>I'm glad to see that you are so clairvoient that you know that there's a 5% chance of deportation.
>
>Of course this has to do with our enhanced "terror alert" as well as immigration situation. I think that this case could possibly have been resolved earlier if the story made the news before.
>
>But these types of stories didn't become popular until recent times.

Every time something like this happens I wonder how many thousands of similar cases are out there that will get nowhere simply because they don't sound ridiculous enough to get into the papers - or the people involved just don't want publicity. If taking a bureaucratic snafu to the media is the only way to fix it, then there's a grave danger to anything that remains invisible.

Just to be clear: the couple in question would have been better off reporting their marriage to the INS and then probably losing their visas or losing a few years in the process.

There should be a statute of limitations for INS's process. If they weren't able to read and apply the law for 17 years, they should be slapped, not applauded. Or, in the slang of my elementary school, they should "get an applause over the violin".