Veterans' Benefits?
This is an AP story as published by The Boston Globe online:
The wife of a Massachusetts soldier missing in Iraq could face deportation, her lawyer said in an interview with a Boston television station yesterday.
Army Specialist Alex Jimenez of Lawrence, who has been missing since his unit was attacked by insurgents in Iraq on May 12, had petitioned for a green card for his wife, Yaderlin, whom he married in 2004, WBZ-TV reported.
Their attorney, Matthew Kolken, said Yaderlin Jimenez illegally entered the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2001. Her husband's request for a green card and legal residence status for her alerted authorities to her situation, Kolken said.
The attorney said his client would not be eligible for a green card under normal circumstances, but he is seeking a hardship waiver for her. If she were to have to leave the United States, she would have to wait 10 years before reapplying.
"I can't imagine a bigger injustice than that, to be deporting someone's wife who is fighting and possibly dying for our country," Kolken told the station.
An immigration judge put a temporary stop to the proceedings since Alex Jimenez was reported missing. The soldier's wife is living with family members in Pennsylvania, the station reported.
US forces continue to search for Jimenez, 25, and a comrade, Private Brian Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.
The soldiers' identification cards were found in an Al Qaeda site north of Baghdad, along with video production equipment, computers, and weapons, the US military said Saturday. An Al Qaeda front group claimed in a video posted on the Internet earlier this month that the soldiers were killed and buried, and it showed images of the ID's. The video offered no proof of their fates.
I'm not sure what I think about this story. Mrs. Jimenez entered the country illegally, remains illegal and apparently is not eligible for any program that will let her stay in the country. That being the case, it was probably kind of dumb to apply for a green card. That being said and her husband's status aside, it seems immigration officials would have better things to do than pressing for her deportation in the first place.
8 comments:
But it's because of people like this that make it so damn impossibly hard for other people who are trying to come here ligitimately. They've made it so hard, in fact, that the only way to come here is to marry a US citizen, then come here on a visa. I don't feel for people like this because they can't do things the right way and they don't want to play by the rules. Then when things don't work out as perfectly as they had hoped for, they cry for sympathy and compassion.
Paul,
I don't know that I disagree with you. I just feel conflicted, probably because of the personalization. I almost didn't publish the post. I should add to the post that the administrative law judge did the right thing by putting the deportation proceedings on hold until her husband is found. I suppose you could argue that her husband's captivity or death should have nothing to do with it; but, I think the fact that he risked, and maybe gave, his life should afford her a bit of slack.
Then too, he and she tried, kind of, to do the right thing, too late in a not legal way, but they tried. Damned but doesn't throwing people into the mix mess up my political beliefs.
I don't understand the system as well as those who deal with the specialization of immigration law. But I always thought if you married an American citizen you had the right to apply for a Green Card.
The thing is, and I know this as a military ex-spouse and military and veteran mom, Spc. Jimenez was checked out before his deployment. They all are. He applied for his wife's green card. Someone legally married them and he presented a legal marriage license.
In the process, his country called him to war. His country needs to make allowances in this situation. He wasn't hiding her. The government knew about her. Like everyone else called to war, SPC. Jimenez had to put his life on hold. But you can't put lives on hold when it comes to law and disease and living and loving and praying and worrying about a loved one.
I sent my friend Vickie's comment to his wife's attorney. I hope she gets a free pass until her hero (OUR HERO) is found.
Ohhhhhh, I don't know what I think about this...but I do feel sorry for the young woman. To lose her husband and her home in such a short time...hard stuff...
Judi
You have to choose between what's legal and what's moral. Why is this a problem?
Thomas,
I don't think moral is always the converse of legal, just as immoral action is not necessarily illegal. Here, deporting her would be legal; and, given my definition of the word, it would not be immoral. Not a good thing to do, but not an immoral thing to do.
Your problem is you think the Government is stupid.
I used to think that.
But it's hard... so hard... to think that anyone could be this stupid except on purpose.
I begin to believe that someone puts a case like this in motion just to excite sentiment against immigration control... because any ordinary slack-jawed, mouth-breathing idiot would know better than to push this.
Wouldn't they?
Hey Men and Women,
Here's my problem with the news story and my opinion on it:
What little I could find on the web was a repeat of an AP story that didn't say much.
From what I could see, the story had been picked up from the couple's lawyer who gave, as he should, his spin on the case.
In contrast to Curmudgeon, other than some initial stupidity on the part of the Feds, I think it/they have been ok in this, at least in the person of the Judge that stayed, halted, the proceedings until someone knows what is happening with the lady's husband.
Further, on the subject of stupidity on the part of the Feds, before Sfp. Jimenez went missing, I think the process just happened as it happened because people don't think beyond, "here's a woman who is easy to net."
I hope that Spc. Jimenez is alive. If he isn't, I hope his remains can be brought back to his wife, here, in this country.
With the publicity, there is little chance of Mrs. Jimenez being deported before either happens.
I keep thinking that there is something that isn't being reported. As I said in the post, I don't know what to think. As we say, "I,m conficted."
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