Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
A sad story worth shared
COLUMBUS (AP) — An immigration attorney convicted of scheming to illegally obtain a green card persuaded a judge Thursday to delay deportation proceedings to her native Ghana until Friday.
Lillian Asante and her ex-husband, Kwadwo Asante, are not fighting the return home, which they expect to happen soon. But they balked at a court hearing when it appeared immigration officials would take them into custody immediately after their sentencing on a charge of marriage fraud.
The Asantes had brought their 1-year-old son, Kofi, to sentencing and didn’t appear ready to enter detention.
U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost delayed sentencing the couple to two years of probation until today.
Under a last-second arrangement, the Asantes will be allowed to stay home with electronic monitoring after the sentencing, said their attorney, Ritchey Hollenbaugh.
“My understanding is they’ll be on home-detention until the paperwork is worked out, and then they’ll be on a plane to Ghana,” he said.
The Asantes married in Ghana in 1999 and entered the United States in August 2002. Lillian Asante attended Ohio State University law school, earning her degree in 2005, while Kwadwo Asante, 40, earned an MBA at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
In May 2004, the couple divorced in Ghana and schemed to marry U.S. citizens to obtain their green cards, according to federal court documents.
In January 2005, with Lillian present, Kwadwo married Jonella McWilson of Columbus. A year later, in February 2006, with Kwadwo present, Lillian married Randy Weight of Apollo Beach, Fla.
Each newly married couple then submitted immigration forms to apply for permanent residence. In the meantime, prosecutors say, the Asantes bought a house together in suburban Columbus — listing themselves as husband and wife — and, in 2008, had their son.
The plot unraveled when immigration officials interviewed Asante and Weight about their pending immigration cases, and both acknowledged that the marriage was fraudulent, according to court documents. The Asantes pleaded guilty last September to unlawfully entering into marriages with U.S. citizens to evade U.S. immigration laws.
“A couple of great educations lost,” Hollenbaugh said. “Hopefully they can still contribute once they get back over there, but they won’t be coming back here.”
McWilson declined to comment Thursday. Weight told The Associated Press the marriage was a fake.
“That divorce is supposed to be happening right now,” Weight said. “It was really bogus the whole time anyway. We never lived together or anything.” He referred all questions to his attorney, who did not immediately return a call.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested 238 people across the country last year on charges of marriage fraud. That includes 11 people charged in Columbus in an unrelated plot to arrange sham marriages to help people from eastern Europe gain legal residency.
In December, a 72-year-old Texas woman pleaded guilty to arranging some 170 matches between more than a dozen of her relatives and foreigners willing to pay cash to marry Americans and get green cards.
McWilson and Weight have not been charged but could be prosecuted for the fraudulent marriages under federal immigration laws. Prosecutors have not said if they plan to charge the pair.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Misa ya kumuombea marehemu.Taarifa kamili kutoka kwa wanafamilia.
Ndugu Watanzania ninatoa taarifa ya misa ya mzee wetu marehemu Jaji Mapigano ambayo itafanyika siku ya Jumamosi tarehe 01/22/2011. MISA ITAANZA SAA 5:00 PM
ADDRESS: 3800 TALIESIN PLACE
COLUMBUS OH 43219
ADDRESS: 3800 TALIESIN PLACE
COLUMBUS OH 43219
Ahsanteni kwa ushirikiano wenu.
KWA MAELEZO ZAIDI WASILIANA NA NDUGU WAFUATAO:
MKAMA MAPIGANO : 614-805-6231
DAN MAPIGANO : 614-354-7240
JACQUELINE MJENGWA : 614-804-5237
BIDAN MCHAO : 614-670-2312
DANNY NYAMBIBO : 614- 895-1954
WILLY MWANDAMBO: 614-537-1448
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