Video: 'Lennons' deportation hearings wind up - decision due in July'

(Wednesday, May 17, 1972) — Former Beatle John Lennon pleaded with the U.S. government today to show “mercy” to himself, his wife, Yoko Ono, and her missing daughter and allow them to remain in the United States despite his marijuana conviction.

“We are not now in federal court but if there is any mercy to plead for I’d like it both for us and our child,” Lennon told the hearing at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) offices in New York.

After taking final testimony from the Lennons, Special Inquiry Officer Ira Fieldsteel gave both sides until July 1, 1972, to submit final briefs and said he would decide the case “sometime after the July 1 date.”

The Lennons are fighting to obtain permanent resident status mainly because a court order has stipulated that Yoko’s daughter, Kyoko, from her first marriage, must be raised in the United States.

Mrs. Lennon was granted custody of the child by U.S. courts but the girl’s father, Anthony Cox, dropped out of sight with her. The Lennons say they must remain in the United States in order to find Kyoko.

The government sought to deny Lennon permission to stay because of his 1968 conviction in England for possession of marijuana.