Hands off Manlin Chee! Stop the Attacks on Immigrants!

[bluetrianglescott]

Stop the attacks on immigrants!

Hands off Manlin Chee!

Once again our gravest fears are being realized as the long arm of the USA Patriot Act is now threatening one of Greensboro, N.C.'s finest citizens. Attorney Manlin Chee has long been an advocate and friend to immigrants, one of the most powerless groups in our society. She often goes beyond an attorney's duties, helping her clients obtain education, work, credit, and housing. The local Triad Business News has called her “one of the foremost immigration attorneys in North Carolina, if not the country.”

For the past year, Manlin has been the target of an exhaustive investigation by the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security. Federal agents have scrutinized every aspect of Chee's personal and professional life. They have threatened past and present employees and clients of her law practice, scoured her financial records, used undercover agents for entrapment, and reopened her naturalization files (she became a citizen in 1992). They are even going as far as to question the validity of her marriage, which took place in 1973 and has produced three children!

Why all this scrutiny? Since 2001 Manlin Chee has courageously spoken out against the excesses of the “war on terrorism.” Carrying perhaps the largest caseload of Muslim clients in the area, Manlin would show solidarity by wearing Muslim dress and veil every Friday, saying that if people cannot identify the Muslims, they can't target and discriminate against them. She has been very vocal in criticizing the post-9/11 “Special Registration” of certain immigrants, arguing that it is ineffective profiling of innocent nationals of targeted countries, all of which are predominantly Muslim except for North Korea, and that it is not unlike the registrations required in early Nazi Germany. She also points out the futility of this policy as undocumented immigrants, as those who come across our borders without any passports or visas are not required to register, and would-be terrorists and alien criminals will not comply. Congress must have agreed with her, because these “Special Registrations” have since been suspended. In the meantime, hundreds of immigrants who voluntarily complied and registered have disappeared after registration; some have been deported and others are unaccounted for to this day.

The harassment of Manlin Chee went into overdrive after two events in March 2003. First, an F.B.I. agent, while questioning one of her Arab clients, asked Manlin her opinion of the impending war on Iraq. Manlin expressed her opposition and her skepticism that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Earlier that month, Manlin had taken part in a panel discussion about the PATRIOT Act, held at the Greensboro Central Library. To an overflow crowd, she stated that the PATRIOT Act undermined the Bill of Rights and insisted that after the government goes after the immigrants, it will be emboldened to come after anyone of us who disagree with their politics. Her warning has proven horribly prophetic in her own case.

If the prosecution of Manlin Chee goes unchallenged, a chill will be sent through the field of immigration law. Lawyers will be afraid to defend their clients against attacks by the government, and the status of millions of immigrants who came to this country seeking a better life could be jeopardized. The Manlin Chee Defense Committee calls on everyone to speak out against the persecution of a courageous woman who dared to question the increasingly repressive policies of the U. S. government. History teaches us, as the quote from Pastor Neimoller shows [First they came for the communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist, then they came for the Jews...], that if we don't speak up now , there will be no one left to speak up when they come for us.


To find out how you can help, contact the Manlin Chee Defense Committee/NC Blue Triangle Network at 336-272-2155 email: triadbtn@aol.com

from the Greensboro, NC News & Record

Lawyer target of inquiry by FBI

3-31-04

By SCOTT MICHELS & RUSS RIZZO, Staff Writers
News & Record



GREENSBORO -- The FBI is investigating whether a prominent Greensboro immigration lawyer arranged phony marriages to help immigrants stay in the country.

Manlin Chee and her daughter, Lielani Chee, who works at her mother's firm, received letters from the FBI in November notifying them that they were targets of an investigation, Manlin Chee's husband, Juan Forgay, said Tuesday. Investigators were looking into whether Chee helped immigrants obtain fraudulent marriages to stay in the country, Forgay said.

"(The FBI) said they believed three-fourths of the marriages were fraudulent," Forgay said. "That's all I heard about it."

Chee was in Singapore on Tuesday visiting her sister, who recently had a baby, Forgay said. Her attorney, Locke Clifford, declined to comment. Forgay said Lielani Chee also declined to comment, saying her lawyer advised her not to speak with the media.

The investigation follows the federal indictment Monday of one of Chee's former clients on charges of illegally entering the United States after having been deported and of making fraudulent statements to the U.S. government.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Hamilton said he could neither confirm nor deny that Chee was under investigation or if the two cases were linked.

Miryam Rojas Wright, who pleaded guilty in 1987 to the use of a telegraph to distribute cocaine and to the use of interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, was deported in 1994, according to her criminal complaint.

Chee was at the airport with Wright when she was deported to Colombia.

At some point after that, Wright illegally returned to the United States and settled in Greensboro, the indictment said. In 1999, she changed her name to Marian D. Bennett, according to court records.

In 2003, Bennett bought a house at 2203 Stanley Road from Chee and her husband, according to the Guilford County Register of Deeds office. That address is also listed with the N.C. Secretary of State as the headquarters of Bennett's business, Maid Marian Inc., a house-cleaning service.

Prosecutors contend in Monday's indictment that Bennett lied on Department of Labor forms, saying she planned to hire aliens at her company when she did not know them or actually plan to hire them. Forgay confirmed that Chee sold the house to Bennett but said he was unaware she was in the country illegally. He said he did not know if Chee was aware the woman was an illegal immigrant when she sold the house.

Bennett is being held in federal custody. Her attorney, Christopher Justice, declined to comment. He said she would plead not guilty at her arraignment next week.

Forgay said he was concerned about the investigation, although he believed his wife was innocent of the accusations.


Contact Scott Michels at 373-7077 or smichels@news-record.com


Contact Russ Rizzo at 373-7021 or rrizzo@news-record.com

The Manlin Chee Defense Committee, which I chair, is calling on organizations concerned with civil rights and civil liberties to look into this case, and consider the implications of a successful prosecution of this lawyer who has been so tireless in advocating for her clients. These days immigrants are a very vulnerable group, and we fear a chilling effect on immigration attorneys, who are often the main line of defense for immigrant groups.

Please contact me here or at scottistoxic@aol.com for more info.

[kasia]

the most that would happen to another attorney is a similar situation is disbarrment - if that. maybe just suspension.

i think it's obvious what is going on here.

YW?

[bluetrianglescott]

I'm posting two articles here from the local press that ran in the order in which they ran--Saturday April 2nd and Sunday April 3rd. Notice the difference between the two.

Lawyer gives up right to practice

4-3-04

By Russ Rizzo Staff Writer
News & Record

GREENSBORO -- A local immigration attorney who is the target of an FBI probe agreed Friday to temporarily give up her right to practice law because of mental illness.

According to an agreement with the N.C. State Bar, Manlin Chee was placed on disability inactive status because she suffers from panic disorder and major depression with "probable psychosis" that makes her mentally incapable of practicing law.

The bar's ruling puts six pending grievances filed against Chee on hold. They will remain that way until Chee decides to apply to practice law again, said Root Edmonson, deputy council of the State Bar.

Edmonson said Chee's attorney, Locke Clifford, told the board's investigators that he plans to use her mental illness as a defense against the grievances. The board agreed to hear the evidence before investigating the complaints and was convinced she should be granted inactive status, Edmonson said.

The decision does not affect any ongoing investigation by the FBI, Edmonson said.

"I don't think this will have any affect (on the FBI investigation)," Edmonson said. "The psychiatrist has not said she is not able to defend herself. It just says that in her present mental status she is no longer able to perform her functions as a lawyer."

In November the FBI sent letters to Chee and her daughter, who works as an office manager at the firm, notifying them that they were targets in an investigation, said Chee's husband, Juan Forgay.

Investigators are looking into whether Chee helped immigrants obtain fraudulent marriages to stay in the country, and the FBI said it thinks that three-fourths of marriages handled by Chee were bogus, Forgay said.

That same month, the state bar received the first of six grievances from Chee's clients, Clifford said. The clients complained that Chee neglected their cases, failed to communicate with them and failed to properly supervise her assistants, according to the state bar.

Clifford declined to comment on the FBI investigation. He said the grievances were a factor in Chee's decision to take inactive status.

"It's not a cop-out," Clifford said. "It's a realization that she is simply not in shape mentally to practice law or to deal with the grievances or to close her practice or to do anything else."

A judge will appoint another lawyer to handle Chee's cases, according to the agreement. Chee has more than 5,000 clients and thousands of current cases, Clifford said. She is the only lawyer in her firm and has seven assistants, he said. Chee's office at 201 W. Market St. was temporarily closed on Wednesday, the day the News & Record reported that Chee received the FBI letter.

Clifford said he believed Chee's mental illness "started decades ago." She hired a psychiatrist in 2001, and then hired psychiatrist Dr. Parish A. McKinney in late 2003, he said.

Chee was admitted to Moses Cone Behavioral Health Center earlier this year for a "period of days" and released, Clifford said.

Chee hired Dr. Ellen C. Wilson, a clinical psychologist, Feb. 9, according to the state bar. Wilson and McKinney testified with the state board that Chee's mental illness made her incapable of practicing law.

Clifford said Chee's office closed permanently on Friday. She is in Singapore visiting her sister and is expected to return to Greensboro in a month, he said.

"I hope that getting away from the pressures of this law practice will help her get better," Clifford said.


Contact Russ Rizzo at 373-7021 or rrizzo@news-record.com

The writer who interviewed me for this article rightly pointed out that the coverage so far had "lacked background". I think she does a great job here in providing some of that background.

Lorraine Ahearn

Manlin Chee, through the looking glass

4-4-04

News & Record

If Greensboro's immigrant community is big enough to make the town "a little Ellis Island," as a visiting Washington Post reporter wrote after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, you might say that one downtown law office, more than any other place, represents the point of debarkation.

On the wall is a framed copy of the U.S. Constitution, lawyer Manlin Chee's favorite piece of literature when she arrived here as a college student from Singapore in 1969. There's a screaming eagle, a couple of well-worn leather couches and a straight-backed church pew for the overflow -- a teeming practice staggering under the weight of about 1,500 open immigration cases.

And if this were Greensboro's answer to the golden door, that door closed Friday as the city's most high-profile immigration lawyer surrendered her law license, citing psychiatric problems. This is in the midst of a looming fraud indictment by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, along with six client grievances filed before the state bar.

Federal prosecutors were not commenting last week on the investigation, which thus far has led only to charges against one of Chee's former clients, a Colombian woman who was deported but returned to the United States under a different name and started a Greensboro maid service.

Still, the news was already sending shock waves. For one thing, Chee, 51, has been perhaps the most visible and outspoken local opponent of post-Sept. 11 security measures such as the Patriot Act, writing guest newspaper editorials, speaking at community forums and even dressing in Muslim garb on Fridays as an act of protest, though she is not Muslim.

No surprise, then, that peace activists quickly came to the defense of Chee, who has been under investigation since November and whose daughter Leilani, 26, has also been targeted in the probe, the family said.

"We take this as a completely, 100 percent political attack," said peace activist Scott Trent, who has organized a defense committee for Chee. "Lawyers are the last line of defense. What will be the chilling effect?"

In legal circles, however, the immediate question was what would become of Chee's practice, to be farmed out once a judge appoints a trustee. Among the busiest immigration lawyers in the state -- with offices in Greensboro, Charlotte and Wilmington -- Chee has an estimated 5,000 clients and 1,500 pending matters.

Durham lawyer John Pinnix, a past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association said: "What may be a personal tragedy for her is also a concern for the welfare of the clients themselves."

Opening her practice just as Greensboro's immigrant and refugee populations exploded in the late '80s and '90s, the former Legal Aid lawyer built a diverse client base. At any moment, Chee's waiting room was a window on world events -- people leaving post-war Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Hispanic clients chasing economic dreams, refugees of violence in Kosovo, Sudan, Sierra Leone.

Chee's public image had been of a lawyer who got personally involved in helping her clients. In 1991, she was pictured in The New York Times with a moist-eyed Sandra Day O'Connor, who presented a pro bono award to her.

In the ensuing years, Chee became less and less able to turn clients away, argues her attorney, Locke Clifford, calling Chee's practice "a cauldron." By 1996, in a magazine interview at her alma mater, Wake Forest University Law School, Chee said Americans had grown weary of the Statue of Liberty "golden door" quote, which hung on a faded poster inside her office door:

"I don't think the U.S. wants the tired, the huddled masses, anymore."

Now, a new sign hangs on Manlin Chee's door. It says the practice is closed, and gives a phone number.

"If it is urgent, leave a message. We will call you as soon as possible."

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lahearn@news-record.com

[hooligan]

scott, this is probably the first time i ever heard of manlin chee and this case. what do you have in mind in what we can do? i don't even know if some of the more progressive students around here have heard about this.

[hooligan]

would you mind if i forward this link/thread to CAPSA at UCLA?

[bluetrianglescott]

hey--sorry I haven't been able to respond until now--things have been very busy here. Tomorrow there is a thing called the "Pilgrimage for Justice and Peace" coming through Greensboro which is focusing statewide on the attacks on immigrants. The stop here is going to focus on the persecution of Manlin Chee. I'll post s report about that as soon as I can afterward.

Please feel free to forward this information to sources that you feel would be sympathetic. You can include the contact info I've provided in the first post.

Thanks for paying attention to this--I think it's a matter of national significance.

[bluetrianglescott]

Update:

Yesterday's rally was a very good "coming out" for the Defense Committee. The highlight was definitely Manlin's 14 year old daughter who moved people to tears reading a letter she wrote about her mother. A lot of the crowd were lifelong friends of Manlin--she's really touched a lot of lives here over the years and is beloved by many communities. I was very glad to see the former owner of the Hong Kong House, which was a restaraunt in the UNCG area that was a fixture of Greensboro until 1999 and was as much a muticultural gathering place as it was a business. It was really the heart and soul of Greensboro for a lot of people. The owner is a longtime friend of Manlin.

I think they've messed with the wrong person this time. Hopefully a victory in this fight will help all those who don't have deep roots in the community but who are just as deserving of our support.

The online edition of this article cuts out a quote by me that appeared in the print edition about the climate of fear and suspicion causing Muslims to change their names and making Muslim kids hide their identities at school--which I think is an important point. It goes back to the climate that's created by this government in pursuing these high-profile prosecutions of immigrants and their advocates. Oh well. As long as corporations own the press, I guess that's what we get.

Group gathers in support of lawyer

4-8-04

By ELLICA CHURCH, Staff Writer
News & Record



GREENSBORO -- More than 60 people gathered at a downtown park Wednesday afternoon to speak out and rally support for Greensboro immigration attorney Manlin Chee, the target of an FBI probe.

Leia Forgay, Chee's youngest daughter, told the crowd that as a child she didn't understand why her mother worked such long hours, often leaving her too tired to play when she came home.

But as Forgay got older, she realized the importance of her mother's work and zeal for fighting inequality.

"My mom's love for other people is based on Christian values, and I'm happy to share her with the world," Forgay, 14, said to the group, who also hoped to increase awareness on immigration issues including the Patriot Act and racial profiling.

Late last week, Chee temporarily gave up her right to practice law because of mental illness. Federal investigators are looking into whether Chee helped immigrants obtain fraudulent marriages to stay in the country. She has not been charged with a crime.

Coping with the FBI investigation has been stressful, Forgay said. The family has received phone calls offering support for Chee, she said. Chee is in Singapore visiting her sister and is expected to return to Greensboro in a month.

"It worries me but in my heart, I have this childish naivete that they'll find nothing wrong," Forgay said. "She's done what she thinks is right, but it's out of our hands now. We're relying on God to support her."

Many who attended the event Wednesday said Chee is being unfairly targeted by the government because of her work helping Muslim immigrants and her opposition to the Patriot Act, the federal anti-terrorism statute passed in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

"The truth behind the allegations will prove small indeed," said Scott Trent, who helped organize the Manlin Chee Defense Committee that organized Wednesday's event.

Members of that group and Chee's family and friends were joined by the Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America and the Farm Worker Labor Organizing Committee, which cosponsored the coordinated the Pilgrimage for Peace and Justice this week.

Participants in the 17th annual pilgrimage will walk about 100 miles through cities statewide, including Morganton, Kannapolis and Greensboro, to highlight issues related to fair trade, labor unions and immigrant rights.

"It's a wonderful thing to be in pilgrimage with others," said Gail Phares, task force director. "People walk to remember Jesus' suffering and to connect that with the situations here today. We hope the pilgrimage will encourage interracial and interclass work on social issues."

The pilgrimage brought together a diverse group in both age and race to boost awareness and encourage dialogue about issues such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, signed into law in January 1994. That law removed many trade and investment barriers among the United States, Canada and Mexico. But the agreement also led to massive job loss for workers in America and Mexico, Phares said.

Walkers toured Greensboro Wednesday, visiting historical sites and talking with the homeless, immigrants and workers launching unionization efforts.

It marked one of the group's last stops in the area.

Phares, who lives in Raleigh, had heard about Chee and found the situation upsetting, particularly for those working against injustice and who may voiced opposition against government policies.

"We have a right to criticize our government," she said. "And U.S. people need to pay attention and respond to things that go against what we believe in."



Contact Ellica Church at 373-7059 or echurch@news-record.com

[bluetrianglescott]

This article is the first to put the issue in the proper context of the attacks on immigrants. Jibreel Khazan, who in 1960 (then known as Ezell Blair) was one of the original four Greensboro Woolworth's sit-in participants that sparked off the sit-in movement against segregation, is quoted speaking in support of Manlin.


http://www.carolinapeacemaker.com/ne...ID=41586&sID=4

Supporters rally to Chee defense
By: Daniel Bayer
Carolina Peacemaker
Originally posted 4/9/2004

Supporters of Greensboro immigration attorney Manlin Chee are accusing the Federal Bureau of Investigation of harassing Chee after she spoke out against the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act at a public forum in March 2003. The FBI is currently investigating Chee on suspicion of arranging fraudulent marriages to allow immigrants to stay in the country.

“It’s inescapable, given the political climate in regards to immigration, that the conclusions drawn from Manlin’s case will be that she is harming America (by helping immigrants),” said Scott Trent of the Manlin Chee Defense Committee and the N.C. Blue Triangle Network, a coalition of organizations opposed to the post 9/11 detention of immigrants. The network takes its name from the blue triangle worn by immigrants held in Nazi concentration camps.

“We should be putting this attack in that context. Lawyers are a choke point; if you attack lawyers, you harm thousands of their clients,” said Scott.

Chee said that the FBI began investigating her shortly after the March 2003 PATRIOT Act Forum at the Greensboro Central Library, though she was not officially notified of the investigation until last November. At the forum, Chee questioned the government’s definition of “terrorists.”

“At the time of the American Revolution, King George III viewed the rebels as terrorists,” she said. “After winning the war, those ‘terrorists’ went on to establish a Constitution and a Bill of Rights guaranteeing certain freedoms.”

“Now much of that Bill of Rights is being torn down.”

Scott said that the Chee investigation is one of several disturbing local cases involving immigrants, including that of Mekki Hamad Mekki, a Sudanese cab driver arrested for visa violations but accused in the mainstream press of having unproven ties to terrorism. Mekki was subsequently deported.

Chee, who is in Singapore visiting family, surrendered her law license to the N.C. State Bar last week, citing mental health reasons. The action put on hold six grievances that had been filed against her by clients since last November, claiming that Chee neglected their cases. The grievances will be reinstated only if Chee practices law again. Chee has no prior disciplinary actions or orders from the State Bar.

Scott said that Chee’s emotional state should not be used to discredit her stance on immigrant rights or the PATRIOT Act.

“We feel for her and we hope she’s getting the attention she needs,” said Scott, “but people should not think that speaking out against injustice is a sign of mental illness. In fact, it’s quite sane.”

Scott and other Chee supporters spoke at yesterday afternoon’s Peace and Justice Pilgrimage in downtown Greensboro. Chee’s 14-year old daughter, Leia Forgay, was scheduled to read a statement -- a copy of which was obtained by the Peacemaker in advance -- crediting her mother with teaching her “to fight for what I believe in and never be ashamed.” Forgay also accused the government of targeting her mother “just because she has helped Muslim people.”
Many of those who Chee has helped are concerned about the direction of the investigation.

“She’s always been good to me,” said Sami Zitawi, a Winston-Salem resident and client and friend of Chee’s. “I don’t think she deserves what she’s going through. If they want to attack a lawyer for defending their clients, I don’t know where we’re going here.”

A&T Four member Jibreel Khazan, who met Chee three years ago at the dedication of the A&T Four statue on the NCA&TSU campus, encourages those that Chee helped to “rally around her.”

“When the government comes after you, it’s to destroy you,” said Khazan. “This is part of that whole scare tactic following 9-11. Many lawyers have lost their rights under this defense (PATRIOT) act.”

[kasia]

questions:

1) what are the formal charges, if any, against Chee?

2) is there any documentation of the actions that the FBI has taken against her?

3) what sanctions are they proposing? and when do they propose it be carried out?