SEQUIM — The federal government has granted Oliver and Penny Strong and family one last extension on a deadline for leaving the country.
They had been ordered to leave U.S. soil by Thursday, but — with a little help from the community and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair — a delay until April 3 was granted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
The Strongs have been ordered to leave the country because their visa expired more than 10 years ago and they’ve been living here illegally.
This case has been ongoing since they first went to immigration court in 2002.
Efforts to secure permission to stay in the United States have failed, but the Sequim-area community has rallied around the Strongs — Oliver is a well-known sculptor and the couple’s four youngest children are U.S. citizens.
Among Strong’s sculptures: The metal elk that serve as welcome signs to Sequim on U.S. Highway 101.
“We really would like to say, ‘Thank you very much,”‘ said Oliver Strong.
“This example shows that people really do have power. If enough of them join together, they can change something.”
Travel documents
The complication at this point is travel documents.
They’ve had problems securing a South African passport for their 14-year-old daughter, which raised the possibility that the family would have to leave her behind when they left for England, their intended destination.
Oliver Strong is a British citizen. Penny is a citizen of South Africa. They came to the United States in 1991 and settled in the Sequim area in 1994.
