Indian cerebral palsy victim can call US home now

Indian cerebral palsy victim can call US home now
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES/SACRAMENTO, NOVEMBER 22: Sensing the excitement around her, Vijai Rajan giggled and smiled. She had a small US flag pressed into one hand but her grip failed and it fell. Her father, Sunder Rajan, had tears in his eyes.

The 25-year-old woman from India, who is afflicted by cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Crohn's disease, cannot speak and has the comprehension of a two-year-old, has become the first person to be granted US citizenship under a new law waiving the oath of allegiance in certain cases.

Vijai Rajan, who has lived most of her life in the US and requires 24-hour care, was given a certificate of naturalisation at a ceremony at the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) office yesterday, capping her father's efforts for years to seek a change in the law so that she could become a citizen despite being unable to take the oath.

President Bill Clinton signed the law this month that will give citizenship to about 1,000 immigrants a year whose disabilities prevent them from reciting the oath of allegiance but who otherwise qualify. ``We're very pleased to be able to welcome Ms Rajan as a citizen,'' said Thomas J Schiltgen, director of the immigration office.

``We were afraid she would be left stateless if anything happened to us,'' Sunder Rajan said. ``Now she will be treated the same way as the rest of the family.''

Meanwhile, an Indian couple living in the US for the past six years to look after their disabled daughter have applied for permanent residency, all but ending the possibility that they could be forced out of the country.

Suvineeta Grewal, 37, was left comatose and paralysed after her car was struck by the car of a crime suspect, leading police on a high-speed chase in San Joaquin county in California. Grewal's five-year-old son, Arjun, died in the crash.

Grewal's parents, Jagvir and Swarn Dhillon, left India to be with their daughter and never expected her to live beyond the date when their visitors' visas expired. Since their daughter was a permanent resident and not a citizen, the Dhillons could not stay on in the US.

Grewal couldn't become a citizen unless she was able to communicate that she understood the citizenship oath, said Sahron Rummery, a spokeswoman for the INS.

The Dhillons were granted several renewals of a voluntary departure status, under which they could be forced from the country without a hearing. In September, after years of therapy, Grewal was finally able to take the citizenship oath by looking up for positive answers and down for negative answers. It was the first such ceremony the Sacramento office had performed.

It enabled her parents to become permanent residents. ``We are so overwhelmed today. We never expected to come so far,'' said Jagvir Dhillon, adding that the doctors still are not optimistic his daughter will be able to speak again.

The Dhillons have not seen their relatives, including their son's family, since moving to California. Their permanent status could help them bring Grewal's eight-year-old daughter, Sharan, to see her mother.

Sharan was seriously injured in the accident but now lives with her paternal grandparents in London. Grewal was in the middle of divorce proceedings when she was injured. Jagvir Dhillon completed that process.