A wealthy Dallas developer quit his influential city job to fight the deportation of his younger Chinese wife, whom he married after leaving his wife of 30 years.

Ralph Isenberg, 53, and his wife, Nicole, who turns 41 on Friday, ignored a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement order that she leave the country by August 15 and are fighting it in New York, attorney Ted Cox says.

"We believe she's entitled to stay here and file for a green card," Cox says.

Earlier this month Isenberg resigned from the City Plan Commission after telling local reporters his soap opera-like story, Reuters reports.

Isenberg says he left his wife of 30 years upon meeting Nicole, who has been arrested for prostitution at a Dallas massage parlor, according to "The Dallas Morning News".

The charge eventually was dismissed, although Nicole Isenberg's immigration problems persisted. U.S. immigration spokesman Carl Rusnok says she lost her chance to apply for residency.

"She would have had that opportunity had she left the country," he says, noting that the government has given her three extensions over 18 months to stay in the United States.