I've talked about this case before. Millionaire businessman and government official patronizeds a Masseuse with a prostitition conviction (like we believe all she was giving him was a massage), dumps his family to carry on a public affair with her, and eventually marries her. Oh, yeah, did I mention she's under a deportation order?

Well now, seeking a better venue for their lawsuit against the US government, Ralph and Nicole Yanhong Hu Isenberg have fled Dallas for New York -- on the very day on which Nicole was required to voluntarily leave the United States under an agreementshe signed with the US government.

The choice was clear: Leave the country voluntarily by Monday or be deported.

Instead of catching an international flight, Nicole Isenberg fled to New York City with her husband, Ralph, a former member of the Dallas City Plan Commission, and started preparing a federal lawsuit against U.S. immigration officials.

"We are still trying so hard to have a judge listen to our case and keep our family together," said Mrs. Isenberg, who has a 6-week-old child with Mr. Isenberg and a teenage daughter from her first marriage whom he adopted.

"We won't give up."

Mr. Isenberg, a Dallas real-estate developer, vowed to continue his fight for his Chinese wife's freedom and her green card.

"There is no better place for me to be than New York," he said Monday.

Mr. Isenberg has been grappling with immigration authorities on his wife's behalf since they met about three years ago.

He recently resigned his position on the City Plan Commission after revealing to the media that his 30-year marriage dissolved when he met and later married Nicole – formerly known as Yanhong Hu, a Dallas massage parlor worker who had once been arrested on a prostitution charge.

The misdemeanor charge was unfounded, the Isenbergs said, and was dismissed after she served five months' probation.

Both sides in the Isenbergs' immigration dispute accuse the other of egregious misdeeds.

Paul Hunker III, chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas, has characterized Mrs. Isenberg as one of the worst violators of immigration law he has seen.

She is not eligible to adjust her status in the U.S., he said, because she engaged in prostitution, committed fraud by lying about the prostitution charge, overstayed her visa by more than a year and was ordered deported in absentia when she missed an immigration hearing.

Mr. Hunker, learning that he could possibly be named in the Isenbergs' lawsuit, referred questions Monday to spokesman Carl Rusnok.

"She was supposed to have left the U.S. by today. It looks like she has no intention of meeting that agreement," Mr. Rusnok said Monday.

"We will take whatever enforcement actions we deem appropriate. ... ICE is a federal organization. We have ICE agents in New York as well."

Gee, what part of "not eligible to adjust her status" is so hard to understand? The mere fact that she married a millionaire with lots of good political connections is not a basis for her being allowed to stay in the US. She is a convicted prostitute who overstayed her visa and was ordered deported years ago. On what possible basis could they possibly argue against the order to leave a country where she has no legal right to stay? Especially since she agreed to leave, and was given several extensions.

Well, they are using the kitchen sink strategy. Every possible argument is out there. All of them sound like pure bunk (and not the kind where Mrs. Isenberg used to make her moneu on her back). More offensive is the attempt to play the China card.

Mr. Cox [the Isenberg's lawyer], who speaks fluent Mandarin, said Mrs. Isenberg's case has received widespread coverage in China, where Mr. Isenberg has been called "China's son-in-law."

"I hope our government will do the humane thing, the fair thing," he said. "People in China are watching to see if we are fair to a Chinese citizen."

We4ll, Mr. Isenberg, maybe your in-laws have a spare bedroom for you over at their place. You and your wife need to get on the slow boat (or maybe a chartered jet) to China, where you and she can wait until she is eligble to come back to this country under American law.

Oh, and Mr. Cox, since the article makes it clear that you were an active participant in the violation of this agreement, which includes flight from federal authorities, I look forward to hearing that you face the appropriate criminal charges, serve time, and are disbarred as the unethical scoundrel you are.

Oh, I would like to point to one quote from an ICE representative.

"We will take whatever enforcement actions we deem appropriate. ... ICE is a federal organization. We have ICE agents in New York as well."

Send them in -- throw her out.

Posted by: Greg at 05:17 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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