Family separated by immigration policies

[akdiver 3]

I'm tired of hearing stories of people using up the time of our government officals when they could be spending more time helping those of you who are doing things the right way!

Amen brother!! Sing it, baby!!

As for being "tricked" - well, even if the govt did trick them - what goes around comes around. They thought it was just fine when they tricked the government with a bait and switch visa schema. They don't like it when the govt does the same to them? Too damned bad.

Cheers!

AKDiver

[meauxna 15]

Back then, there were dozens of user-made websites describing the process in painful detail.

Didn't know it was painful.

Didn't know what was painful? I didn't know you were reading those sites back then...

Edited April 13, 2007 by meauxna

[Niels Bohr 72]

Back then, there were dozens of user-made websites describing the process in painful detail.

Didn't know it was painful.

Didn't know what was painful? I didn't know you were reading those sites back then...

Strange. I thought an educated person don't make assumption.

[meauxna 15]

Back then, there were dozens of user-made websites describing the process in painful detail.

Didn't know it was painful.

Didn't know what was painful? I didn't know you were reading those sites back then...

Strange. I thought an educated person don't make assumption.

You must have me confused with the people you were arguing about school with. How do you know if I am educated or not? (oops, your assumption? )

It's also not clear what 'it' you refer to as painful. Would you clarify?

[akdiver 3]

Strange. I thought an educated person don't make assumption.

Are you serious?

The most educated people make assumptions about a great number of things. That's how anything gets done! For example, many mathematical proofs start with a certain set of assumptions. Many physics problems do too. So do many problems of other sciences, law, business, and so forth.

Even the local dumbass living next to you is likely to *assume* that a guy coming at him with a knife or gun at a high rate of speed is probably not doing so just strike up a friendly chat, even though the guy is in fact intending to do just that.

Human creatures who do not make any number of assumptions about various things throughout the day are not likely to be around very long.

Cheers!

AKDiver

Edited April 13, 2007 by akdiver

[Krikit 1,164]

Now, what IS a fair criticism is that all these illegals coming in from Mexico are caught and then released back into Mexico, with no punishment, so they can just try again and again. That is unreasonable. They should at least be tortured or throw in jail for a year. That would at least slow them down. I would sentence them all to jail for 2 years, with no parole, but allow them to earn early release by working in "the fields" for a year, for free. The farmers could then pay the prison system what they would be paying the illegals. It would ensure a steady supply of cheap labour for the farmers, provide some punishment, and help offset the cost of this program.

I would still mine the border too.

Cheers!

AKDiver

Poster, you are just an A$$. Any valid argument you may have had was nullified by your primitive standpoint.

[akdiver 3]

Poster, you are just an A$$. Any valid argument you may have had was nullified by your primitive standpoint.

Yeah sure, let's just let anyone who wants to come into the country just go ahead and do so with no punishment or other consequences. Let's just keep sending them back so we can catch and release them again, and again, and again.

Duh.

Cheers!

AKDiver

[rebeccajo 14]

How can you finish that statement with cheers! :blink:

With great ease, I assure you.

Cheers!

AKDiver

Uncalled for and out of line, AK. Especially given the fact you said 'tortured'.

[Fandango 1,439]

Back then, there were dozens of user-made websites describing the process in painful detail.

Didn't know it was painful.

Didn't know what was painful? I didn't know you were reading those sites back then...

Strange. I thought an educated person don't make assumption.

Well, an educated person would have said 'doesn't' and 'assumptions' or 'an assumption'

[hmm1 0]

Back then, there were dozens of user-made websites describing the process in painful detail.

Didn't know it was painful.

Didn't know what was painful? I didn't know you were reading those sites back then...

Strange. I thought an educated person don't make assumption.

Well, an educated person would have said 'doesn't' and 'assumptions' or 'an assumption'

They should just make them use CSC for their K-3, I think the I130 form...then that will take...well 10 years...better file now. On a serious note, I do hate illegal immigration, and for those that think it is ok, you should move to El Paso where we have many there...no insurance, have a child in the US to collect a check and stick the county hospital with the bill, and the list goes on.

[jolanda 0]

Doesn't Japan allow DCF?? I agree about all the lying that must have been going on when she entered the country and at the interview. I was asked at POE when our wedding was, don't know if that's standard but still. Also wondering how they did AOS, the main thing our officer was interested in was if we got married within the 90 days of me entering the country. They couldn't do that because they were already married. Lots of odd things going on. Yes I agree that the punishment is a bit harsh, but she does deserve a ban, 3 or 5 years.

[Zee Bee 61]

By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer Sat May 26, 5:46 PM ET

BRADENTON, Fla. - Keith Campbell and his Japanese-born wife spent his 47th birthday half a world apart because of an immigration dispute. Critics say the case illustrates how making mistakes in getting visas and permanent U.S. residency can lead to life-changing consequences for families.

"It's kind of a surreal thing," Campbell said recently as he waited to have his daily Web-cam chat with his wife, Akiko, and their two sons, ages 4 and 1, who are in Nagano, Japan. "We haven't done anything wrong."Immigration officials say Akiko Campbell, 41, committed fraud in 1998 when she entered the U.S. with a fiancee visa after she had already gotten married to Keith. Now she's now prohibited from re-entering the country for 10 years.

Since she left in January, Keith Campbell has spent time furiously writing lawmakers, printing bumper stickers, talking to anyone who would listen and putting up a Web site — http://www.bringakikohome.com — to tell their story.

The family's last immediate hope of being reunited on American soil is a hardship waiver, which is still being considered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

American Families United, a group formed last year to advocate for families separated by immigration policies, says what is happening to the Campbells is more common than people think, but the issue has been overshadowed lately by the larger debate over illegal immigrants.

The group says a minor mistake on an immigration form or not filing for the proper visa can lead to arrest, jailing and deportation. Years-long processing times for visas often leave families in limbo.

"People's lives are being completely ruined," said Glenys Old of Wardensville, W.Va., whose British-born son is being deported because he turned 21 while his application for an alien child visa was still being processed. "Families are being torn apart."

American Families United co-founder Randall Emery sued the federal government last year to force the delayed processing of a visa for his Colombian-born wife.

"People have the impression before marrying someone from another country that it's a pretty straightforward process," Emery said. "But it's very complicated, and it's easy to make a mistake. And if you make a mistake like Keith and Akiko, the punishments are very draconian."

The Campbells say that when Akiko's fiancee visa didn't arrive before their planned wedding in Hawaii in June 1998, they were told by an official at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to go ahead and get married and apply to change her status after she was settled in the United States.

They were staggered when they went to the immigration office in Tampa in March 2000 for an interview to secure her permanent residency and were told Akiko wouldn't be allowed to stay in the country because she committed fraud.

Campbells have been working with lawyers and filing unsuccessful appeals since then. In 2005, they got a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice saying their visa petition was approved. But Akiko would have to return to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to get it.

Akiko packed up her two sons for a visit with family in Japan. But when she went to the embassy, the visa was flatly denied, and she was told she couldn't go back home. The couple believes they were deliberately misled by the government to get her out of the country.

Citing privacy laws, Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman Chris Bentley said the agency can't comment on specific immigration cases. In general, "We're bound by making determinations based on what the law says," he said.

Robert Deasy, who practiced immigration law for more than 25 years before becoming an official of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said that it's difficult to budge Citizenship and Immigration Services once there is a finding of fraud. The details rarely matter.

"This is heart-wrenching and unfortunately not unusual," Deasy said. "The tragedies from strict application of the law to what in the commonsense world are minor infractions are just extraordinary."

If their hardship waiver is denied, Keith Campbell said he'll likely sell their house and most of their possessions, close his successful landscaping business, say goodbye to their friends and join his family in Japan. "I'm a man of faith. I think it will work out," he said. "Wherever God wants me to be — that's how I cope with it."

Just goes to show that with immigration we need to be on top of things and make sure to dot our i's and cross our t's.