Immigration judge won't drop case against Bahraini princess

SAN DIEGO - A Bahraini princess who used forged military documents to flee her country and marry a U.S. Marine must face charges of illegally entering the United States, a judge said Monday.

Immigration judge Ignacio Fernandez refused to dismiss the charges, a ruling that prevents the princess, 19-year-old Meriam Al Khalifa, from applying for permanent residency in the United States without seeking political asylum.

Al Khalifa plans to apply for asylum on the grounds that she faces extreme persecution for marrying a non-Muslim if she returns to her country, said her attorney, Jan Joseph Behar.

''I can guarantee you it is not just 'Daddy is mad at me,''' Behar told reporters.

She has up to year under U.S. law to apply for political asylum. She faces charges of misrepresenting her identity to enter the United States and not having the proper documents to enter the country.

Monica Mubaraki, a lawyer for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

A spokesman for the Bahraini Embassy in Washington says her family is eager for her to return and that she would not face persecution.

The hearing was closed to the public and news media, but Behar provided an account of the judge's action. Al Khalifa left without speaking to reporters.

Al Khalifa lives with her husband, Pfc. Jason Johnson, on Camp Pendleton, a Marine base 40 miles north of San Diego.

The couple's effort to allow her to remain in the county has drawn the support of Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who sent a letter of support last week to immigration authorities.

Al Khalifa and Johnson met last year at a mall in the Bahraini capital of Manama, where the 25-year-old Marine was assigned to a security unit.

As his deployment was ending late last year, he forged U.S. military documents that Al Khalifa used to fly to the United States on a commercial airplane. She dressed in baggy clothes and wore a New York Yankees baseball cap to resemble an American. Immigration officials in Chicago discovered the ruse.

The couple later married in Las Vegas.

The Marine Corps demoted Johnson to private first class and assigned him extra duty.

Al Khalifa's father is a cousin of Bahrain's head of state, Emir Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Bahraini royalty rarely marry outside the family circle. They also belong to Islam's mainstream Sunni sect. Islam forbids Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men, though Muslim men can marry outside their faith.