Designated Federal Judge David A. Wiseman denied Fu Chen’s writ petition filed by attorney Stephen Woodruff, and ordered the clerk to close the file.
Wiseman earlier issued a temporary stay on Chen’s removal on July 6, several hours before the flight out of Saipan.
On July 18, Wiseman ruled that the immigration judge who denied Fu Chen’s motion to reopen and rejected petitioner’s debt-based argument “did exercise her discretion, and petitioner is really objecting to that exercise.”
Wiseman said: “The immigration judge’s exercise of discretion was certainly ‘lawful.’
As such, the petition does not ‘state facts that point to a real possibility of constitutional error.’ ”
Woodruff argued that his client should have been considered by the immigration judge for “discretionary relief such as humanitarian or public interest parole.”
On July 1, 2011, Immigration Judge Dayna Beamer denied Chen’s petition for a stay of removal.
Woodruff said his client entered the CNMI lawfully and held a long-term business entry permit at least until Dec. 10, 1998.
Chen invested more than $50,000 in the CNMI “but ultimately was cheated out of his investment by Juan C. Cabrera,” Woodruff told the court.
Chen pursued legal remedies but had difficulty doing so and to petitioner’s understanding Cabrera passed away before Chen could realize any recovery, Woodruff said.
Chen “borrowed in China the money he invested in the CNMI and fears imprisonment in China if he returns without repaying the money he borrowed,” Woodruff said.
Last April, the Saipan immigration court ordered Chen’s removal for being an “alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled.”
