UPDATE: No Deportation for Man Who Hit Vietnamese Official

A protest outside a White House meeting between President Bush and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai last year became violent. (By Tetona Dunlap -- The Washington Post)

AVietnamese immigrant who punched a visiting Vietnamese dignitary during a demonstration in the District last year will be allowed to stay in the United States after a judge agreed that the man could face persecution if deported to his homeland, his attorney said Friday.

Tuan Phuoc Le, 35, of Atlanta had slugged Nguyen Quoc Huy, vice chairman of the Vietnamese prime minister's office, in the head during a protest against a visiting Vietnamese delegation June 21, 2005, outside the Willard Hotel.

Le, a permanent resident, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington to assaulting a foreign official. He was sentenced in October to nine months in prison, according to court records.

Once aware of Le's arrest, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement started deportation proceedings. Agency officials said the move was initially related to a domestic-violence conviction several years ago in California. The immigration judge, however, also considered his recent conviction. Permanent residents are subject to deportation if they have committed an aggravated felony.

Le's attorney, Parastoo Zahedi, said the immigration judge ruled this month against deportation, issuing a "withdrawal of removal." The judge agreed with a petition Zahedi filed that claimed Le "is more likely than not to be tortured" in Vietnam for his anti-government views, she said.

She added that government attorneys agreed not to appeal the decision. Ernestine Fobbs, a spokeswoman for the immigration agency, did not return a call Friday seeking comment.

Le immigrated in January 1993 through a permanent-resident visa he received as the son of a U.S. citizen.

He said that he punched the dignitary because "he was a communist and he killed my U.S. Marine father in Vietnam," according to an affidavit filed by an agent of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service after the arrest.

Vietnamese Americans in the Washington area and elsewhere raised tens of thousands of dollars to pay the legal bills of Le and Jerry Kiley, a Vietnam War veteran who was arrested during a separate protest during the visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in June 2005.

Zahedi said Le will start serving a six-month jail sentence on the assault conviction next month. He has already spent three months in a psychiatric facility being evaluated, she added.

-- Mary Beth Sheridan