StmarysCity79
Well-Known Member
“I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here,” said Vanessa Cowart, a friend of Ms. Hui from church. “But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves.”
She paused. “This is Carol.”
In the 20 years since she arrived from Hong Kong, she had built a life and family in Kennett, working two waitressing jobs and cleaning houses on the side. She began every morning at the bustling diner, serving pecan waffles, hugging customers and reading leftover newspapers to improve her English.
“Everyone knows Carol,” said Lisa Dry, a Kennett city councilwoman.
That all ended on April 30, when federal immigration officials summoned Carol, 45, whose legal name is Ming Li Hui, to their office in St. Louis, a three-hour drive from Kennett. Her partner, a Guatemalan immigrant, had voiced suspicion about the sudden call. But “I didn’t want to run,” Ms. Hui said in a jailhouse phone interview. “I just wanted to do the right thing.”
Many people in Kennett expressed outrage that a hardworking mother had spent the past month jailed by immigration authorities.
Supporters described her as an ideal addition to a rural town where the population is declining and the only hospital has closed.
“She’s exactly the sort of person you’d want to come to the country,” said Chuck Earnest, a farmer. “I don’t know how this fits into the deportation problem with Trump.”
She paused. “This is Carol.”
In the 20 years since she arrived from Hong Kong, she had built a life and family in Kennett, working two waitressing jobs and cleaning houses on the side. She began every morning at the bustling diner, serving pecan waffles, hugging customers and reading leftover newspapers to improve her English.
“Everyone knows Carol,” said Lisa Dry, a Kennett city councilwoman.
That all ended on April 30, when federal immigration officials summoned Carol, 45, whose legal name is Ming Li Hui, to their office in St. Louis, a three-hour drive from Kennett. Her partner, a Guatemalan immigrant, had voiced suspicion about the sudden call. But “I didn’t want to run,” Ms. Hui said in a jailhouse phone interview. “I just wanted to do the right thing.”
Many people in Kennett expressed outrage that a hardworking mother had spent the past month jailed by immigration authorities.
Supporters described her as an ideal addition to a rural town where the population is declining and the only hospital has closed.
“She’s exactly the sort of person you’d want to come to the country,” said Chuck Earnest, a farmer. “I don’t know how this fits into the deportation problem with Trump.”
