The son of a New York minister facing deportation asked first lady Laura Bush to put in a good word with President George Bush about a pardon for his father.

Chigozie Okorie, 9, sent the first lady a letter asking her to help his father, Chibueze Okorie, avoid being deported to Nigeria on drug charges from 19 years ago, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.

Please help me and my dad and speak to President Bush, the boy wrote. "My dad made a mistake in 1989 when he was young.

Forgive my dad. I'd like him to stay in Brooklyn -- he's my dad.

The boy's father is to be deported under a 1996 federal law allowing immigrants to be deported if convicted of a crime.

While the boy only received form letters from the White House after earlier attempts to contact the president, a Justice Department lawyer responded last month to the one he sent the first lady. The attorney made no promises but said a photo he'd sent of him with his dad would be put in Chibueze Okorie's clemency file.

Laura Bush has no power in deportation cases.

Between 1997 and 2005, nearly 680,000 immigrants were deported under that law, the activist group Human Rights Watch said.

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