It’s nice when something the government does makes me cry — in a good way. Zhenfu Ge, the 74 year old grandmother whose daughter died last year, walked out of an INS office with her green card yesterday. Ge’s daughter was also her green card sponsor and Ge was a few days away from completing the process when her daughter passed away from cancer. The law at the time provided no way for her to stay in the country and help her son-in-law with his two children. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Lynn Woolsey sponsored private relief legislation which was specific to her case, however Congress and the President went one better and signed into law an act (the Family Sponsor Immigration Act, H. R. 1892) that allows anyone with an approved pending green card application to change family sponsors if the original sponsor dies. The alternate sponsor does not have to be a blood relation. This act wasn’t expected to pass in the current climate of strict immigration policies. Ge can now continue to raise her grandchildren and also finally travel back to China to see her other three children for the first time in four years.