The Horror of Deportation/Removal Story

[Neo Anderson 45]

i have been a long time  lurker and finally have the time share my story of the horrors immigration journey. 😊

 

Back story: 

My wife and i were both Philippine citizens when we moved to USA. I came over in 1999 and my wife followed in 2001 both through an H1B Visa. She's is a Physical Therapist and i'm an RN working in medical fields. We resided in Louisville, Kentucky for several years prior moving to California. 

The trouble started when she applied for a  renewal of her EAD when her agency made a big mistake of re applying that it resulted to a 3 month gap resulted for her being out of status. However she was still issued with an EAD every year and still able to continue to work in a skilled nursing facility. Until 2006 that we received a deportation order to appear with an immigration judge in San Francisco.  We hired an attorney to represent us and plead if she could stay since we pretty rooted in Stockton and by  that time we already have a son. Unfortunately i was not a US citizen yet and the immigration  judge pretty much throw us under the bus. Both obeyed the law  and paid outrageous amount of tax money but apparently. We plead again for years until final deportation order came in 2009. And by that my wife was pregnant again  with our second child. So crux was go back to the Philippines 8 months pregnant or stay till she gave birth and face the consequence later. So we decided for her to stay so she can avail my health insurance and will gave her some serious emotional support. My wife gave birth to a very healthy baby and unfortunately we ignore the final deportation date.

After spending thousands of dollars for lawyers fees, we foreclosed our house coz my wife had to stop working since she can no longer gain employment for being out of status. We settled in a nice apartment complex while to children and dreaded for the days to come. 

In 2011 that my wife heard a knock on the door and there were several ICE agents outside. My wife let them in and instead of taking her to a holding  facility and hand cuffed her . For better judgement because of our 2 young children they gave her a date to appear in ICE Fresno office. The ICE agents even gave her a suggestion to apply for***profanity removed*** EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE  so she can stay. After 4 weeks we went to FRESNO ICE office and they put her in locked cell for 6 hours. My boys and i where in the car waiting with several scenarios playing in my head but they let her go with slip that she needs get out of the country in 4 months. 

 

Edit: to be continued /lunch break

Edited June 21, 2019 by Ban Hammer
edited to remove profanity

[Roel 7,192]

1. If she had h1b Visa, why did she need EAD? What was the "big" mistake? 

2. You absolutely made situation worse by pretty much ignoring the whole thing. Who does that? 

3. Did you get a green card through your employer? Was your wife ever offered a green card?  Was she in some process? 

4. H1b Visa only allowes a person a max of 6 years of stay - if your wife was never offered a green card, she would need to leave anyway? 

 

Sorry if this sound harsh but looks like you're in all those troubles mostly by your own negligence. 

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Coming from liberal California? What... and during the Obama admin? No way! Lies lies lies!! Fake news!...

 

But on a serious note, yea there's a few question marks in the story so far so please elaborate more. But ultimately, ignoring original orders was biggest mistake. And poor actions and choices have consequences.

Edited June 21, 2019 by Ben&Zian

[Going through 5,671]

Waiting for part #2 after your lunch break to get  (hopefully) a fuller picture of the story before commenting...

[Marieke H 2,498]

8 minutes ago, Roel said:

1. If she had h1b Visa, why did she need EAD? What was the "big" mistake? 

2. You absolutely made situation worse by pretty much ignoring the whole thing. Who does that? 

3. Did you get a green card through your employer? Was your wife ever offered a green card?  Was she in some process? 

4. H1b Visa only allowes a person a max of 6 years of stay - if your wife was never offered a green card, she would need to leave anyway? 

 

Sorry if this sound harsh but looks like you're in all those troubles mostly by your own negligence. 

I had exactly the same questions about the whole story, but since I am not that familiar with H1b visas, I was afraid to ask... Glad you did!

[geowrian 22,337]

I'm awaiting to hear the rest of the experience. Please update the story when you are back.

 

Overall it sounds like a pretty good run of well over a decade without legal status, multiple ICE encounters, court rulings, etc. It's not cheap or a good experience, but she got to stay far longer than she was authorized, with only minimal detainment (thus far).

For comparison, somebody in May overstayed by a couple weeks, got caught, and spent several weeks in jail as a result. Sounds like she got a pretty good deal.

 

I don't wish the separation or horrible experiences on anyway. At the same time, that is the consequence when one repeatedly digs a deeper hole and kick the can further down the line.  There were many opportunities to start setting things in motion to actually fix the issues, and because of the hardships of doing so, chose to do otherwise and then resulted in greater hardships and less pleasant experiences.

Edited June 21, 2019 by geowrian

[Going through 5,671]

3 minutes ago, Ben&Zian said:

 

That's some will power to bite the tongue haha

I was ready to get all into this, but figured it's probably better to wait a bit and see what else gets revealed first.

It does have the faint smell of entitlement already, though, in part #1.

Edited June 21, 2019 by Going through

[Ban Hammer 13,335]

original post edited to removed profanity.  refrain from using curse words.

[Crazy Cat 41,848]

OP is back.....now, back to the story......

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

1 hour ago, Ben&Zian said:

Coming from liberal California? What... and during the Obama admin? No way! Lies lies lies!! Fake news!...

 

But on a serious note, yea there's a few question marks in the story so far so please elaborate more. But ultimately, ignoring original orders was biggest mistake. And poor actions and choices have consequences.

Actually way i google it Obama deported more than Trump

 

Under the Obama administration, ICE deported more than 385,000 each year in fiscal years 2009 through 2011, and hit a high of 409,849 in fiscal 2012 — prompting critics to dub Trump’s predecessor “the deporter in chief.” The numbers then dropped to below 250,000 in fiscal years 2015 and 2016.

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

1 minute ago, adil-rafa said:

Actually way i google it Obama deported more than Trump

 

Under the Obama administration, ICE deported more than 385,000 each year in fiscal years 2009 through 2011, and hit a high of 409,849 in fiscal 2012 — prompting critics to dub Trump’s predecessor “the deporter in chief.” The numbers then dropped to below 250,000 in fiscal years 2015 and 2016.

 

Haha I know was being way overly sarcastic just to show how insane some people react these days to Trump and his immigration stance and all. But looking forward to this new "huge" push for quick deportations coming up... but anyways, won't get political with this post... just waiting patiently for the OP...

[Marieke H 2,498]

OP has been back online, but maybe he did not like the lack of sympathy expressed in this thread... I am afraid we will never hear part 2 or answers to the questions asked. 

[Going through 5,671]

30 minutes ago, MariekeH said:

OP has been back online, but maybe he did not like the lack of sympathy expressed in this thread... I am afraid we will never hear part 2 or answers to the questions asked. 

Hard to express a lot of sympathy without a lot of info.  Enough to entice and draw in, not enough to actually get proper advice.

 

We don't even know, at this point, whether this is still ongoing or "finished" since it's an apparent story starting from years ago and OP never bothered to drop Part Deaux yet.

 

Sigh.  Hate these hit and run threads.

[Boris Farage 353]

It does sting, when you have done everything by the book, encountered your own delays which weren't precipitated by your own foolishness and sense of entitlement, to see someone take such a cavalier attitude towards respecting our more-than-fair immigration laws. Before I became a citizen, I made sure to follow the letter of each law, whether civil or criminal, to a 'T.' I suppose some people assume laws just don't apply to them because they are so very special.

 

I too await the next installment in this assuredly sympathetic tale of woe.

[Pkr 21]

3 hours ago, Roel said:

1. If she had h1b Visa, why did she need EAD? What was the "big" mistake? 

2. You absolutely made situation worse by pretty much ignoring the whole thing. Who does that? 

3. Did you get a green card through your employer? Was your wife ever offered a green card?  Was she in some process? 

4. H1b Visa only allowes a person a max of 6 years of stay - if your wife was never offered a green card, she would need to leave anyway? 

 

Sorry if this sound harsh but looks like you're in all those troubles mostly by your own negligence. 

You can continue staying in H1B if you have a approved 1-140 through the employer