PFP Legislator Lee Yung-ping (
According to the legislator, Vicky Hsia Jones, one of Lee's constituents, has been discriminated against by the US judiciary, which has demanded that she return to the US accompanied by her child and at her own expense.
She was ordered to return to San Diego to allow her American husband visitation rights of two hours per day for 25 days prior to a divorce, filed by her husband, which will take effect in February or March next year.
PHOTO: CHU YU-PIN, TAIPEI TIMES
Lee said the US is a nation characterized by democracy, justice and human rights protection. However, she claimed that Hsia, 37, the wife of a US Navy officer, has been mistreated by the US justice system.
Hsia submitted evidence suggesting that she was seeking medical attention and the evidence was dismissed by US judges, Lee said.
Hsia said she would have stayed in her San Diego home with her child instead of "fleeing" back to her mother's home if she hadn't been "virtually forced to flee" by the abusive treatment of her husband.
Hsia said during a press conference at the Legislative Yuan that her husband abandoned her soon after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She also said that her husband raided their joint bank account and ran her credit card up to its limit. She also said that she was threatened by her husband's colleagues to move out of their home.
Hsia claimed white lawyers in California weren't willing to represent her, while a Chinese-American lawyer offered to represent her but at a cost she couldn't afford.
She said she had no choice but to return to Taiwan in May last year, after Jones filed for divorce.
She said that since then her son has passed two birthdays, but the father had not telephoned or written once.
According to Hsia, both her and her child would suffer if forced to go back to the US.
In addition, she claimed that she could not afford two tickets back to California.
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who were present at the press conference, said the ministry would consider rendering assistance to Hsia for her legal needs in the US if she returns to California before Dec. 20 to have the dispute settled.
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