When Zhang Qua, a 33-year-old Fuzhouese, came to New York from Atlanta to attend a wedding, the police happened to be investigating a murder case in Chinatown.

The police picked him up from the street because he seemed “suspicious.” Later, the police found him to be unrelated to the case but they sent him to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Now Zhang faces deportation back to mainland China.

Qua’s friends and the community around East Broadway were very troubled by this incident and many said that the police should just be responsible for investigating street crime, instead of interfering with INS responsibilities.

Everybody said that this incident would affect the confidence people had in cooperating with the police.

On June 30 at around 9:30 a.m., Qua was on East Broadway talking to friends at Today Bus Company. The police from the 5th Precinct happened to investigate a murder case there. The police thought that he was “suspicious” and brought him back to the police station for further questioning. After holding him for one whole day, he was sent to INS the next morning (July 1).

The criminal investigation team at the 5th Precinct explained that the police found Qua’s expression to be suspicious.

When a detective on the street asked for his name, he seemed shifty and gave a false name. Brought back to the police station for investigation, he was found to have no criminal record. They did find out that INS once issued him a deportation warrant. He was transferred to the INS where he is now in custody.

Ko, a friend of Qua who came from Atlanta to New York with him, thought the whole incident shockingly unfair. Ko said that Qua, originally from Fuzhou Tin-Jiang, came to the United States illegally ten years ago. Qua’s request for political asylum was unsuccessful. He has a sister in New Jersey.

Qua was working hard in a restaurant in Atlanta. He was planning to move to North Carolina. He had come to New York for a wedding, when he was arrested.

On the day of his arrest, Qua got up early to go to the street to pay his parking meter. Then he went to the bus company to chat with friends, and was unexpectedly arrested by the police. Li Jit, a partner of “Today Bus Company,” said that Jin-Shen Yong, his company’s lawyer, was working on the case for Qua. His company would assist in resolving this incident. He believed that many people would be afraid to come to East Broadway.

Attorney Yong said that when Dinkins and Guiliani were mayors, the NYPD and INS did not have much of a relationship. However, this has changed after 9/11. Qua’s run-in with police was deeply unsettling, especially for the immigrant community in Chinatown. Once the police become INS investigators, immigrants’ lives are terribly affected. Yong still does not know when INS will deport Qua. He encouraged the residents of Chinatown to pay attention to Qua’s unfolding story.