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The Kids Stay
For those of you reading this who are from outside South Florida, you may not have heard about the two Miami teen brothers who are being threatened to be sent back to Colombia with their parents because of their illegal status.
One of the kids, Juan Gomez, just graduated in the top 20 at the local high school down the road from here.
As the article linked above mentions, the family is being held in two locations, a "transitional center", and the Krome Detention Center where the father is being held.
This is a classic case of our inept immigration system in this country. The Gomez family's status has been in limbo for several years after an application for legal citizenship was rejected by the feds, who after all this time round up the family for deportation.
Besides faulting the feds, I have to blame the parents. Yes, I don't know what exactly transpired that caused them to have their application rejected, but they must have done something wrong. Other people I know who are not permanent legal residents but are here legally have to go through set procedures in order to renew their temporary legal status. My feeling is that the Gomez family failed in this respect, but that's just a hunch.
Nevertheless, the kids shouldn't be penalized for any errors their parents made. They ought to stay. Better yet, make them U.S. citizens.
One of the kids, Juan Gomez, just graduated in the top 20 at the local high school down the road from here.
As the article linked above mentions, the family is being held in two locations, a "transitional center", and the Krome Detention Center where the father is being held.
This is a classic case of our inept immigration system in this country. The Gomez family's status has been in limbo for several years after an application for legal citizenship was rejected by the feds, who after all this time round up the family for deportation.
Besides faulting the feds, I have to blame the parents. Yes, I don't know what exactly transpired that caused them to have their application rejected, but they must have done something wrong. Other people I know who are not permanent legal residents but are here legally have to go through set procedures in order to renew their temporary legal status. My feeling is that the Gomez family failed in this respect, but that's just a hunch.
Nevertheless, the kids shouldn't be penalized for any errors their parents made. They ought to stay. Better yet, make them U.S. citizens.
Labels: Deportation, immigration
posted by Robert at 9:17 PM
6 Comments:
Robert I agree with you 100%. Honestly, I haven't a clue how to fix our immigration problems. Enforce the law at the border, absolutely, but as for those already here, I say weed out the criminals and let the rest stay. Otherwise, whom do you deport? What about their children and families? What about illegal parents, with grown children? Some are not legal but others may be married to Americans and have children who are the grandchildren of the illegal's. In my opinion, the U.S. should always error on the side of what is humane. Even King Solomon couldn't sort this one out.
I was watching Channel 7 news last night. (The 10pm hour). They did a poll of their viewers on this story. They asked if the brothers deserve to stay. The results were split about 50-50, I think it was about 54% in favor for deportation.
I feel that these brothers (especially one) has earned a right to stay, but then again who decides these rights?
Don't all deserve the opportunity then, just like these brothers (beyond their wishes or not to have migrated illegally)?
The results show that some in the general population feel that a tougher stance should be adopted, perhaps because it only seems fair to those who have not been given that opportunity, and shall not have it unless achieved legally.
Its a debate that shall progress into the future, and perhaps gain more steam after '08.
Yes, there would be an understandable reaction from others who have tried unsuccessfully to become legal in seeing the brothers get a free pass, so to speak. I believe it does matter that they were toddlers when they emigrated and had no control over the situation.
As Ziva said, we should err on the side of caution in this case.
Time and time again, when there is enough of an outcry and the added support of elected officials seeing it in their best interest to champion the cause of individual cases, even the byzantine morass of the American immigration authorities have found a way to allow for exceptions to the rule. It doesn't fix the problem in its entirety, but perhaps it will help move us, however slowly and incrementally, to a more humane and logical (and less rigid) process.
Yes we should consider their age at the time of entry, but that doesn't really matter in most cases of deportation. For example, an illegal immigrant with a criminal record is not deported because of his intentions (associated with age) at entry, but rather for his history.
The main argument in allowing the brothers to stay is based on their academic performances in school. Some call this an example of "moral character."
But, the question arises, then why not let children from all over the world to come to the US and show if they can achieve "moral character"?
The logic follows that if we allow these brothers to stay because of "moral character", then why not other children of illegal immigrants already here, or even of those not here yet.
Will academic performance ALONE be the new entry for a green card?
Its an immigration debate that is sure to come.
The fact is that the immigration system is broken. I applied for my wife's residency in 2001 and it took a full 4 years to get her residency card. However, the process was canceled twice, and we were notified that she had been disapproved because we did not respond. We had to advise them that we had not received their requests for additional information. The third time we received a notice of approval, and within a week we received a notice of cancellation. My wife received her residency only because we maintained a very tight record of documents received and sent and could show the timeline of what was received and sent. A conscientious immigration officer recognized that the disconnect was on the side of Immigration.
My father applied for our residency in 1978. By 1983 we had not had a resolution. In 1984 when we tried to track the progress of our immigration status, all of a sudden no one could find our applications or documents.
The point is that on top of all the extensive requirements, the process takes so long that it is easy to miss deadlines of which the applicants may not even be aware. So let's not blame the applicants without knowing all the facts.
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