Not So Permanent / INS seeks to revoke residency status of immigrant family

When the Mordechaevs learned four years ago that they were

among the lucky few selected to apply for legal immigration status, the family

thought it had finally found a way to remain in its adopted country. Now

immigration officials are trying to slam the door on them.

Since 1997, the family, now living in Brighton Beach, has been battling the

Immigration and Naturalization Service to keep permanent residency status. The

most recent salvo from the INS came last month, when all four members of the

Mordechaev family received letters from immigration officials saying their

legal status is being rescinded.

The INS readily admits in its correspondence to the family that the agency

had erred in its handling of the case, but it says that despite the mistakes,

it cannot allow them to maintain permanent residency.

"The way they work there is like they don't care about the people," Gila

Mordechaev, 37, a Russian-born immigrant from Israel, said of the INS. "It's

like they are not human."

Mordechaev, her husband, Avshalom, and their two daughters, Naara and

Nurti, came to the United States on tourist visas in 1990 and stayed long after

their visas expired. In early 1997, the family was awarded a chance to apply

for permanent residency through the diversity visa lottery program, which

encourages people from different countries to immigrate to the United States.

The Mordechaevs took great care in filing out all the required forms and

meeting all their immigration appointments. Finally, in September 1997, INS

officials in New York stamped each of their passports to show that they had

obtained permanent residency. The passport stamps, valid for a year, were to

serve as proof of legal status until members of the family received their green

cards.

A few months later, the family returned to the INS office in downtown

Manhattan. Immigration officials explained they had erroneously stamped the

Mordechaevs' passports, according to INS correspondence.

Immigration officials told the Mordechaevs that the FBI had not cleared

their fingerprints until Oct. 4, 1997, four days after the 1997 diversity visa

lottery program ended. The stamps they received in their passports in September

were mistakenly given because, by the time they had qualified to remain

legally in the United States, the program had ended and no more visas were

available to distribute, according to INS letters to the Mordechaevs.

After much wrangling between the family and INS officials, the Mordechaevs

received another stamp on their passports in 1998, extending the validity of

their permanent residency status for one more year, until September 1999.

Again, the INS says that set of stamps was given erroneously.

A week after their status was extended, the Mordechaevs received letters

from the INS informing them that they would be deported. The family went into

immigration court, and the judge ruled in fall 1999 that the Mordechaevs were

indeed permanent residents and should not be deported.

The INS first sought to appeal the decision, but immigration officials

later changed their stance and decided not to pursue the case in court.

When the INS decided not to pursue an appeal, the Mordechaevs thought that

they had put their years-long ordeal behind them. But in June, the Mordechaevs

received letters from the INS telling them that the agency is rescinding their

permanent residency status.

"If I know I made a mistake, I know I have to pay for that," said Gila

Mordechaev. "But if I didn't make a mistake, I shouldn't have to pay for it ...

It's not fair for their mistake I have to pay."

She said her family is at a loss as to what steps to take next. She said

the family has spent about $12,000 on lawyers' fees. They also have spent

countless hours over the last four years at the INS' Manhattan office, hoping

to get their immigration cases resolved in their favor, she said.

"It's so despicable ... to get the stamps put in the passports and later to

say 'We made a mistake,'" said Irwin Berowitz, the family's previous attorney.

A spokesman for the New York INS office said the agency cannot comment on

specific cases, but he pointed to current law that allows immigration officials

to rescind a person's immigrant status.

"If a person is adjusted [to permanent residency status] and later on we

realized the person is ineligible for the adjustment, we can seek to rescind

it," said the spokesman, Christian Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, the Mordechaev family is stuck in limbo.

Gila Mordechaev said she can't get a job as a computer programmer because

companies want her to prove her permanent residency with a green card. Her

husband, who is a self-employed construction worker, missed his brother's

wedding in Israel earlier this year because he was afraid if he traveled

abroad, he would not be allowed back into the United States. Then there's the

Mordechaevs' 18-year-old daughter, who just graduated from high school and is

hoping to leave for Israel in September for a one-year writing program.

"It's unbelievable," Gila Mordechaev said.