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Click Here 41 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, January 31, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend January 25, 2004 Kari Rein, 42, shares a moment with her family on their property in Williams. Rein faces deportation to Norway because of a marijuana conviction more than 10 years old. Her family includes James Jungwirth, 41, Inka, 14, and Arek, 7. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Pot conviction could spur deportation It happened more than 10 years ago, but that may not matter to the U.S. government By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune WILLIAMS — When Kari Rein gazes out of her home overlooking the lush green meadow at the base of Grayback Mountain, she sees more than a winterized vegetable garden surrounded by a tidy deer fence. This is where she wants to spend the future with her husband, James Jungwirth, 41, and daughter Inka, 14, and son Arek, 7. All but Rein, 42, a native of Norway, are U.S. citizens. "I love living here with my family," Rein said. "It’s a wonderful place to live, a wonderful community. ... It’s my home now." But come February, the 14-year-plus Williams resident may never see her home again. She faces deportation in a court hearing Feb. 11 because of a marijuana conviction more than 10 years old. Advertisement In an incident that shocked the family, she was arrested Dec. 30 by customs officials at Sea-Tac airport after she and her family were returning from a two-week vacation to her hometown of Stavanger, a community of about 100,000 in southwestern Norway. She spent the night in the immigration service detention center near Seattle. The next day she was handcuffed and shackled and taken to the county jail in St. Helens, where detained immigrants are held. She was incarcerated for three weeks before her husband was able to raise the $15,000 bail on Wednesday. Rein and Jungwirth say the incident reflects Uncle Sam’s roughshod reaction to many non-citizens living in the states since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. "We’ve been married for 16 years," her husband said Friday. "We haven’t budged from our commitment to each other. We are committed to our children, to our family. "Now the government wants to do something that will tear this family apart," he added. "It’s a terrible thing to have to face." In addition to the emotional stress, the family faces $20,000 in attorney’s fees so far in addition to the $15,000 borrowed from friends to pay the bail, Jungwirth said. Friends, who have written more than 100 letters in support of Rein, have organized a musical fund-raiser beginning. Feb. 7 at the Provolt Grange. It will include a meal that begins at 6 p.m. followed by music that begins at 7 p.m. For more information call 846-6676. Family friend Judy White describes Rein as a "community do-gooder" who is always there to help others. "One of the best (people) of this country is being treated like she is one of the most despicable — I’m just stunned," she said. "She is so law-abiding, so kind." Deporting her for a mistake made more than a decade ago, a mistake for which she has already been punished, doesn’t make sense, White said. "Their family is so close-knit," she said. "It’s traumatic for me to even think about what would happen to them if she is deported." Rein and her husband were convicted in 1993 of manufacture and possession of a controlled substance after police found six marijuana plants at their home. The couple were also charged with endangering the welfare of a minor. Their daughter was a baby at the time. But the judge, noting the plants were for personal use, sentenced each to 240 hours of community service, fined them a total $1,200 and placed them on three years’ probation. "We made a mistake but we fulfilled our obligations," Jungwirth said. "We learned our lesson. Neither of us had been in any trouble before or since." But Rein still may have violated immigration laws that were strengthened in the late 1990s, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Seattle. While declining to discuss the specific details of the case, Kice said the changes that put more teeth into immigration laws are retroactive. "Most drug offenses now render a person deportable," she said. "Those laws were passed by Congress in response to a growing population of immigrants with criminal convictions." At the same time, the changes reduced ways for immigrants to avoid deportation, she said. "This really isn’t anything new," Kice said. Those arrested can make their case during a hearing before an immigration judge, she said. Rein’s Feb. 11 court hearing in Portland falls on the couple’s 16th wedding anniversary. According to David N. Shomloo, her attorney, the 1993 conviction qualifies as an aggravated felony and mandates deportation under the 1990s immigration rules. Since the 2001 terrorist attack, immigration officials have been aggressively rounding up aliens convicted of deportable crimes, he said. "It makes the hair on my neck stand up because it reminds me of conditions in Iran, a country we say is in the ‘Axis of Evil,’" said Shomloo, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Iran. Unfortunately, her case is not unusual, Shomloo said. "But the public doesn’t know about them unless attention is focused on them," he said. Rein is being treated by the federal government as a major drug dealer when in fact the judge in the 1993 case determined it involved only personal use of marijuana and not selling, he said. "If they had bothered to look into this case, they would have found that out," he said. "I believe if you have the legal authority to arrest someone and hold them without bond for three weeks, you also have the legal responsibility to check into the facts. "But this is only one case out of thousands they are rubber stamping like this," he added. Jungwirth said one of the hardest things he ever did was break the news to their children. "I had to tell our children that, because of the way laws are now, their mom may never be able to come home again," he said. If she is deported, the couple and their children, both born in Josephine County, would move to Norway, he said. Inka, a freshman at Hidden Valley High School in Murphy, doesn’t want to think about her mother being deported or the family moving away from the only home she has known. "I have a lot of friends here so it would be really hard if we have to move," she said. "I want to stay here." Her little brother agreed. "Yeah, that would be pretty bad," he said. Jungwirth and Rein own and operate Naturespirit Herbs, a mail-order business harvesting native herbs as well as edible and medicinal seaweed. They started the firm in 1990. "We feel we’re helping develop a new cottage industry here in Oregon," said Jungwirth, who teaches classes on local herbs. Last year, Rein received a green card, giving her permanent resident alien status. Since the 1993 conviction, she has been to Norway eight times with no problems returning to the United States. "Nothing was ever brought up about this (conviction)," she said. "No one ever said anything about it." However, with the advent of the Homeland Security Act, a new computer system checks all green cards, Jungwirth said. "It seems to me we ought to be keeping our priorities on trying to protect our country from harm," he said, noting his wife is no threat to anyone. "Maybe we ought to take another look at our immigration laws." In addition to pleading their case to the immigration service, the couple is considering seeking a pardon from Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski on the 1993 conviction, thus erasing the felony, Jungwirth said. "It just breaks my heart that other immigrants are going through this," Rein said. "I don’t want others to go through what we have. "I’m so fortunate to have such a good husband to be there for me," she added. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times