US changes mind about deporting Thai woman

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri woman who faced deportation to her native Thailand after losing her permanent resident status over a felony theft conviction will remain in the U.S. following a last-minute reversal by immigration officials.

Komdown "Dow" Boyer, who moved to the U.S. as a child after her mother married an American soldier, was convicted late last year of stealing money from the pizza restaurant where she had worked a decade, most recently as general manager. Boyer, 44, was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay about $51,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to felony theft. She said the money was for hospital bills for her husband, a mechanic whose legs were crushed by a car.

Boyer has three sons, two of whom are in the U.S. military, and a 5-year-old daughter.

Defense attorney Javad Khazaeli told The Associated Press his client was taken suddenly on Monday from a Missouri county jail to an international flight leaving Chicago's O'Hare International Airport before the decision was overturned. Khazaeli, a former federal counter-terrorism prosecutor for the Department of Homeland Security, said the government has that discretion in cases involving some low-level offenses.

"It took a while, but we got the case in front of the right people," said Khazaeli, who coincidentally was driving to St. Louis from his former home in Chicago Monday when Boyer's husband left a series of messages on his cellphone. "They exercised discretion at the last minute."

Shawn Neudauer, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington, said the agency released Boyer from custody and placed her on supervised release while it "conducts a further review of her case."

Late Monday afternoon, Boyer arrived at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, where she was formally released and reunited with her husband, Justin. With tears in her eyes and carrying her belongings in a small mesh laundry bag, she gave her husband a long, deep hug before leaving the airport. The couple planned to return to their home in Farmington, Missouri, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) to the south. Boyer had been jailed since March in Lincoln County, Missouri, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of St. Louis and a two-hour drive from her home.

Many Farmington residents — including the owners of the Cici's Pizza where Boyer worked — rallied to stop her looming deportation with a social media campaign.

Khazaeli said the legal case against Boyer continues as he negotiates with the local prosecutor to get her conviction vacated.

"This case is nowhere near over," the attorney said, adding that Boyer plans to change her status from legal permanent resident to naturalized citizen once the criminal case is resolved.

St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney Jerrod Mahurin told the Daily Journal newspaper of Park Hills, Missouri that he will join Bower's attorneys in asking a judge to set aside her conviction, which both the prosecutor and the defense lawyers said was obtained without Boyer being fully aware that a guilty plea could mean a forced separation from her family.