UI researcher faces deportation back to Poland

MOSCOW, Idaho — A University of Idaho researcher who worked on bioterrorism defenses faces deportation to Poland after being denied residency by U.S. immigration officials.

Katarzyna Dziewanowska was recruited by the university and worked 14 years but was told to stop in the spring of 2005 because of the immigration mess.

"I never tried to break the law," Dziewanowska, 64, told The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash. "I tried to play according to the rules."

At the same time immigration officials were denying her authorization to work, Dziewanowska held an FBI clearance for research to counter possible terrorist attacks with the plague.

"She's a damn good scientist," said Patricia Hartzell, a biology and biochemistry professor and former dean of Dziewanowska's academic department. "She's really good."

Her husband, Witold Ferens, a University of Idaho researcher studying ways to fight diseases such as AIDS, can no longer receive grants because the couple are on a family application to remain in the U.S.

"These are the kind of people you want to kick out of the country?" said Michael Cherasia, Dziewanowska's former lawyer. "Somebody isn't thinking. They had the discretion to approve her petition, and they refused."

Immigration officials say Dziewanowska' application for permanent residency was rejected because she worked eight months without authorization in late 2004 and early 2005.

Dziewanowska arrived at the university in 1994 and worked on a visa for a few years, then was granted outstanding researcher status as a step toward applying for permanent residency, which she did in 2003 with the help of the university.

While immigration officials considered her application, she was required to apply annually for temporary work permits called employment authorization documents.

In the fall of 2004 her application for a permit was rejected because she had submitted a profile photo rather than a face-forward one as required under new rules. She sent a face-forward photo, but that was rejected because officials said it included glare on one lens of her glasses.

In a letter in September 2004, immigration officials wrote, "There is no appeal to this decision."

By then, her previous work permit had expired.

Dziewanowska said the university's human rights office told her she could keep working during a 240-day grace period, a claim The Spokesman-Review found was supported by Cherasia and e-mail records.

During that period Dziewanowska worked on finding ways to protect against humans from bioterrorist attacks with the plague, but the university's advice that she could keep working turned out to be incorrect.

Immigrations officials then told her that, because she had worked illegally for eight months without a work permit, her application for permanent residency was being rejected.

In April 2005 the university told her to stop working.

Immigration officials say it doesn't matter who told her she could keep working without a permit because it's the individual's responsibility to be sure to follow the rules.

"They eventually put me in a situation where you start to feel like a criminal when you don't have any intention to break the law," said Dziewanowska.

Sharon Rummery, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in San Francisco, said she could not discuss the specifics of Dziewanowska's case.

"We make all the information about immigration laws very accessible," Rummery said.

Dziewanowska's son is also caught up in the situation and can't apply for a free tuition program through his employer.

The university would not discuss Dziewanowska's case but issued a statement: "In instances where an application for permanent residency has been filed, the university must confirm employment and other information. However, we do not and cannot make immigration-related decisions for or on behalf of individuals and their immigration status."

Dziewanowska's next step is to be ordered to appear before an immigration judge. It's unclear when that could happen.

Meanwhile, a year away from retirement, she's not allowed to work, and she and her husband have bought a new home in Moscow.

"On the immigration side, there's no room for good-faith mistakes in the law, and this is one of them," said her lawyer, Maria Andrade of Boise. "It's a sad case. It's a very sad case."