Pubdate: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2000 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/ Forum: http://www.sptimes.com/Forums/ubb/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi Section: Page 14A ADOPTEE SEETHES ABOUT DEPORTION FOR DRUG DEALING CAMPINAS, Brazil - The unfamiliar faces smile at him on the subway. Total strangers flash him the thumbs-up sign and wish him good luck. People he has never met offer him a job. For Joao Herbert, deported from the United States to a homeland he barely recalls, the warmth, of Brazilians is a welcome surprise - and helps to case the anger and hurt that won't go away. "I have been very fortunate since my arrival. People have opened their doors and hearts to, me in a way I could never have expected," he said. But the 22-year-old also never expected to be here, stripped of his home and family, living on charity in a low-income district on the outskirts of this southeastern Brazilian city, 56 miles from Sao Paulo. Adopted from a Sao Paulo orphanage 14 years ago by Nancy Saunders and her former husband, James Herbert, he grew up in Wadsworth, Ohio, just another American kid. But there was a difference: His parents never asked for his naturalization. Herbert was applying for U.S. citizenship when he was arrested in 1997 for selling 7.5 ounces of marijuana to an undercover police officer near Cleveland. It was his first offense and he received probation, but he was labeled a serious criminal under the 1996 Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Deportation was mandatory. He fought it for more than a year but finally gave up. "Although I did not have a piece of paper saying I was a U.S. citizen, I felt like one," he said. "When I was a little boy going to school I had to pledge allegiance to the flag. That made me an American citizen. And I became a citizen in high school where I learned all about American history and passed all my tests on the subject." His voice rises at the memory of what, he feels was unfair treatment. "I got shafted," he said angrily. "The judge never asked me about myself or my family, or what my dreams were. She just looked at some official papers and threw the book at me." Herbert arrived in Sao Paulo two weeks ago. He didn't know anyone, didn't speak the language, had no job or place to stay. He spent a week in a homeless shelter before he was taken in by Michael Miller, an American Baptist pastor working and living in Campinas. Miller found a home for Herbert with Udia and Donizete Tarifa, two of his 30 congregants in the predominantly Roman Catholic district. He was given one of the three bedrooms over the couple's grocery store, a small concrete building with a red tile roof on a dirt road. "He has been here only a week and all I can say is that he is like a son," said Mrs. Tarifa. Portuguese is still a barrier, but the good will of Brazilians makes it easier. "The other day I was on the subway in Sao Paulo, and I was surprised when a lot of people started smiling and waving at me and giving me the thumbs up sign," he said. "I really don't want to be in the spotlight, but I know people are looking; at me and I want to make sure I take the right steps to show everyone that I am a good person." Several Brazilian and American firms have called to offer him a job, he said. The most promising is a possible offer to teach English in a local language school. The bitterness still simmers, but Herbert won't let it hold him back. "I know I have a promising future ahead of me," he said, sitting shirtless on a patio behind the store. "I made a mistake in life and I learned from that mistake, and here in Brazil, unlike the United States, I feel I will be given a second chance in life," he added. "They punished me by sending me back to Brazil. But they were wrong, for coming here was blessing. I am out of jail and I am in a country where I know I will be treated like a human being." - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart