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What building is this...?

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I don't understand the stairs on the outside

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Kwai Fun Wong, a citizen of Hong Kong, first lawfully entered the United States in 1985 as a Tao minister. She later became the head of the Wu-Wei Tien Tao Association (hereinafter "Tien Tao" and, according to the belief of her religion, the "heavenly mandated" Matriarch of the Tao Heritage. Tien Tao is a religious organization dedicated to spreading the truth of Tao throughout the world. Followers of Tao believe that "Tao means the Truth, the Path, or the Way and that Tien Tao is the way to return [to] heaven by restoring the original nature."

7

In 1992, Wong's predecessor as leader of Tien Tao, Qian Ren, instructed Wong to apply for permanent residence in the United States so she would be able to pursue Tien Tao's religious mission. Wong filed two petitions with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)4 for permanent residence, in 1992 and 1994, and resided in the United States while the petitions were pending.5

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When Qian Ren passed away on March 16, 1999, Wong became the head of Tien Tao. To fulfill her religious duties, including arranging the funerary services and meeting with Tao ministers in Hong Kong to plan Tien Tao's future, Wong had to accompany Qian Ren's body back to Hong Kong for burial.

9

Under 8 C.F.R. § 245.2(a)(4)(ii), an alien with a pending application for adjustment of status is considered to have abandoned her application if she leaves the country without first obtaining permission ("advance parole" from the INS.6 Prior to her departure for Hong Kong, Wong's immigration attorney attempted unsuccessfully to make arrangements with the INS to permit Wong to leave without advance parole.7 Eleven days after Qian Ren's death, Wong left for Hong Kong without having obtained advance parole or any special dispensation waiving the advance parole requirement.

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Wong returned to the United States via San Francisco eighteen days later. Upon her arrival, INS officers paroled her into the country pending a deferred inspection in Portland on April 28.8

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Soon thereafter, Wong and Tien Tao filed another adjustment of status application under INA § 245(i) on Wong's behalf. Wong's attorney notified the Portland INS office of Wong's application and asked Defendant-Appellant Jack O'Brien, port director of that office, to contact him if he wished to meet with Wong in person. Wong did not appear for her deferred inspection on April 28, for reasons not explained in the complaint.

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The next day, April 29, Defendant-Appellant David V. Beebe, district director of the Portland INS office, revoked Wong's parole. Shortly afterward, O'Brien and Defendant-Appellant Douglas Glover, a supervisory inspections officer with the Portland office, issued a "Notice and Order of Expedited Removal" and a determination of inadmissibility. Wong did not receive this Notice until June 22, 1999, the day she was removed from the country.

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In early June, Wong received a letter from Beebe requesting that Wong appear at the Portland INS office on June 17 to receive her employment authorization card. When Wong presented herself, she was seized by INS officers and handed a letter denying her application for adjustment of status, signed by Defendant-Appellant Jerry F. Garcia on behalf of Beebe. After questioning, Wong was placed in detention, where she remained for five days.

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At the Multnomah County Detention Center, Wong was subjected to two strip searches, including an orifice search. Wong's requests for vegetarian meals were denied, "interfering with the practice of her faith." During detention Wong was not permitted access to a translator, information about her rights, information about how to contact her attorney, or access to her followers. Despite repeated requests by her attorney, Wong was not accorded a hearing regarding her exclusion from the United States.

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Wong was removed from the United States on June 22, 1999, and remains outside the country.

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Belongs to the WU-WEI TIEN TAO ASSOCIATION and has been in this unfinished state since their religious leader was summarily deported back in 2001.

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Ellie
posted 11:39a, 03/12/08



If you ever read the rivalries board, you know how people will dig up info on people. Better safe than sorry.

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