Khampee Kells and Daughters Get Permanent Resident Status

Khamphee “Nok” Kells, an immigrant who faced deportation after the sudden death of her Missouri husband, has been given permanent resident status along with her two children, according to Armstrong Teasdale LLP lawyers.

Kells, a native of Thailand, was among women whose cases led Congress to abolish the controversial “widow’s penalty” that required that an immigrant be married to a U.S. citizen for at least two years at the time of the U.S. citizen’s death in order to obtain permanent residency. If the U.S. citizen dies during this period, the immigrant may lose her immediate relative status and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) can initiate deportation proceedings.

Although Congress eliminated the provision in October, the USCIS still had to review and approve the Kells family’s applications before granting them lawful permanent residence status. The Kells, who are represented by Armstrong Teasdale, live in Wildwood.

“We have received news that the USCIS approved the permanent residence applications for Nok and her two daughters,” said Martha Hereford, a partner in the firm’s International Law practice group. “The Kells received their green cards yesterday and are now officially welcome to live and work in the United States on a permanent basis.”

Kells’ husband Sgt. Robert K. Kells died in a motorcycle accident nine months after they were married. Because his death occurred less than two years after the couple’s wedding, the USCIS held that Kells and her children, who had legally entered the U.S. in 2005 and applied for permanent residency at that time, were no longer “immediate” relatives of a US citizen. Based on this, the USCIS denied the family’s petitions and began deportation proceedings.

Armstrong Teasdale, which took Kells’ case on a pro bono basis, filed suit against the government in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The firm’s lawyers argued that Kells and her two children had filed the necessary petitions and were wrongfully stripped of their “immediate relative” status.

U.S. District Judge Charles Shaw agreed and said that the government had acted unlawfully. Although the government filed a notice of appeal, on Oct. 28, 2009 President Barack Obama signed the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act that contains language eliminating the widow’s penalty.