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    News & Views

    Smith, others try to help couple remain in U.S. with disabled son

    Farzad Aleaziz and Roya Ahmade might face deportation to Iran, where 13-year-old Alireza couldn't get the care he needs

    Tuesday, August 25 1998
    By Katy Muldoon
    The Oregonian newspaper
    Portland, Oregon

    Guests gather. Parents smile. Cameras click. The senator shakes hands.

    And Alireza Aleaziz, 13, severely disabled since birth, stares straight ahead from his wheelchair at Providence Child Center, presumably unaware that the bustle surrounding him brings together the powerful forces working in his favor: U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., representatives of the Iranian-American community and members of the Providence staff.

    Smith and others helping the boy's parents, Farzad Aleaziz and Roya Ahmadi, met Monday at the Northeast Portland nursing facility to vow diligence in their effort to persuade the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to allow the family, whose visas have expired, to stay legally in this country.

    If they are deported, Aleaziz and Ahmadi will be forced to leave behind their oldest son, a U.S. citizen. Alireza, who cannot walk, talk or feed himself, requires medication and intensive round-the-clock nursing care that would not be available to him in Iran.

    Aleaziz came to the United States on a student visa 19 years ago and has a doctorate in fisheries management from Oregon State University; his wife has been here 15 years. His former employer, Hewlett-Packard, terminated his employment April 1 when his visa expired and he became ineligible to work legally. Since then, the family has relied on its savings and the generosity of friends and family to pay bills and put food on the table.

    As word of their dilemma spread, Aleaziz and Ahmadi discovered what friends they have -- even in strangers.

    Letters from an organized campaign on their behalf shot through the mail to President Clinton and INS Commissioner Doris Meissner. Donations amounting to more than $11,000 poured in to a legal defense fund. And, in particular, Iranian Americans began to talk to one another about how they could help.

    The Iranian Professional Society of Oregon circulated a petition asking the INS to reconsider the Aleazizes' case.

    The Iranian American Republican Council, a 10-year-old organization with chapters in 10 states, including Oregon, contacted Smith's office and asked for help.

    And members of the Andisheh Center, a cultural group that aims to preserve Iranian heritage, got involved.

    The three groups plan a fund-raising picnic for the family Sept. 13 at George Rogers Park in Lake Oswego.

    "We made this a little more personal," said Goli Ameri of Lake Oswego, who initially contacted Smith's office on behalf of the Iranian American Republican Council. "We said, look, this guy is part of the community. He's educated. He's willing to work. He's got all the credentials. . . . This guy really needs help."

    Maureen Hovenkotter, a constituent services representative in the senator's office, contacted the INS. And last week the family learned that the agency had softened its stance; they will be allowed to plead their case before an immigration judge. Their first hearing with the agency is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 31, although the entire process could take many months.

    Aleaziz and Ahmadi, as a last-ditch effort to remain in the United States, had asked the INS to place them in removal -- or deportation -- proceedings. Such a move would make them eligible to apply for cancellation of removal, adjustment of legal residency status and for work permits.

    The INS initially denied the request because it does not coincide with the agency's top goals: to focus its resources on criminal noncitizens, on those who employ illegal immigrants and on immigrant smuggling operations.

    Smith, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs, met with the family Monday and promised to "stay engaged and help any way we can."

    He wondered aloud if, perhaps, the case of this family trying at all costs to stick close to their child could help improve U.S. relations with Iran.

    And he listened as Farzad Aleaziz described his and his wife's anguish at the prospect of being forced to move far away from their son.

    "I'm sure you can understand, because you are a father," Aleaziz said to the senator.

    Smith, who has three children, said: "I am very touched by what I saw. A great country doesn't abandon anybody."

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