WIDOW'S TROUBLES MULTIPLY : EVICTION FOLLOWS DEPORTATION NOTICE.

Byline: Jeannette DeSantis Daily News Staff Writer

Things have gotten worse instead of better for Jasmin Salehi.

Alone in a new apartment, half of her belongings still packed in moving boxes, Salehi, 32, surveys her new residence and wonders how it came to this.

When the Korean widow first came to the United States more than a year ago, her life was filled with promise. A loving husband with a steady income, friends and a comfortable home in Sherman Oaks were more than she could ask for.

Then life handed her more.

Her husband of 11 months, Cyrus Salehi, was slain earlier this year. Soon after, the Immigration and Naturalization Service notified Salehi she would be deported because she had not been married to a U.S. citizen long enough to get her green card.

And recently, she was evicted from the only home she has known since arriving in the United States.

``All these things happened at one time,'' Salehi said. ``It is really hard for me, and I get depressed . . . especially during the holidays.''

In the midst of her first holiday season as a widow, Salehi can only dream of her husband, Cyrus Salehi, killed in February after two robbers shot him during a holdup at the Reseda Denny's restaurant he owned.

``There are lots of memories of my husband . . . and our Christmases together,'' she said. ``Now, every Christmas will be a Christmas without him.''

But it won't be a holiday season without friends.

Francine and Ralph Myers, who informally adopted Salehi since Cyrus's death, met her through a victim support group. The Myers, whose son was slain, know well how those first holiday seasons can affect a victim of crime.

``It can be a real tough time,'' Francine Myers said. ``It is different for everyone. Jasmin doesn't want to decorate. I remember (after my son died) I would try to change every tradition we had and make new ones.''

Myers said Salehi is a survivor, who stood up to the INS and was allowed to stay in the country until her husband's accused killer stands trial. Meanwhile, she has not let her own grief stop her from helping others.

``Although she needs help, she unselfishly helps others,'' Myers said, adding that Salehi has accompanied her to the trial of the person accused of murdering her own son. ``That says something about her.''

Salehi contends that she is only returning the support the Myers have given her. ``She is a victim too, and all that time she is there for me,'' Salehi said.

Shellie Samuels, the deputy district attorney handling the Cyrus Salehi murder case, said that although all victims of crime are traumatized by a loved one's death, Salehi's ordeal has been especially nightmarish.

``Besides the emotional trauma she has gone through, the U.S. has not done right by her,'' Samuels said. ``Her American citizen husband gets killed and they treat her like an illegal immigrant.''

Cyrus and Jasmin Salehi filed the paperwork for Salehi to receive a green card in early 1995, soon after their March nuptials.

But Salehi was deemed ineligible for residence status because her husband was killed before they had been married two years - an INS time requirement for a spouse sponsorship.

The INS has only offered Salehi a temporary reprieve, allowing her to stay in the country for her husband's murder trial.

As for Salehi, she fears if she is sent back to Korea, she will be a stranger in her own country, a place where stigmas are attached to orphans and widows, of which she is both.

Born Mai Hoa Joo in Seoul, Korea, in 1964, Salehi's parents died within months of each other when she was 14. A college graduate, Salehi visited the United States several times before she immigrated.

During a 1993 visit, Salehi met her husband at a Denny's restaurant in Los Angeles. They continued their relationship even as Salehi returned to Korea.

Once married, Salehi received a work permit after she applied for a green card and began working at a clothing manufacturer in downtown Los Angeles, where she still puts in 10-hour days on a regular basis.

But her salary as a production manager was not enough to cover the mortgage payment on the small house the couple owned, even though she has inherited part ownership of the Denny's restaurant where her husband was killed.

``She has run into a lot of roadblocks, but she is a survivor,'' said Francine Myers. ``She will do all right as long as she feels like she has the support behind her.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) Jasmin Salehi has gotten a dog, Happy, since her husband's death 11 months ago.

(2) Jasmin Salehi sorts through moving boxes as she settles into an apartment.

David R. Crane/Daily News