American dream ends in nightmare

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E.J. Montini

Republic columnist

Before he is hauled off to prison, then deported to Romania, which could happen any day, Daniel Gheorghiu wondered if maybe I could tell you a little bit about him.

"People try to make this illegal immigration situation so much black and white, and it really isn't," he said. "It's people. So this is why I will talk to anyone who wants to listen. If worse comes to worse and it doesn't help me, maybe it will help someone else down the line."

In 1992, when Daniel was 14 years old, he and his parents came to the United States from Romania. Not long after they got here, the family applied for political asylum.

A few years earlier, Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown and executed in a violent revolution that left much of the country in chaos. Daniel's father had worked for nearly 25 years as a meteorologist before coming to the United States. His mother was a translator and guide.

"They came here for their kids," Daniel said. "I understood the sacrifices that they made so I focused on what I needed to."

He arrived without being able to speak English and graduated high school in 2 1/2 years. Since then, he has attended college and started his own company, Core Advertising, which produces videos for corporate clients. He also founded and produces Inside the Artist's Mind, a local TV program.

At 29, Daniel is married to a Mexican national named Patricia. (She is here legally.) They have a 3-year-old daughter, an American.

"I hear people say that those who are not citizens only want to take away from Americans but I have never done anything like that," Daniel said. "I always have worked. With my business I pay probably $30,000 in taxes every year. I have five different insurance policies that I pay for between my family and my work. I believe in working and paying your way. This is what my parents taught me."

The process of trying to receive political asylum can be long and convoluted. Daniel said that his family has paid a number of different lawyers to help them over the years.

"We didn't know that our case was closed and our request was denied until the officers from immigration knocked on my parents' door at 6 a.m. one morning," he said.

His parents were shipped off to prison and could be deported within a few weeks. Daniel figures that he is next.

"I have lawyers working but it looks like I will be gone, too," he said. "This will be hard on my family. My parents 'retirement' was their children, so for me to start over in another country will hurt them. And of course for my wife and daughter, this will be very difficult."

Daniel has contacted several members of Arizona's congressional delegation, hoping that one of them would sponsor what is called a "private bill." Essentially, it's a law passed by Congress for the benefit of one person or a small group of people. It often is used in immigration cases.

He has had no takers. This isn't the best time, politically, for such a thing to happen.

Friends have set up an online petition at www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/928659395 to bring attention to Daniel's case.

One of them, Bill Davis, told me, "This is a decent guy suddenly living in fear of a knock on his door."

Daniel works hard, pays taxes, takes care of his extended family and asks for no charity or special privileges.

He tries to say informed by listening to talk radio, where he has heard callers and hosts say of people like him, "What part of 'illegal' don't you understand?"

One answer might be: Daniel's part.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/arti...ontini0225.html

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In 1992, when Daniel was 14 years old, he and his parents came to the United States from Romania. Not long after they got here, the family applied for political asylum.

For some odd reason I think there has been quite a lot left out of this story. The devil is in the details.

I would like to see a timeline that begins with what circumstances they entered the country and the events that followed.

Things often aren't what they appear to be.