BREAKING NEWS: Jimmy Mote Case

"It's the worst possible outcome," said Bob Cress. Jimmy Mote, Marshall Islands citizen and resident in the US since 1992, appeared before the immigration judge this morning, August 13, after seven months detention. Mote's attorney Sheila Stuhlman said, "The judge did not terminate proceedings." Mote will not be able to return home to North Dakota, but must stay in Minnesota. "He has to appear in December and pay lots of money for Green Card, physical exam, etc.," Cress informed Yokwe Online early this afternoon. more to come...

UPDATE - August 14, 2004
Marshallese Jimmy Mote is at home for the first time in seven months. In yesterday's hearing at a Minnesota immigration court, the judge told Mote he could go to North Dakoka for a week. Mote is required to report back to the INS office in Minnesota at 3:00 pm on Friday, August. 20. If he can pay bail of $1500, he can await the December hearing in North Dakota, said sources close to the case.

Reportedly, it was a criminal charge from ten years ago that "red-flagged" the case to immigration authorities and has impacted the current proceedings. Cress, whose wife Margina was allowed in the courtroom for the hearing, said if Mote does not pursue a green card, he can also appeal the "order of deportation" to a higher judge. "If he loses at that level, he gets a one-way ticket to Majuro," Cress said.

The Cress family of Minneapolis took the 33-year Marshall Islander in when he was released from a Chaska, Minnesota jail. They would like to see Mote get help from his relatives living in the States and back in the Marshalls.

--Aenet Rowa, Yokwe Online, August 14, 2004

Contact Jimmy Mote at:
jimmy@yokwe.net

READ:
Part I: Immigration Fiasco Puts Marshall Islander in Jail

Part II: Jimmy Mote Case: Embassy Works to Get Mote Released

Part II: Wheel of Justice Grinds Slowly for Marshall Islander

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For those who want to send Jimmy a word of encouragement, contact him at:
jimmy@yokwe.net