U.S. Army vet wins green card battle

MINEOLA, N.Y., June 13 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army veteran from Canada has won back his green card after being threatened with deportation because of a technical violation of regulations.

David de Jong, who lives with his two sons in Farmingdale on New York's Long Island, got help from his congressman, Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., Newsday reported.

"It is a case that has highlighted just how fundamentally flawed our immigration system is and just how important it is that we reform the system," Bishop said.

De Jong spent five years in the Army and married a German woman, although the couple later divorced. After he received an honorable discharge, he spent two years in Germany because one of his sons needed heart surgery, which was covered there by government health insurance.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060613-081006-9822r