Sixing Liu, a legalpermanentresident who has lived in the U.S. for 19 years, told U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler that "I did not break the law" and that political factors may have been involved in his prosecution.
Still others have tried to split the difference by arguing for a permanent noncitizen legal-resident status for illegal immigrants and their offspring, on the German and French model.
Mr. Chen is a Singapore permanentresident, a legal status that confers certain advantages denied to other foreigners, such as the ability to buy single-family homes and receive higher priority in school admissions.
They can all become "temporarily" legit, a status the notoriously left-wing, yet federally funded, Legal Services Corporation will be happy to help them subsequently adjust to permanentresident status.