clarinews@clarinet.com (01/13/90)
DETROIT (UPI) -- Former Detroit Red Wing Bob Probert, convicted of importing cocaine into the United States from Canada, will be allowed to remain in the United States while his appeal of a deportation order is being decided. ``We have no intention of removing Mr. Probert from the United States until all legal remedies have been exhausted,'' Lonnie C. McDaniel, deputy director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service for Michigan, said Thursday. But any return of Probert to the Red Wings rests with McDaniel, who must rule onther Probert can work in the United States during the appeal process, a period of at least four months. ``He will have to come to us to make that request, because Immigration and Naturalization controls whether aliens can work in the United States,'' McDaniel said. In an interview with the Detroit News, McDaniel said there was no way he could predict how he would decide the question of whether Probert can work in the United States. ``Each case is handled entirely on its own merits,'' he said. Probert is serving a 90-day sentence for importation of cocaine at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn. He is due to be released Feb. 7, after which he will serve a 90-day sentence as scheduled in a Detroit halfway house, McDaniel said. Prison officials said if McDaniel permits Probert to work, he will be allowed to join the Red Wings. Both the National Hockey League and Red Wings management already have said they would welcome him. Probert was arrested March 2 crossing the border from Canada with half an ounce of cocaine concealed in his underwear. On Jan. 2, Immigration Judge Anthony D. Petrone of Chicago ruled that Probert would have to be deported to his native Canada, but set no date.