Runaway Teen Convert Gains Legal U.S. Residency

(CBS/AP)  A lawyer for a Christian convert who ran away from her parents says the now-18-year-old woman has gained permanent U.S. residency after living in Ohio as an illegal immigrant.

A lawyer for Rifqa Bary said Tuesday the Sri Lanka native can now start applying for a driver's license, Medicaid coverage and college scholarships.

Lawyer Kort Gatterdam says Bary got her permanent residency card last week and can apply for citizenship in five years.

Bary had sought the green card as she argued she could not reunite with her Muslim parents. She alleged they threatened her with harm for converting, and she fled Ohio to stay with a minister in Orlando, Fla.

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. Her parents deny she would have been harmed.

Bary also sought legal residency to achieve health coverage as she battles uterine cancer.

[armyoftwelve]

God bless this young woman!

[kippertoo]

Wow, just in time for us to pay for her cancer treatments! Why did this girl get a green card? She was illegal (I would assume this means that her parents are illegal as well). Shouldn't she have been deported instead of given residency or do immigration laws only apply to Mexicans?

[jnostromo]

Here we go another incident to upset the muslims..how dare we offer this traitor freedom...I can see a fatwa coming calling for her immediate stoning or beheading...