A Chinese woman came to the United States to see Trump: she even illegally made her way into the territory of his closed club

A Chinese woman found guilty of illegally entering Trump's club was deported to China over the weekend, reports MiamiHerald.

Photo: Shutterstock

A businesswoman from China was held in immigration detention for two years after serving an eight-month prison sentence for invading President Donald Trump's exclusive club in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago.

According to federal authorities, she was deported over the weekend and arrived in China on November 14.

Yujing Zhang, 35, served her sentence and was transferred to an immigration center in early December 2019, immigration and customs officials said.

But she was held in the Glades County Detention Center for three times the prison sentence, mainly due to delays in deportation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zhang became so desperate while in immigration custody that, according to federal court records, she filed a petition in December 2020. habeas corpusto expedite her expulsion to her native China, to no avail.

Zhang wrote in English that she was being held at the Glades County Detention Center, she has no money to call her family in China, and she needs a lawyer to get her freedom and return home.

Zhang's legal odyssey began in late March 2019 when she flew from China to Palm Beach to attend a gala event in Mar-a-Lago, where she was arrested in a gray evening dress on charges of illegal entry.

Before the trial, she did not tell the magistrate judge that her room at the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, where she lived while attending the presidential private club, had about $ 8000 in US and Chinese currency.

The agents searched the room and took the money from her, but it is unclear if the money was returned to her.

Without bail, Zhang was convicted the following September by a federal jury at Fort Lauderdale on charges of trespassing and lying to Secret Service agents about what she was doing on the club grounds.

After she was sentenced to community service or eight months in prison in late November 2019 by U.S. District Judge Roy Altman, Zhang was held in immigration and customs police custody as a convicted foreign citizen awaiting deportation.

On the subject: Five reasons why a permanent resident of the United States may lose a green card

In December of that year, she tried to post bail, but was faced with a court order from ICE.

Government lawyers objected to her release because they believed she could flee.

The immigration judge turned down her bail offer.

The coronavirus pandemic, which has paralyzed travel around the world, has left her stuck in the Glades County Immigration Center two hours northwest of Miami.

While Zhang did not mention the threat of the virus in her habeas petition, the pandemic has shaken the national prison system and immigration centers over the threat of infection.

When Zhang was first placed in an immigration center, federal authorities still continued to deport Chinese citizens who were illegally in the United States from fall 2019 to early 2020.

But deportations have slowed sharply after the coronavirus swept the country and travel bans were introduced.

Zhang's quest to visit Mar-a-Lago — in hopes of meeting then-President Trump — took her on an unusual journey from Shanghai to Palm Beach to a federal prison to an immigration detention center.

According to Zhang's profile in the Miami Herald prior to her trial in September 2019, people who knew her tended to agree that she was a stubborn fighter who aspired to a status far beyond her humble life.

She also appears to be fixated on Trump, who has been touted as an outspoken billionaire to China's burgeoning business class.

Thanks to Trump's popularity in China, resourceful entrepreneurs in both the United States and the United States pioneered a little-known online industry selling Chinese and Sino-American tickets to events in presidential domains, including Mar-a-Lago.

In China, a photo of the right person—usually used to validate a personal relationship—can make or break a career.

Zhang, who grew up in a humble home in Shanghai and graduated in business, seemed so caught up in the Chinese mythology of Trump that she spent tens of thousands on travel packages with Trump-branded companies.

During her visit to Mar-a-Lago on March 30, 2019, Zhang managed to walk through two Secret Service checkpoints in the middle of the day before being stopped by a club administrator who suspected she did not belong to a closed area.

At her trial in September the following year, Zhang was accused of tricking into Trump's private club, claiming she was going to the pool, and then insisting that she came to the Mar-a-Lago gala.

When sentencing, Zhang said federal prosecutors misinterpreted her words.
She maintained that her only goal was to meet the president and his family.

“I already said I’m coming to meet the president and his family and make friends,” Zhang said, stammering in English.

“Did you want to come to make friends with the president and his family?” - a puzzled Altman asked her.

Zhang chuckled, saying yes.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants, and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York.

Altman then asked Zhang about all the electronic devices, from laptops to mobile phones and signal detectors, used to detect hidden cameras and microphones that were found on her and in her Palm Beach hotel room after her arrest.

“Why did you have a signal detection device?” He asked.

"I'm just being careful... because I'm a woman... for my safety," Zhang told the judge.

In court, the defendant, a woman with limited English proficiency and no legal training, represented herself, mostly clumsily and ineffectively.

She turned down a public defender, although she still received advice from federal assistant public defender Christie Militello at the sentencing hearing.

At the time, Militello stated that Zhang's visit to Mar-a-Lago was "not vile" and that she had a "fantastic idea" for a business partnership with Trump and his family.

Read also on ForumDaily:

California gasoline prices hit records for the second day in a row

A doctor from Uzbekistan in an American clinic treats children from Ukraine for free

Man finds deadly spider in a package of bananas from a supermarket

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.