Immigration Status a Threat to Her Dreams

Eight years ago, Qiao Qi Jiang left her village in China and embarked on a daring journey to America.

She was only 12 at the time. But with her parents’ blessings, she was smuggled into the United States so she could one day get her wish: a college education.

The young girl spent a difficult and lonely two years in New York before fellow immigrants from her village took her to central Pennsylvania. There, she was adopted by a couple unable to resist her charms, and became Maggie Arnold.

Today, she is a college junior, a dean’s list student majoring in mathematics and hoping to continue her studies in graduate school.

But in the post-Sept. 11 world, she faces new roadblocks and, her family fears, even possible deportation if she continues on her current track rather than disappearing into the underground economy.

Without a green card, indicating permanent legal residence, Maggie won’t be able to receive federal financial aid for graduate school or apply for a job, says Craig Trebilcock, a York immigration lawyer working with the family.

She could have become a legal resident by paying a $1,000 fine, but the law permitting that expired four years ago. Congressional efforts to extend it ended amid the heated political debates over immigration and border security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The government says its priority is removing illegal immigrants who commit crimes. But Maggie’s adoptive parents, the Revs. David and Candace Arnold, remain worried and are lobbying Congress to revive the old law.

“She could be picked up and incarcerated tomorrow,” says David Arnold, “and we would not see her again.”

Trebilcock, who is representing Maggie for free, says the family’s fears are well-founded. Zealous enforcement of immigration laws in the last several years have made it dangerous for Maggie to remain in the country, he says.

It’s unclear how many others are facing the same plight. Neither the federal government nor immigration advocacy groups compile statistics on undocumented adoptees from foreign countries.

During an interview in the parlor of a Mechanicsburg church where Candace Arnold is associate pastor, all three are crammed together on a small couch, tiny Maggie between her parents. Her mother marvels at how she has blossomed.

“It was like she was a baby in some ways because she was starved for parental affection,” she says. “She has gone from being a toddler or a young child emotionally to her actual age. That’s been amazing to see in five years.”

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Growing up in Fujian province in southeastern China, Maggie was pessimistic about her prospects for college, despite having good grades in both Chinese and math. Her family couldn’t afford it.

“People from my village don’t usually go to college, no matter how smart they are,” she says. “I knew that if I stayed in China, there was no way I could get my education.”

Having heard stories about opportunity in the United States, she begged her parents for permission to leave home.

“I thought that I was mature enough; I thought that I was independent enough, so there I was, saying to my parents, ‘You have to let me go.’ ”

Her father arranged for a woman to smuggle her into the country on a flight to New York while posing as her mother. The girl was abandoned upon her arrival in the city, but found a home in a Chinatown apartment with a group of older illegal immigrants.

“It was so hard,” she says, “because on the trip, I sort of started recognizing her as my mother because my parents weren’t around.”

Fearful that she would be sent back to China, she never ventured out of the apartment, spending her first year watching English-language TV programs that she didn’t understand.

Her father eventually sent her a passport from China, which enabled her to enroll in New York’s public schools for a year. Then, through a network of other Chinese, she found a home in rural Perry County, Pa., with some people from her village who owned a Chinese restaurant.

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It was there, in March 2000, that Maggie’s fate came to rest in the hands of the Arnolds, both Methodist ministers.

By that time, Maggie was enrolled at the local high school and earning straight A’s, the fruits of incessant studying. The Arnolds, regular patrons of the restaurant, had become friendly with the owner, who one day shared Maggie’s story, then asked if they had ever considered adoption.

They were empty-nesters -- both are 54 -- with four adult children between them from previous marriages. The idea hadn’t occurred to them.

“About 10 minutes later, Maggie showed up and asked if we’d adopt her,” David Arnold says.

They invited Maggie to dinner at their home later that week and were taken with her sweetness and positive attitude. The Arnolds were able to adopt her legally once her biological parents gave up their custody rights; the adoption became official on May 9, 2000.

Maggie graduated at the top of her high school class and enrolled in college, where she has immersed herself in student government and community service projects as well as her studies.

Her immigration status had no legal bearing on her adoption, according to Trebilcock. The Arnolds were counting on being able to make her a legal citizen after she had been adopted for two years by paying a penalty under the now-defunct federal program known as 245(i), named for a section of the immigration law.

It said “if you have a relative or a job offer, under which you could get a green card if you were here legally, they let you pay a $1,000 fine and forgive the fact that you were smuggled into the country,” Trebilcock says.

A House-Senate conference committee was considering renewing the law around the time of the terrorist attacks, “and from that point on,” David Arnold says, “it went away.”

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The Arnolds have met with members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation to discuss Maggie’s plight, but have received no promises.

“Congress is running scared that doing anything favorable on immigration will somehow be twisted into being viewed as weak on national security,” Trebilcock says.

If the 245(i) program is not renewed, the Arnolds hope that Congress might pass a private bill, allowing Maggie to stay in the country.

Rep. Tim Holden (D-Pa.) says he is trying to determine how many other illegal immigrants are in similar straits. He believes that there may be a better chance of passing legislation that can apply to more people than Maggie because no private bills have passed since 2001.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform, a lobbying group that supports stricter immigration rules, has fought the law’s renewal on grounds that it encourages illegal immigration, says Jack Martin, the organization’s special projects director.

“Policy decisions should never be made on the basis of exceptional cases,” Martin says. “We would oppose anything that would encourage the belief that entering the country illegally is an acceptable way to gain permanent residence in the United States.”

David Arnold responds: “My family came here in 1639. We’re all immigrants ... and that we don’t acknowledge that in the way we behave toward immigrants today is wrong.”

As for Maggie, all she wants to do “is be a normal person. I feel like if someone has taken time to know me, they will know that I’m a good person, that I don’t have anything too bad to contribute to this country.”