canada,” he said, “just hotter.”