This is a long and complex question, so it may take someone with immigration law experience to answer, but I would greatly appreciate any answers or advice that anyone can contribute.
My friend immigrated here with her parents when she was 14 years of age. Since that time, she has done everything right, followed all the US laws, filed all the paper work on time, renewed her green card on time, worked and paid taxes diligently and honestly, and bettered herself through education, achieving a bachelor’s degree and multiple research publications through a prestigious university. She is currently attending a medical school outside the US, which is dependent on her status as a permanent US resident.
However, her family has now come under investigation for potential fraud that her parents may have commited when entering the country. I hope that she is telling me the whole story, so that the circumstances I describe here will result in an accurate and useful answer. So, here is what she told me about the cause of the investigation.
Apperently there was some technicality that made it easier for her family to enter the US if her parents were not married. So, her parents divorced for the purpose of entering the country as single individuals, and remarried at a later date after entering the country. Somehow, some review of their case took notice of this scenario of events, which has been accused as fraud, and now the entire family is due to appear in court for a deportation hearing. Although, the youngest of the children (now 24) who also entered the country at the same time as the rest of the family has been granted citizenship. All of the other family members have tried to get citizenship but been delayed and denied up until this point. Somehow, one sibling was treated differently. Since he is the only citizen, he will be left behind in the US if the rest of his family is deported.
My questions about this case centers on my friend only, the daughter. She was only 14 at the time, and had no knowledge of what her parents were doing. Since that time, she has been an OUTSTANDING member of our society and is on the way to becoming an even more valuable asset to our society with an MD degree as she intends to practice medicine in the US and is interested in serving the underprivileged. She is politically and civically knowledgable and eager to participate as an active member of a healthy and happy US community. In my opinion, this immigrant epitomizes the characteristics of what we ideally consider to be a fine, upstanding US citizen. She has done nothing wrong. So, how can she get out from under the mess that her parents have caused? Although she came here under her parents immigration documents, can she be considered independently from her parents in this case? Can she be allowed to remain in the US and continue her education? What should she do?