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Chef Chaowasaree He'd rather be at his restaurants, greeting customers and serving food, but on the whole, prison hasn't been that bad.
optimistic about
his situation
He says prison isn't that bad;
'it's clean' and the food
is 'pretty good'By Betty Shimabukuro
Star-Bulletin"They treat everybody very nice," chef Chai Chaowasaree said last night in a telephone call from Oahu Community Correctional Center, where he's been held for two weeks as he battles deportation to his native Thailand.
"Honestly, if I was homeless, I would rather be in here than outside. You sleep in the air-conditioning, they give you full meals, they give you soap, it's clean, there's plenty to read."
The inmates in his medium-security section are "pretty mellow," he said. And the food? "Actually, it's pretty good."
Chaowasaree, owner of Singha Thai Cuisine and Chai's Island Bistro, was jailed Feb. 13. He has been battling deportation since 1991, when the Immigration and Naturalization Service ruled that his marriage to a U.S. citizen was a sham.
The case had been on appeal for years, but when Chaowasaree left the country last January to visit his ailing father in Thailand, the INS declared that he had abandoned his appeal and ordered him deported.
Still, Chaowasaree said he had expected to post bond on the 13th and be back at the Island Bistro in time to serve his Valentine's Day specials.
Instead, he was arrested.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is considering Chaowasaree's request for a stay of deportation and is expected to rule by March 16.
His lawyer plans to go to the INS today to seek bail.
Chaowasaree said he entered his 1986 marriage to Victoria Dubray in good faith, but "things change. In any marriage you don't know what's going to happen."
The two are still married, but have been separated for 10 years. They remain friends, Chaowasaree said. Dubray has offered her help now, but he said there is not much she can do.
Even within OCCC, the chef remains optimistic, as he has throughout his entanglement with the Immigration Service. He opened the Island Bistro in 1999, even though at that point his deportation order had been pending for six years. On Jan. 23 he threw an elaborate second-anniversary party for the restaurant -- even though he'd been ordered to report for deportation just three weeks later.
Even if he is forced to leave the country, Chaowasaree said he hopes to return, possibly on an investment visa because of his businesses. And if not, he has friends and family in Thailand and could build a new business there.
But Hawaii has been a good second home, Chaowasaree said. He has been especially encouraged by reports that friends, customers and colleagues in the restaurant industry have signed petitions and written letters on his behalf.
Once out of prison, he said, "I'm probably going to write a lot of thank-you notes. I'm going to owe everybody in this town."