Piers Morgan, Immigrant With Job No American Wants, Faces Deportation

Piers Morgan, Immigrant With Job No American Wants, Faces Deportation

This may be Piers Morgan's last Christmas season in America: Many people want the hardworking immigrant to be deported for speaking out about guns.

Morgan, from an island called Britain, is one of millions of foreign-born workers doing a job few Americans would willingly do. Like many farmhands, unskilled laborers and television personalities, he rises early each morning to face a sometimes humiliating job.

Morgan hosts a talk show on CNN.

He has struggled in the ratings since taking over for "Larry King Live" nearly two years ago. He speaks English well, but still sometimes finds it hard to connect with people here. And though he was a celebrated journalist on his island, here he is forced to interview some of the least interesting Americans, like the Kardashians. Once he had no guest at all, and had to interview a chair.

Also read: Piers Morgan Interviews a Chair

But Morgan rarely complains. He earns enough to scrape by, and is grateful for his humble way new way of life.

But it may be in danger.

Last week, Morgan criticized the gun policies in his unfamiliar land. Losing his temper, he even called one gun-rights advocate an "unbelievably stupid man."

Suddenly, Americans took note of Morgan's 9 p.m. show. The Drudge Report pointed out in a headline that the foreign-born Morgan had criticized the country where he is allowed to live and work. The outcry was swift.

The White House offers a petition process that allows Americans to directly reach out to the president on some of the most important issues of the day. Some petitions, like those seeking to help children with cancer or more jobless benefits for people in need, might receive only a few hundred signatures.

But thousands of Americans sprung to action when they learned of the European views Morgan had expressed in America.

Their desire to protect their borders from dissent was so strong that they started a petition to deport Morgan back to his homeland. It has received some 32,000 signatures -- more than the 25,000 needed to draw an official response from the government.

Now Morgan faces a test: Should he go back to toiling in quiet obscurity? Or dare to stand up for his beliefs?

Morgan is speaking out.

"I am now trending in the United States because of this deportation threat. This is getting ridiculous," he said using Twitter, which he uses to communicate with his small audience and loved ones back home.

Some will say Morgan is in no real danger, because the people who want him gone are wackos. But he lives in fear. He has even reached out to other foreigners, hoping they might let him flee to their country if Americans decide he is too dangerous to remain here.

"If America deports me, I'm thinking of anchoring my CNN show from Jamaica," he tweeted recently to the Jamaica athletes Usain Bolt and Henry Gayle. "Got a spare room?"

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