RICHMOND
A Newport News woman facing deportation Thursday for a decade-old crime has received a one-year extension a day after being pardoned by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.
On Wednesday Kathryn Anne Ingleson found out U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had granted her request to postpone her deportation. Earlier Wednesday, a Newport News Circuit Court judge amended Ingleson's conviction of credit card theft to credit card fraud, which is not a deportable offense.
The action came a day after Kaine issued Ingleson a simple pardon — or official forgiveness of the crime — and expressed his support for her to remain in the country and in Virginia.
Ingleson, now 31, moved to the United States from England with her parents when she was 7 as a lawful resident but didn't become a naturalized citizen. In 1997 she was convicted of stealing credit cards from customers at the store where she worked to buy a Christmas tree, some ornaments and other items valued at about $340. She paid restitution and completed probation.
When she returned from visiting a relative in England in 2003, Ingleson was arrested and placed in removal proceedings. Her appeals have been denied by immigration officials and the courts.
"We don't live in a police state. We live under a government that should be informed by wisdom and discretion in enforcement of the laws, and Kathryn is deserving of the relief for which she seeks," attorney Joseph Peter Drennan said. "She just wants to get about her life."
Kaine issued a simple pardon, not an absolute pardon which is granted when the governor becomes convinced that the person did not commit the crime or did not knowingly do it.
Instead, the simple pardon is forgiveness for Ingleson having paid restitution, satisfied all sentencing obligations and "provided evidence of a commendable adjustment following conviction," Kaine's attorney Lawrence Roberts wrote to Drennan.
Roberts said "the Commonwealth fully supports action by the federal government to permit Ms. Ingleson to remain in the United States and her continued residence in the Commonwealth."
Ingleson has applied for a stay of deportation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
Ingleson was an 18-year-old single mother when she stole the credit cards in 1996. She confessed when confronted about it, but wasn't prosecuted until the following year after a law took effect that expanded the categories of deportable offenses.
Since then, she has worked at a packaging company, kept a clean record and raised her two children, ages 18 and 9, Drennan said.
"The essential theme here is that this is a lady who had one contact with the law in her entire life," Drennan said. "She was a law-abiding person before this happened she has been a law-abiding since this has happened. She has worked hard and played by the rules."
After her arrest in 2003, Ingleson's case was reviewed by ICE, an Immigration Court judge, the immigration board and the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. In May, immigration officials set an Aug. 14 deportation date.
In June, she appealed to Kaine for a pardon.
"Kathryn, culturally, is an American," her lawyer said. "Kathryn, in terms of her allegiance and affinity, would be lost in England."
WVEC-TV contributed to this report.
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"Pardon or not, she is still
"Pardon or not, she is still an illegal alien and should be deported...."
No. She's not. She's a green card holder...AKA a legal resident of the United States.
She'd be ok
"Kathryn, culturally, is an American," her lawyer said. "Kathryn, in terms of her allegiance and affinity, would be lost in England."
Things are SO different there. She would have to learn how to speak Engl. . . oh wait, nevermind.
Illegal is still illegal
Pardon or not, she is still an illegal alien and should be deported, I don't care what country she came from or how long she has lived here. Whatever happened to enforcing our immigration laws? Oh that's right: big business got our government to forget about them. This coming November, we need to remind our representatives about those laws . . .
Big Daddy...are you serious?
The woman works...so what welfare are you talking about? If she had a child at 13 (yoiks!), she would have been covered by her parents' medical insurance. Further, Great Britain has a very extensive social welfare system and socialized medicine...so if living on welfare was this woman's goal, she could certainly do that comfortably in England.
She wasn't here illegally, she did one stupid thing as a teenager, her crime was not violent, she paid restitution and has not committed any crimes since.
It seems to me like some of you are writing your own stories here and not going on the facts as provided.
As for not becoming a citizen...well, it's quite an expensive, time-consuming process...and she may not have been able to afford it!
Deportation?
She was 18 - over 20 years ago. Get over it. Her kids are American citizens.
Poor woman my butt!
She has sat in my country all these years collecting welfare and other dividends because she was a green card carrier. She is no better then a person here illegally. Who paid for her baby at age 13? We did. So she has learned nothing of our system? Well she knows how to play it for money. Send her home and her kids also. They have learned to be non-productive members of our society. Sure she doesn’t want to go back. No free handouts. Our Governor is way to slack for this state. He needs to take a couple of shot’s of shut the heck up and I am buying. The judge changing the paper work makes me wonder why? We have innocent folks in prison with no freedoms whom are Americans and she gets first class treatment. More to follow
Law should be applied equally
Makes me wonder what some people would post if the person in question was of Hispanic origin. IMO if she violated immigration rules or standards then she should be deported. To do otherwise might imply racism.
Better Idea !
Let's keep her and deport Kaine !!!!!
It's a good move
This makes sense to me. She made a minor mistake, no big deal. I'm glad common sense prevailed.
Lets swap!
I tell you what...
Lets keep her and give England one of our harden criminals. Shoot, make it all of them.
Naturalized yet??
Yeah, she sure wants to be an American. After 24 years she still hasn't found the time to become a naturalized citizen. What kind of "greencard" has she been on these 24 years? Love how the VP failed to mention that. Never was and still isn't an American citizen. "She's just trying to live her life and care for her kids"...blah blah blah. So are thousands of other illegal immigrants...why not grant them the same courtesy? Because they are here illegally...thats why! She should have been deported when she committed the crime...13 years ago.
Just wondering
What kind of person would feel there is no good reason to pardon this woman? How about the fact that her parents made this her home since she was 7. How about the fact that she has two children that live here. How about the fact that she paid for her crime. In addition, Gov Kaine in no way overstepped his authority by granting her pardon. Show some compassion and give the lady a break.
deportation
This poor woman has lived in this country since she was 7 yrs. old. If she is such an ideal citizen, why didn't she ever apply for citizenship? Sounds like it was just to much trouble. Well now she has real trouble. With all her appeals and pardons has she applied for citizenship yet? I bet not. Why didn't the people who brought her here apply for citizenship? She must be a second generation illegal immigrant.
strawberry
This young lady did not want to be an American until she found out that she was being sent back to England. She had all these years to apply to become a citizen and chose not to. She instead chose to break the laws and when caught asked for forgiveness out of greed for herself. Go through the process of the long list of people who want to become law abiding citizens and say hello to the queen.
Law
The law is the law and they are "more like guidelines" (Pirates of the Caribbean). I would hope we as a people can make intelligent decisions and understand, one size does not fit all. It is common sense.
BREAK THE LAW, FACE THE CONSEQUENCES
Should have thought about that before she decided to break the law.
deportation
If the INS would start deporting the thousands of ILLEGAL's that are in VA. they would be considered to be doing there JOB. However it appears that COMMON Sense will not be used by the Govt. in this Matter. Leave her alone and go after the ILLEGAL's the country would be a lot better off.
Deported After Pardon
Poor baby, the Federal Government intends to deport this lady even after our liberal Governor issues a pardon. She is a theif. Pure and simple. I suppose it is easy for those who have never been the victem of a crime to support people like her, but a theif is a theif. We have become a nation of making excuses for people's behavior. A whole system of professions, from lawyers to doctors to social workers are paid to excuse people's behavior. Even when this behavior is criminal. She was young....her father was a drunk....her mother didn't love her....she had 2 small children.....whatever! She not only stole, she betrayed a trust given her by both her employer and that employer's customers. If she got caught one time, she probably got away with it a dozen others. Let her go to England and repent. Do they still send their theif's to Australia?
Leave her alone
As most of the comments say, she has fulfilled her debt to society for the laws that she broke and has been rehabilitated into a law-abiding citizen. She made a mistake at a young age and has been clean since. Let her stay and continue on with her life. She's not like most criminals who break the law at a young age and continue a life of crime. She proved that rehabilitation is possible and she didn't commit any violent offense either. She deserves to stay here.
Deportation?
That does seem sort of harsh. Talk about the punishment fitting the crime. It's not like she killed anyone. She's paid her debt to society already and seemingly to the satisfaction of the Commonwealth. There are immigrants in this country that have done far worse in harming society. They're the ones that should be removed; alas, they're still here!
Let her stay
I would rather have her here than some of these violent US Citizens that waste tax payers money without giving anything back to the community. Please dont waste my tax dollars trying to deport this woman. If she's contributing and has raised children that are also productive youth, then leave her alone.
NO, she committed a crime.
NO, she committed a crime. This makes a mockery of our judicial system when we pardon criminals for some feel-good story. There was no reason to pardon this woman, this is just another example of Kaine abusing his power as the Governor.
We Need a Little Justice and Compassion
This lady is deserving of staying in the country. She is not a violent felon, but someone who made a mistake when she was very young. She has paid the price for that mistake and is now a productive citizen. Now the mistake would be on the Feds part if they sent her back to England. She has two children who would suffer the loss of their only parent. Hopefully, with Gov. Kaine's pardon justice will be served and she can remain in the country.
more tax dollars wasted-
more tax dollars wasted- they could be using these tax dollars on real criminals
How ironic
It's a sad state in our communities that a woman that's been living in this country after coming here with her parents in over a decade ago is being faced with deportation (though the law does apply to everyone), while we've got so many Mexicans in Tidewater that I'm beginning to wonder if we don't live in a Mexican province! Yes, she committed a crime, but she's served time for it even though Kaine pardoned her for reasons I can't understnad at all.
As for our little Mexico problem, there is NO WAY they are all here legally, whether I can prove it or not. They don't speak ANY English, don't have driver's licenses, show up in droves at the post offices to send money out of the country, and live on top of one another in the places where I know they rent.
Want a laugh? Walk up to a job site with a shirt that reads INS or ICE and watch the fun begin :-)
What do we pay these people for!?
The ICE officials responsible for wasting our tax dollars on issues like this should be forced to pay restitution to our tax system and deported to another country. This type of madness happens to plenty of folks that are genuinely good "would be" US citizens.
Like my brother always says "Discretion is the better part of valor!"