Young people make mistakes. It comes with the territory of being young. As a teen, Qing aided in committing various robberies, for which he was arrested. He went to jail, but vowed to turn his life around, earning his GED and getting released early on good behavior.
As an adult, he's rebuilt his life to become a different man, achieving professional success and contributing to society, ultimately applying for American citizenship. Unfortunately, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had different ideas:
Qing loves his country and has been proudly identifying himself as an American for as long as he could remember. To formalize this relationship, Qing submitted an Application for Naturalization with the U.S. Immigration Service in 2007. ICE unexpectedly responded with a notice requesting that he attend a meeting with a deportation officer. At a November 2009 meeting, Qing was detained by ICE and has since been held at an immigration detention facility in New Jersey. He is now facing deportation to China on the basis of his convictions as a minor -- considered aggravated felonies under U.S. immigration law.None of this makes any sense. This is a guy who committed a crime, paid for it, and has otherwise led an exemplary life -- it's what's supposed to happen when criminal justice works. So why is all that now being derailed by bureaucratic, knee-jerk immigration policy? More here: Qing Wu Deserves a Second Chance.
We live in the America of redemption and renewal. And Qing was a perfect example of the promise of its human laws. In the eyes of the justice system, Qing has more than paid his debt to society. In fact, our criminal law does not even recognize deportation as a form of additional punishment reserved for non-citizens alone. Yet, the immigration system now operates separately to derail the future of a person who has been leading an exemplary adult life. It is hard to imagine how someone at ICE, even with just a cursory familiarity with Qing's life story, could make such an onerous decision. Whatever the reasons may be, federal immigration agents clearly did not consider countervailing family and fairness considerations. In addition, the apparent lack of any legitimate public interest behind uprooting a person's life makes ICE's action all the more unjust.
Be sure to read the rest of the article on Qing Wu's situation, then sign the petition: Public Petition to Pardon Qing Wu. And voice your support for Qing Wu by emailing the Governor of New York and his staff here.
