Teen Christian Convert Fights Deportation

(CBS/AP)  Attorneys for an Ohio teenager who converted to Christianity and ran away to Florida say her Muslim parents are standing in the way of her effort to fight deportation.

Seventeen-year-old Rifqa Bary is an illegal immigrant and does not want to be returned to her native Sri Lanka where, her attorneys say, she could be hurt or killed.

Bary's case drew international attention when she ran away from home last year, because she feared retribution from her Muslim family for becoming a Christian.

Her attorneys asked a judge in Columbus on Monday to sign an order stating that reunification with her parents is not possible by her 18th birthday in August.

The order would allow Bary, who is in foster care, to apply for special immigration status without her parents' consent.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that the attorney for Bary's parents told the judge he was unaware of Bary's legal effort to apply to an immigration court, saying her parents had previously filed immigration applications for the entire family.

The judge declined to issue the order without first holding a hearing next month.

Last year Bary, who ran away from her New Albany, Ohio home, was located in Florida, where she had been taken in by the pastor of the evangelical Global Revolution Church.

According to CBS Affiliate WBNS, Bary said she'd fled because her Muslim parents threatened to kill her for converting to Christianity.

An investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found no credible evidence for a threat of an "honor killing" nor any signs of abuse.

Authorities are investigating whether actions taken to assist the runaway broke any laws. Bary said the Florida pastor and his wife, Blake and Beverly Lorenz, paid for her bus ticket and sheltered her. Brian Michael Williams, an aspiring minister, allegedly drove the girl to a Greyhound bus station in Columbus.

No charges have been filed.

[barbaram99]

tool sait it the best..

[NB62]

This is one of those rare times when the immigration rules have to be bent a little to save the life of this young woman for she is facing a certain death sentence if she is forced to retured to Sri Lanka.

[tmittelstaed]

Since she is 18 in August this isn't a rebellious teen. All she needs to do is wait 4 months then she can do what she wants.

[dwilson59]

she still is not a US resident.

[SusanStoHelit]

Oh - and for anyone interested in the facts - Sri Lanka is mostly Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian - Muslims are the minority there. Ooopsie!

This is what it always looked like - a rebellious teen blowing things out of proportion, being dramatic as they so often are - without any hint of a problem with her family. They knew she was Christian before she ran away - and never hurt her. There's been not the slightest hint of any violent intent. It's just a kid playing the system.

[dwilson59]

If she is deported she will be dead in a week.

[SusanStoHelit]

Yeah, right. Same people said she'd be dead if returned to her parents - never minding the truth that they'd known she was Christian for quite some time before she ran away.

[TVO1CITW]

Why did she run away????

[TVO1CITW]

There are allot of Christian Americans who would want to marry this woman. When you convert from the hostile Muslim religion to Christianity that means something real happened. Come on guys. Step up to the plate.

[rwsmith29456]

At least here, as a 17-year-old she is old enough to speak for herself.

[TVO1CITW]

I thought Muslims overall were nice people. Wasn't it just the extremeist who did 9/11? Surely, they wouldn't do something bad to their own. Gee Whiz, Golly. The liberals welcome these people with open arms. That should mean something.