A Burmese man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison and is facing deportation for killing the same woman he risked his life for during a harrowing journey through the U.S. immigration system.

Tialhei Zathang stabbed his wife to death in front of their children when he was too drunk to realize what he was doing, defense attorney Donna Coleman told Baltimore County Judge Vicki Ballou-Watts. Zathang, who was reunited with his family in 2004 after he fled to America seeking asylum in 1998, choked back sobs, as he told the judge he was sorry.

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