Filipino group fights
to free man in HonoluluSupporters say that the laws
in this case are wrong and unfair
The local chapter of a national organization that represents Filipinos has decided to push for the release of a Filipino immigrant jailed in Honolulu, saying his case has come to symbolize an unjust and unyielding immigration system.
Christopher Ulep, 28, is being held in the federal jail near Honolulu Airport while his ordered deportation to the Philippines is being challenged, a process that could take one to two years.
The board of the Pacific region of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations voted earlier this month to support efforts to try to win Ulep's freedom, which his own lawyer acknowledges is a long shot.
Ulep, a resident alien, was jailed last year when immigration authorities began deportation proceedings nearly seven years after he was convicted of drug and firearm charges, both deportable offenses. It was unclear why authorities waited so long before trying to deport him.
Ulep, who grew up in Kalihi, served a two-month sentence in 1996 and completed a drug rehab program ordered by the court.
Since then, his supporters say, he has stayed out of trouble and has turned his life around, moving to Maui, where he held two jobs, attended apprenticeship school and supported his family.
After Ulep's detention last year, friends, relatives, colleagues, former counselors and others unsuccessfully appealed to immigration authorities to allow him to stay in Hawaii.
Amy Agbayani, vice chairperson of the national federation's local chapter, said immigration issues are among the federation's top priorities.
"The specific case of Chris Ulep represents a real clear injustice that requires our support," Agbayani said.
The group plans to work with other organizations interested in immigration or Filipino issues to try to gain support for Ulep's release.
Immigration authorities say federal law dictates that Ulep be held until his deportation because of his aggravated felony conviction. It doesn't matter that the conviction was seven years ago and that he is rehabilitated, they say.
Immigrant advocates say Ulep's case underscores the shortcomings of an immigration system that has no flexibility in cases in which the immigrant has served his time for a past crime, did everything required by the court, is a productive, law-abiding community member and now faces deportation.
"Chris is a symbol, an example," Sid Rosen, head of Adult Friends for Youth, a nonprofit group that helps at-risk youth, said at the Filipino federation's recent board meeting. "This is a case where the law is wrong."
Rosen's group helped Ulep in his teens and is spearheading efforts to win his release.
Ulep has been jailed since June.
His attorney, Ronald Oldenburg, last month obtained a temporary stay of Ulep's deportation from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals while that court considers whether the case should be sent back to the immigration court.
If the case is remanded to the lower court, Oldenburg plans to argue that the court has the discretion to consider Ulep's rehabilitation based on a provision of the law that was in effect at the time of his conviction.
While Oldenburg pursues the legal challenge, Ulep's supporters say they plan to ask Hawaii's congressional delegation to introduce a so-called private relief bill on Ulep's behalf. Such a bill, if enacted into law, would effectively end the deportation proceedings against him. But even that strategy is a long shot.
Private immigration-relief bills are infrequently introduced and rarely pass Congress. In the 107th Congress that ended in 2002, for instance, only one of 85 such bills passed, according to federal government statistics.
One of the bills that didn't pass was introduced by Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka on behalf of Chai Chaowasaree, the local chef who has been fighting deportation to Thailand for more than a decade. An immigration judge ruled the chef's 1986 marriage to a U.S. citizen was a sham designed to circumvent immigration laws.
Akaka has re-introduced the bill, which is pending, in Congress. An immigration spokeswoman said the chef's deportation proceedings will remain on hold as long as the bill is alive. Chai is not being detained.
No one has contacted Akaka's office about Ulep's case, and thus the senator had no comment, according to Paul Cardus, Akaka's spokesman.
But Cardus said members of Congress usually are reluctant to introduce private bills on behalf of anyone convicted of a felony or drug offense.
Chaowasaree's case involved neither, Cardus noted. "That's a huge difference."
Chaowasaree maintains he got the approval of an immigration official to visit his ailing father in Thailand in 2000, but upon his return to Hawaii was told he had abandoned his appeal by leaving the United States.