Mar-a-Lago interloper sits in ICE center 18 months after sentence over

After Chinese national Yujing Zhang was convicted in 2019 of lying to Secret Service agents to get into Mar-a-Lago, federal prosecutors pushed for an 18-month sentence.

Although a U.S. District Court judge spurned their request, prosecutors got their wish and then some.

Roughly 18 months after Zhang completed her eight-month sentence, the 35-year-old self-described business woman remains in a federal detention center at the Glades County jail, awaiting deportation.

Her hand-written and often confusing pleas for help have been rejected. A federal magistrate judge refused to appoint an attorney to represent her, saying court rules don’t allow it.

But, she has insisted, without the $8,000 that was seized from her after she was arrested at former President Donald Trump’s private club, she has no ability to hire a lawyer or contact her family in China for help. 

While she has asked federal judges to help her retrieve the money, those efforts have also failed.

“I hope the Court could find me the way to be released out of the jail in Florida immediately," Zhang wrote in a petition she filed in federal court in December.

Even in the often byzantine world of immigration law, Zhang’s predicament stands out, said Richard Hujber, a West Palm Beach immigration attorney.

“This is beyond unusual. It’s ridiculous really,” Hujber said. “They’re holding her indefinitely and it violates so many fundamental principles.” 

But, a federal prosecutor said, these are unusual times. 

Zhang’s scheduled deportation came as the world was being gripped by the coronavirus pandemic, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Sullivan wrote in court papers filed in Tampa. The case was filed in the Middle District of Florida because Zhang is being held in Glades County.

The deportation arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has tried to return Zhang to her home in Shanghai, he said.

“But removal efforts have been hampered by the pandemic and the global cancellation of air travel,” he wrote.

He acknowledged that deportations to China resumed on May 13, 2020. But, he added, “flight cancellations and China's COVID restrictions forced ICE to reschedule Zhang’s removal.”

Still, he said, he was confident that it would occur within eight weeks.

It’s been 14 weeks since Sullivan made that prediction.

While ICE officials declined to comment on Zhang’s case, records show she remains in custody at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven.

ICE officials refused a request to interview Zhang. 

“After consultation with the local Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, it is apparent that the proposed interview could affect the outcome of Ms.  Zhang's court case," Michael Meade, director of the ICE field office in Miami, wrote in an email to The Palm Beach Post.

An interloper in Mar-a-Lago's gilded lobby

Zhang’s continued incarceration at a detention center that immigration lawyers described as the worst in the southern part of Florida is emblematic of her strange journey through the court system.

Arriving outside Mar-a-Lago on March 30, 2019, when Trump and his family were visiting, she was waved through a security checkpoint when she said she wanted to use the pool.

Believing she was a club member, Secret Service members let her pass even though she was wearing an evening dress and wasn’t carrying a bathing suit.

Inside, a worker at the Palm Beach club immediately tagged Zhang as an interloper. She was clearly dazzled by the club’s gilded lobby, receptionist Ariela Grumaz testified during Zhang’s trial in Fort Lauderdale. 

Zhang began taking video of the lobby with her cell phone, something members know they aren’t allowed to do, Grumaz said.

Zhang told Grumaz she was at the club for a  "United Nations Chinese-American Friendship event." Knowing no such event was scheduled, Grumaz said she summoned Secret Service agents, telling them “something is weird.”

Agents said Zhang became “aggressive” during an interview. When they searched her purse, they said she was carrying four cell phones, a laptop, an external hard drive and a thumb drive that contained software that would allow her to access computers. (They later walked back that claim, saying no malware was found.)

Still, they said, her explanation for carrying an array of electronic devices was suspicious.

Zhang told them she didn't want them to get stolen from her room at The Colony Hotel. But when they searched the room, they discovered $8,000, credit cards, another cellphone, nine USB drives, five SIM cards and a device that can be used to detect hidden cameras.

Chatting up the magistrate at court hearing

She appeared nonchalant at her initial court hearing, chatting with U.S. Magistrate Judge William Matthewman about her ability to hire an attorney.

Ultimately, two federal public defenders were appointed to represent her.

But, during what was supposed to be a routine hearing to reschedule her trial, Zhang announced she was firing them.

While U.S. District Judge Roy Altman tried to dissuade her, emphasizing the complexities of U.S. law, Zhang was adamant.

 "I have read some books about American law and rules," she assured him. "I want to represent myself."

Assistant Public Defenders Kristy Militello and Robert Adler were allowed to help her during the September 2019 trial, but Zhang was in charge of her defense.

She didn’t call any witnesses and asked few questions of those prosecutors called to testify against her. Sometimes, she spoke in English. Sometimes, she used a court-appointed Mandarin interpreter.

Her closing statement was brief.  "I made a contract to go to Mar-a-Lago to see the president and his family,” she told jurors. “I did nothing wrong. All the evidence has shown I am not lying. I went to Mar-a-Lago for a visit. Thank you for your attention."

After roughly four hours of deliberation after a two-day trial, jurors convicted her on charges of lying to a federal agent and gaining access to a restricted building.

After the verdict, a juror said he felt sorry for Zhang. But, he said, text messages prosecutors showed jurors during the trial clearly showed Zhang knew the event, which was to feature one of Trump’s sisters, had been canceled before she left Shanghai, he said.

In the texts, Zhang asked businessman Charles Lee to refund the $20,000 she had paid for the trip, saying she wasn’t going. Yet, the next day she paid $2,000 for a plane ticket and boarded a flight to the United States.

 "She knew all these things, and she still went," juror Nibaldo Padilla said. "So she's kind of pressing her luck and not in a good way."

COVID travel lockdowns get in the way of deportation

Hujber said Zhang’s decision to fire her attorneys was her first big mistake, one that crescendoed, leaving her in the predicament she is in today.

Still, he said, he can’t believe she isn’t being punished for skirting the Secret Service and getting into Mar-a-Lago.

Hujber said the government has acknowledged that it resumed deportations to China more than a year ago. ICE records show it deported 337 to China in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2019, down from 637 the year before.

However, it doesn't show how many were removed before travel lockdowns were imposed in January 2020 or after deportations resumed four months later.

“It’s hard to believe they couldn’t squeeze her on one of those flights,” Hujber said. “I think it’s clear that they’re trying to punish her more.”

Jeffrey Devore, a Palm Beach Gardens immigration attorney, said by law the government has 90 days to deport someone after a final order of deportation has been issued. In Zhang’s case, that happened in January 2020.

The government has extended her deportation three times, most recently on March 17, according to court records.

“At some point in time it becomes presumptively unreasonable,” Devore said.

But, Sullivan said in court papers, it is up to Zhang to prove that there is little chance she will be deported in the near future. If she could prove that the government is acting unreasonably, she could be released.

“Petitioner has failed to provide any evidence that there is good reason to believe that there is no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future,” Sullivan wrote.

In Zhang’s response to Sullivan’s claims, she seems to miss his point.

“Therefore, petitioner does not need to prove unlikelihood of removable (sic) in the future,” she wrote. “It is just like a person doesn't have to prove his unlikelihood of theft in the future if he never actually did and never thinks he would."

Recognizing her lack of understanding of the law, a federal judge should step in, Hujber said. While the government claims she committed a crime of "moral turpitude," there is no evidence she is a danger to the community, he said.

While there were intimations that Zhang may have been a spy for the Chinese government, federal prosecutors made no mention of it during her trial. She was never charged with espionage.

Hujber said a federal judge could ask prosecutors: "Show me what you've got."

But, since Zhang responded to Sullivan’s claims on April 15, no action has been taken by the judge who is assigned to her case in Tampa. 

Likewise, Altman hasn’t responded to a letter she wrote him on June 21, asking for help.

“While I challenge ICE's legality to custody me, they display false and invalid material to demonstration they could custody me. I am unable to persuade them," she wrote. "I, hereby, apply to the court to conduct the investigation, open this criminal case, stop the criminal conduct and make a court order to release me."

'What they're doing now is borderline disgusting'

At the least, Devore said, consideration should be given to allowing Zhang to be released while waiting for a flight to become available. She could be outfitted with an electronic ankle monitor if they fear she would flee, he said.

But, he said, it's unlikely Zhang understands the legal system sufficiently to make such a request.

Sadly, Devore said, Zhang is far from the only foreign national who has been held in detention for long periods of time.

Mark Pravda, a Miami immigration attorney who sued the agency for failing to implement sufficient safeguards to protect those in detention from the coronavirus, agreed.

"This is not atypical to be honest," he said. While he said he doesn't have statistics, those who represent themselves often linger in detention.

"Really, this person needs an attorney on the case," he said.

Without one, the government can continue taking advantage of a woman who has little understanding of the legal system, Hujber said. 

“What they’re doing now is borderline disgusting,” he said. “It’s a shame she has to take on this machine herself.”

jmusgrave@pbpost.com