Yuanjun Cui and his wife Huan Wang had entered the U.S. on a valid travel visa in December. It’s something the family says they have been doing routinely since 2009. They took a cruise with their family to the Bahamas.
When the couple returned, they were abruptly taken away by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Jacksonville, Florida and sent back to China, without the opportunity to say goodbye to their family.
“We took this trip because her dad is terminally ill with (stage 4) cancer,” Joseph McDevitt said. “They’ve already removed his stomach, he already has trouble eating. It’s not good.”
In a miraculous turn of events, the family’s attorney, Susan Pai, said the grandparents were granted humanitarian parole after returning to China. They are now with their family back in Seattle,
“I think our whole family is just extremely grateful, I know we couldn’t have done this on our own,” Joseph told KING5 at the Seattle airport. “The whole world basically came together.”
Customs officials would not elaborate about why the couple was deported in the first place. They say the burden of proof on eligibility to enter the U.S. falls on the visitor.
An immigrant advocate with American Friends Services say authorities have more discretion about admission requests at port of entry. Pedro Rios told Snopes he suspects the couple was arrested because they had applied for a green card during this visit and authorities may have feared the couple might overstay their visa.
However, the family say the grandparents had already purchased their return ticket to China and planned to leave in June.
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