Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago-trespasser deported to China two years after serving sentence
- Zhang Yujing was turned over to immigration officials in December 2019 after serving an eight-month sentence for trespassing at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club
- She was held in a Florida prison for three times as long as her prison term mainly because of deportation delays during the Covid-19 pandemic
A Chinese businesswoman convicted of trespassing at former US president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and lying to Secret Service agents was deported over the weekend, federal authorities said, more than two years after serving her sentence.
Zhang Yujing was turned over to immigration officials in December 2019 after serving her eight-month sentence. But she was held at the Glades County Detention Centre for three times as long as her prison term mainly because of deportation delays during the Covid-19 pandemic, immigration authorities told The Miami Herald.
At the time of her sentencing, the then 33-year-old Zhang went to Mar-a-Lago “to meet the president and family and just make friends.” When an incredulous judge questioned her about whether she thought she could really meet the Trumps, Zhang laughed loudly and said she hoped to meet other people, too.
Zhang then told US District Judge Roy Altman that the president told reporters that he had invited Zhang to Mar-a-Lago. But Altman said that was another lie.
It’s unclear what Zhang’s motives were, but the judge said it was clearly about more than getting a photo opportunity.
