SAN LEANDRO, CA - Assemblymember Mary Hayashi (D-Hayward) has launched a national petition campaign in support of San Leandro constituent Jacqueline Coats, who faces deportation to Kenya.  The campaign asks the public to sign onto an electronic petition at the Member’s website, www.assembly.ca.gov/hayashi, urging passage of United States Senate bill 420 by Senator Dianne Feinstein, which would grant permanent residency status to Mrs. Coats.

Jacqueline Coats is the widow of Marlin Coats, an American citizen who gave his life to save two boys from drowning at San Francisco Ocean Beach in 2006.  The couple was in the midst of permanent residency proceedings for Jacqueline, a legal immigrant from Kenya, when Marlin died.  Although Marlin is receiving posthumous awards for his heroism – most recently the U.S. Coast Guard Gold Lifesaving Medal of Honor in a ceremony with Speaker Nancy Pelosi – his death voided residency proceedings for Jacqueline, and deportation threatens to further her pain and isolate her from the rest of the Coats family.

“Marlin Coats sacrificed his life to save two young boys he had never met, who surely would have drowned in the riptides that day at Ocean Beach,” stated Assemblymember Hayashi. “It would be an outrageous injustice to the memory of this courageous hero if we allow his wife to suffer the loss of family and livelihood once again by deporting her back to Kenya.”

Jacqueline arrived in the United States on a student visa to study mass communications at San Jose State University in 2001.  She met Marlin Coats in 2004, and the couple married on April 17, 2006.  Marlin filled-out the necessary paperwork to petition for Jacqueline’s permanent residency on May 10, 2006, four days before his tragic death.  Due to his untimely passing, the paperwork was not filed in time.   Jacqueline Coats now faces deportation, because her heroic husband would not sit back when two young boys were in danger of losing their lives. 

“Clearly, it was his intent and desire to help his wife obtain permanent residency.  It is only because he would not sit back and do nothing when those children were crying for help that Jacqueline remains in this predicament.  We have a moral obligation to help his family in honor of his selfless act,” said Assemblymember Hayashi.