Minnesota Doctor Faces Deportation to Malaysia

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak during the United Malays National Organisation General Assembly in 2012 in Malaysia. Photo: Firdaus Latif / Wikimedia Commons

ROCHESTER, Minnesota — A Rochester physician who left her Malaysian village as a teenager could be deported to her birth country as early as next week.

Dr. Guan Lee has built a life and a practice in Minnesota since entering the U.S. in 1992, but has lived in legal limbo.

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Her attorney, Malee Ketelsen-Renner, says Lee received a letter from immigration authorities denying her citizenship application in 2009. The 41-year-old doctor has won a series of reprieves on deportation, which now appear to have run out.

The Post-Bulletin reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Guan is out of options and must leave the country.

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ICE spokesperson Shawn Neudauer says if Lee fails to comply with a removal order to leave the U.S., she will be listed as an ICE fugitive.