[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 4 (Thursday, January 27, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E23]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  INTRODUCTION OF PRIVATE RELIEF BILL

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 27, 2000

  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. Speaker, today I introduced a private relief bill 
for Gui Di Chen which will allow her to adjust status to permanent 
resident as an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen. Ms. Chen's 
husband, Robert Lem, died before the immigration and naturalization 
service could approve his wife's petition to become a permanent 
resident.
  Under our immigration law, the INS cannot adjudicate Gui Di Chen's 
petition because she was married less than two years to Robert Lem 
before he passed away. The fact that Ms. Chen lived with Mr. Lem for 
three years does not matter under the eyes of the law. Without the 
enactment of this private relief bill, Ms. Chen faces a dire and 
uncertain future in China, a country she hasn't been to in nearly ten 
years.
  There is, moreover, ample precedent for such relief. For instance, 
the 105th Congress passed and the President signed into law at least 
two private relief bills, H.R. 1794 (Private Law 105-7) and H.R. 1834 
(Private Law 105-8), that allowed the widowed alien spouses of 
Americans to adjust status to permanent resident. In both of these 
cases, the alien spouses were married less than two years to their U.S. 
citizen spouses.
  Mr. Speaker, Gui Di Chen's case is compounded by a tale of woe and 
misfortune that rivals a greek tragedy. In less than eight years, Ms. 
Chen has lost two husbands who died suddenly and before her immigrant 
petitions could be processed. In 1990, Ms. Chen and her son joined her 
husband, Zheng-Ming Wu, in the United States. Mr. Wu was completing a 
graduate degree at the time. Mr. Wu was fortunate enough to find an 
employer who filed an employer-based immigrant petition on his behalf. 
However, on September 6, 1991, just five days before Gui Di Chen, her 
son and husband were scheduled for an INS immigrant interview, Mr. Wu 
was killed in a car accident.
  According to the police report that was filed, Mr. Wu was driving on 
the San Bernardino Freeway and developed car trouble. His car was 
stopped in an H.O.V. lane when he was rear-ended by an 18-year-old who 
was driving on a suspended license and without insurance. Ms. Chen 
received no compensation for her husband's death. In addition, the INS 
told Ms. Chen and her son that their application for permanent resident 
status was denied due to the death of Mr. Wu.
  After the tragic loss of her first husband, Gui Di Chen was fortunate 
enough to fall in love again. Mr. Lem and Ms. Chen were married on 
March 31, 1997. Tragedy would strike once again when Mr. Lem died of a 
heart attack on June 16, 1998. Not only did Ms. Chen lose her husband, 
she also lost the opportunity to become a permanent resident.
  Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure 
that Gui Di Chen is not victimized once again by the vagaries of fate 
and is allowed to finally adjust to permanent resident status. She 
deserves nothing less.

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