Eddy Zheng Returns to the Free World
'Everything is beautiful,' said the community leader who was released from Yuba County Jail into a supervised program.
After spending 21 years behind bars Eddy Zheng, a convict turned community youth educator, caught his first breath of freedom on Feb. 27 after he was released into a supervised program to await his deportation to China.
"I walked straight out onto the street and into an immigration rights protest ... it was so sudden. One minute I was in jail and the next I was in the free world," said Zheng, 37, to the Pacific Citizen from his parents' home in Oakland, Calif. where he is currently living.
Zheng is waiting for the Chinese government to issue travel documents for his repatriation, which could happen in weeks or years. He was released from the Yuba County Jail into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Intensive Supervisory Appearance Program, which requires Zheng to wear an ankle monitor, check in with ICE officials regularly and abide by curfews.
These are minor inconveniences in exchange for freedom. On the second day of his release, Zheng used the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system to get to San Francisco; he watched the Chinese New Year parade make its way down the street and he took a walk around Oakland's Lake Merritt.
"Everything is beautiful," said Zheng, who cited his biggest challenge adjusting to life outside of bars is keeping up with the technology. He has a cell phone and is slowly navigating through e-mails and the internet.
"I just went into YouTube the other day!" he added about the popular video Web site.
Prior to this victory, Zheng had waged a largely unsuccessful series of courtroom battles for his freedom. Zheng, who has a green card, also fought hard to stay in the country that wanted him to leave.
Last July, a U.S. immigration judge ordered Zheng's deportation for a crime he committed while he was in his teens. ICE asked for travel papers from the Chinese embassy, but they had no record of Zheng and needed time to research. By law, the government has 90 days to deport someone. After 90 days, the government can release a person from custody, said Zachary Nightingale, Zheng's attorney.
On Feb. 1, the Department of Homeland Security rejected Zheng's release, so Nightingale proposed a deal: they would withdraw their appeal if Zheng were to be released into a supervisory program to await a response from the Chinese government.
"We are still appealing the underlying deportation order at the Ninth Circuit - that could continue for at least another year," said Nightingale.
The journey to freedom has been long for Zheng, who immigrated to Oakland on a green card in 1982. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, any non-citizen - even one with a valid green card - is subject to deportation if convicted of crimes as minor as shoplifting.
In January of 1986, when Zheng was only 16 years old, he along with two friends broke into a home, robbed and held the family hostage. He was tried as an adult and pled guilty to 18 felony counts to receive a sentence of seven years to life.
In jail, Zheng started to turn his life around. From his cell, he earned a college degree and petitioned for Asian American studies in the prison system. His work won him the support of Asian Pacific American community leaders including Congressman Mike Honda and civil rights legend Yuri Kochiyama.
In July 2005, Zheng managed to find love. He married Shelly Smith, a U.S. citizen who volunteered at the prison. Smith told the P.C. that she was really happy to hear the news of her husband's release. They don't live together currently because the government has restricted Zheng to the 20-mile area around his parents' home, which is his last known address before going to jail. Smith lives in nearby Marin County and visits regularly.
"We talk every day," said Zheng.
He doesn't know what tomorrow is going to bring, but he is "going with the flow" and not wasting any time before working with the community.
Zheng has already committed to two speaking engagements at the University of California, Berkeley to talk to young APAs about the importance of grassroots movements and justice.
He's also received job offers, but his dream is to start a nonprofit organization to help APA youth. During his two decades in prison, he saw the number of young APAs in prison skyrocket - he wants to keep them off of the path he has traveled.
Young APAs are still trapped under the model minority myth and rarely receive the support they need, said Zheng, who also wants to help APA prisoners and give them alternatives to violence.
"I want to tell them 'we care about you. You made a poor choice, but we need to provide choices for you to change your life.'"
According to Zheng, young APAs equate success and happiness to money and prestige. It's the same mentality that made him commit crimes two decades ago.
But these days, he counts his life as a success.
"I consider myself the richest person in the world. I'm healthy. I am free. I have unconditional love. You can't beat that," said Zheng.
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