Canadian Orphan Gains Permission To Join Family in the U.S.

Guy Taylor, a 16-year-old boy living in Canada, became an orphan when his mother died of a drug overdose. His grandmother, a U.S. citizen living in Long Beach, California, immediately traveled to Canada and became the legal guardian of her grandson.

At the airport, an immigration inspector, asked the grandmother for Guy’s travel papers. After she provided him with a certified copy of the guardianship papers, he replied, “Lady, this ain’t worth the paper it’s written on.” The grandmother, with her grandson in tow and her daughter’s coffin being loaded on the plane, asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor paroled Guy into the U.S.

After arriving in the U.S., Guy and his grandmother visited Attorney Carl Shusterman. We held a press conference to highlight Guy’s precarious situation. He had no living relatives in Canada. All of his relatives – grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins – lived in the U.S.

The INS granted Guy a parole and a work permit.

After reading about Guy’s plight in the newspaper, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced a private bill on Guy’s behalf to make him a lawful permanent resident.

In December 2000, the President signed the bill into law. As soon as he received his green card, Guy joined the U.S. Army.