She fled Hong Kong at age 20 after saving up enough money working as an assistant manager at a McDonald’s. She legally entered the U.S. in 2004 with a nonimmigrant visa to escape abuse from her mother and a culture that did not value women, she would later tell an immigration court.
Mayorga told the court her mother favored her brothers and regretted having a daughter. The abuse eventually turned physical. She recalled her mother cutting her hair short and making her dress like a boy.
“The abuse included the mother burning her hand with a cigarette butt, withholding food, calling her ‘trash, garbage,’ and telling her she ‘wish[ed] you’d die soon,’” a court petition read.
Fearing a return to Hong Kong, she stayed past the expiration of her visa, Raymond Bolourtchi, Mayorga’s lawyer, said. In 2008, she received a deportation notice from an immigration court and, according to court records, conceded that she was in the country illegally before turning to asylum and other avenues as a way to avoid returning to Hong Kong.
The appeals board asserted that due to Mayorga’s age, then 34, her mother was no longer a threat to her life or freedom and that she could return to Hong Kong safely.
From there, Mayorga said she continued living and working through an employment authorization document and an order of supervision, which allowed her to remain in the country as she worked toward citizenship. She traveled to St. Louis frequently to renew her documents.