Immigrant Widow to Feds: Oh No, You Get Back Here

By Leticia Miranda Nov 13, 2009

This is a great story to end the week. Lin Li Qu, the widow of an undocumented Chinese immigrant, is refusing to let the US government dodge responsibility for the cruel conditions that her husband faced at a Rhode Island immigrant detention prison that led to his early death. Qu’s husband, Hiu Lui "Jason" Ng, passed away from advanced-stage liver cancer at a hospital in Rhode Island after being abused and taunted by staff members at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility where he was being held for overstaying his visa. Qu filed a lawsuit against the facility and the federal government arguing that Ng’s constitutional rights were violated by the prison who abused him although they had received notice of Ng’s condition by his doctor. The feds tried to quietly walk out of the lawsuit saying "it was not responsible for the actions of Wyatt staffers since they were contractors and not government employees," reports the Boston Globe. But Qu was not having it. She’s insisting that the US federal government stay on as a defendant in the lawsuit and take responsibility for being complicit in permitting the cruel conditions at Wyatt that led to her husband’s death. She says homeland security and ICE failed to act even though they knew fully well of Ng’s condition. The papers were submitted this Tuesday so it’s not sure yet if the feds will be forced to stay on as defendants in the case. But I think it’s clear that Qu is one woman that US feds can’t mess with.

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