Last Friday, President Obama took a small, but important, first step in eliminating the painful separation of American families because of twisted immigration laws. Right now, the spouse of a United States citizen cannot apply for a green card in the U.S. if they originally entered without proper inspection by an immigration officer. To obtain lawful status the immigrant must leave the U.S. and apply for a visa at a U.S. embassy in their home country. However, this sets up a Catch-22 because once the immigrant leaves the U.S. he or she is barred from returning for up to 10 years unless he or she is granted a waiver proving the U.S. citizen spouse or parent will suffer extreme hardship as a result of this forced and extended separation.
This waiver, known as an unlawful presence waiver, can take months, even years to process because of bureaucratic backlogs. In the meantime the family is separated, the foreign spouse may be stuck in a dangerous place like Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where many immigrants have lost their lives and there is no way of predicting if or when the family will ever be reunited. Under this new rule, families will be able to stay together while the waiver is being processed. This is exactly what Americans support - the protection of American families and honoring that bond.
Although the new rule as proposed isn t perfect, it's an important step forward keeping families together and fixing our broken immigration system.
Natacha Andrews
Chandler
Slabside posted at 2:42 pm on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
"Right now, the spouse of a United States citizen cannot apply for a green card in the U.S. if they originally entered without proper inspection by an immigration officer. To obtain lawful status the immigrant must leave the U.S. and apply for a visa at a U.S. embassy in their home country."
So, asking immigrants to respect out immigration laws is asking too much huh Natacha?
If it were up to me, every illegal found here would be deported PERMANENTLY. Only the immigrants not rying to circumvent the system would be allowed to become an American citizen.
truth posted at 3:16 pm on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
[beam][beam][beam]What is a illegal? If you are in a checkout line and several people cut in front of you and while you are checking out they take your items that you will pay for for them self that is what a illegal does. Once you enter this country illegally you should never become a legal citizen and that should include any childeren born to illegals. Enter illegally always illegal.
commonsenseaintcommon posted at 3:37 pm on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
Obamma has at least 2 relatives who are in the country illegally. There is an aunt that is on public assistance and an uncle also. Of course he wants to welcome every illegal he can. He would really be happy if they could vote!
Arizona Willie posted at 4:03 pm on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
Families should be kept together.
Well, I can agree with that under one condition.
Throw the whole bunch out of the country.
If they are willing to marry an illegal they should be willing to take the consequences when they are caught.
If a citizens robbed a bank and got twenty years and that left his family with no provider, no one would say boo.
It's called " tough noogies ".
So when you get married you usually say " for better or worse " .... so when it gets worse " tough noogies.
Marry an illegal go bye bye with the illegal. Don't come crying to me that it hurts your family.
I DON'T CARE.
Dale Whiting posted at 4:48 pm on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
With the sorts of comments given above, it's no wonder most of the rest of the states think like they do about Arizona!
Leon Ceniceros posted at 5:35 pm on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
Dale....if you love ...ILLEGAL ALIENS....so much, then put a big sign on your front laws.......'BIENVENIDOS MOJADOS.....MI CASA ES SU CASA....LA CERVEZA ESTA EN EL REFRIGERADOR".
Slabside posted at 5:44 pm on Sun, Jan 15, 2012.
"With the sorts of comments given above, it's no wonder most of the rest of the states think like they do about Arizona!"
No, just morons like you and your ilk think that way about Arizona. Feel free to leave anytime Dale.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:55 am on Mon, Jan 16, 2012.
Getting back to the letter writer (from Chandler....[wink])
You are oh-so-right (politically, that is).....THESE ILLEGAL ALIEN FAMILIES "SHOULD"....BE KEPT TOGETHER...IT WOULD BE INHUMANE TO SEPARATE THEM...........................SO ........SEND THE ...."WHOLE" FAMILY BACK TO MEXICO, HONDURAS, EL SALVADOR OR GUATAMALA OR WHATEVER..."NARCO-STATE" IN CENTRAL OR LATIN AMERICA THAT THEY CAME FROM......."AFUERA AMERICA...AHORA".
In_God_We_Trust posted at 8:59 am on Mon, Jan 16, 2012.
Open border boosters constantly use family unity as a pretext for not deporting illegal aliens. It's a bogus argument. If Mexican families want to stay together, they ought to just stay in Mexico. Plus, some of the "family values" displayed by some Mexican illegal aliens just make things worse.
There's an article by Barcelona-born Claudia Torrens, distributed by Associated Press en español, which reports a case in which a child custody case wound up being decided in New York City . (NY: Padre Sufre Decisión de Juez de Devolver Hija a México).
The Mexican family in the case is composed of the dad Jose Luis Rivera Castillo, the mom Angelica Mota, and the 5-year old daughter Elena Michelle Asuncion Rivera.
That's how the names are reported, though they don't add up. According to Spanish-language surname customs the girl's name should be Elena Michelle Rivera Mota. So there's something awry from the very beginning, but then, we're not dealing with a model family here.
Anyway, Jose and Angelica were married in 2006 in Mexico, their daughter Elena being born in September of that year. After her birth, Jose entered the U.S. illegally and made his way to New York City, where he works as a maintenance man in a private school.
From birth to 3 years, Elena lived with her mother in Puebla, Mexico. (Many of the Mexicans in New York City are from Puebla).
In 2010, it was decided that Angelica and Elena should move to New York City to be with dad. So mother and daughter went to the border, but they didn't cross together. Angelica paid two other women to take her daughter across the border. That strategy was successful, and Elena was taken all the way to New York City and was united with her father.
The Mother Angelica, meanwhile, was not able to cross the border, and was in fact arrested for use of false documents and sent back to Mexico.
At some point in time, Jose, in New York City, acquired a new live-in girlfriend, with whom he had a new daughter. So his new household consisted of himself, the girlfriend, their daughter, and his daughter Elena. Plus, he stopped sending remittances back to Angelica in Mexico.
Angelica sued in the U.S. legal system to get her daughter back, under the terms of the Hague Convention. On January 10th, 2012, Judge Jack Weinstein, in a federal court in Brooklyn, ruled in favor of the mother, on the basis of Mexican child custody law. So Elena is now to be sent back to Mexico.
This, then, is the sort of situation encouraged by our current dysfunctional immigration system. As far as the judge's ruling being based on Mexican child custody law, maybe that's not so bad. After all, the whole family in question is Mexican.
And if the dad, who is complaining about the decision, really loves his daughter, why doesn't he go with her to Mexico? Of course, he also has to figure out what to do with his new daughter and live-in girlfriend!
Are these the Hispanic family values we're constantly lectured about, or do Mexicans and cockroaches have something in common?
Arizona Willie posted at 10:34 am on Mon, Jan 16, 2012.
In_God_We_Doubt ... you were doing fine until your last paragraph.
Throwing cockroaches into the verbiage reveals a racist motive to your posting.
That invalidates your otherwise good post about their lack of family values. Not all Mexicans of course just like all Whites from the South are not rednecks.
Family sanctity doesn't hold water with me.
No one gives a darn about keeping the family together if a black citizen steals from a convenience store and gets 5 years in prison and it devastates his family.
The illegal(s) in the families they want to keep together almost undoubtedly committed a felony in identity theft in order to get a job. So the legal spouse is guilty of harboring a felon which makes them a felon. So they are all criminals and should all be deported.
No problem Family stays together.
TeaPartyPatriot posted at 1:17 pm on Mon, Jan 16, 2012.
I agree Willie. They should put all of the black citizen's family in prison with him. That way they wont be separated, theft in the area will be reduced, and since their all already on welfare it wont even cost the taxpayers much more money.
Masterrogue666 posted at 4:11 pm on Mon, Jan 16, 2012.
@ Natacha Andrews: As was stated by others, the family can choose to stay together, and ALL OF THEM can go to whatever country the ILLEGAL ALIEN hailed from. You complain because it causes them "hardship". Interesting how you glossed over the FACT that they broke one (and probably several more) laws just in coming here. What ever happened to EARNING it? No one in this article is stating stop immigration. We just want ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION stopped. NO ONE should be rewarded due to their CRIMINAL ACTIVITY!
Masterrogue666 posted at 4:17 pm on Mon, Jan 16, 2012.
@ Dale: Actually Dale, the MAJORITY of Americans both in AZ and elsewhere are tired of the status quo, and the entitlement minded supporters of ILLEGAL ALIENS. Why do you think so many other states have started similar laws?
Should I be allowed to ignore any laws that I think constrain me?
Masterrogue666 posted at 4:25 pm on Mon, Jan 16, 2012.
@ In_God_We_Trust: Thanks for that bit of information. I read about a similar case, however, the Father was a LEGAL citizen of the USA. However, the Mother's country of origin took her side, and would not permit the Father custody, even though he could provide better for the child.
So, there you have it, Natacha Andrews, foreign governments still consider ILLEGAL ALIENS their citizens (and also the children, even if born in the USA). So, I say deport the entire family, and let that government work it out. If you lend aid and assistance to a fugitive of the law, you are guilty of breaking a law. Time for that to include those that assist ILLEGAL ALIENS.....
k33j88 posted at 3:56 am on Tue, Jan 17, 2012.
Most of these illegals are tax users, not payers. It is well known the drain on our economic base, through the use of entitlements reserved for citizens. I'm wondering if the fence will ever be finished. If not, chain migration will grow and this beautiful country we once known will become fractured and balkanized.
Rational Human posted at 2:27 pm on Wed, Jan 18, 2012.
Thing about those cockroaches is you can never eliminate them all no matter how hard you try there will always be some left. I don't think In_God_We_Trust ever suggested that only Mexicans will breed with any available female like flies, cockroaches and other vermin.
Accuracy posted at 5:17 pm on Fri, Jan 20, 2012.
“Fixing our broken immigration system”..... Natacha Andrews, of Chandler, advocates; “This is exactly what Americans support - the protection of American families and honoring that bond.”
What next Natacha? Policy of granting in-state tuition for illegal aliens?
Giving children of illegal aliens $100,000 discount if they are illegal aliens and go to state colleges in Arizona . . . A grant program that covers tuition and fees (for illegals) at most institutions, the way they do in Texas, while U.S. citizens have to pay $100,000 more. That kind of magnet draws illegals into this country to get that $100,000 tuition free. That’s not exactly what Americans support and it does not make sense.