ICE-Abused Immigrant, Jiang Zhen Xing, Wins Asylum

by Mike Liu

A Philadelphia mother, who miscarried twins when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents rushed to deport her from ICE offices to a New York airport. Has won U.S. asylum. Immigration Court Judge Barbara A. Nelson granted her request for political asylum based on China's one-child policy. The same judge had previously denied Ms. Jiang's other asylum appeals.

In February 2006, when Ms. Jiang was thirteen weeks pregnant, she reported to ICE offices for a agents took her from Ms. Jiang said ICE agents roughly shoved her into a van in Philadelphia and denied her pleas for medical help, nor was she given Ms. Jiang any food or water. The case sparked protests in New York and Philadelphia, headlines in Beijing and the formation of the Justice for Jiang Zhen Xing Campaign. The campaign seeks public accountability from ICE around humane treatment of all individuals in ICE custody and demands that human rights – to life, family, and work – function as the basis for immigration reform.

Ms. Jiang’s pro-bono lawyers said that the decision reflected how politically embarrassing the Jiang case had become both domestically and overseas. The government’s about-face, Mr. Cox, one of her lawyers, said, “was tantamount to acknowledging that she was mistreated.”

Ms. Jiang, from Fujian Province in China, had been in the country for ten years and had run a small restaurant with her husband. They have sons, ages 6 and 8, born in the United States. Her husband's asylum case is still pending.

"I feel happy, very excited," Ms. Jiang said. "I don't need to hide now." She and her husband hope to re-open another restaurant, as their lives have been put on hold for a year.

Supporters applauded the news but suggested that issues remain about the treatment of immigrants. "It's great news," Helen Gym, of Asian Americans United and a leader of the Justice for Jiang Zhen Xing campaign, said of the ruling. "We celebrate with Mrs. Jiang, but there's still a lot of concern. We still have not been able to gain accountability,” she said, “or promises that immigration will abide by humane practices.”