He's my older brother, half brother actually, beause he's from my dad's first marriage. His name is Martin.
What happened? Well, Martin's visa expired and he was in the process of renewing it. He apparently hadn't renewed his license either. He was dropping off a friend from work at their house, when this lady in the neighborhood claimed that he'd scratched her car. The friend even said that he didn't, but she kept fussing about it so Martin got annoyed and just drove off.
The cops called his house and said he had to come down there to talk to them. When he did, they arrested him. Now he's going to be deported. The head person at the immigration office could let him go - it's his choice, I mean - but he actually told Martin's brother-in-law (who is legal and a pastor) "No I'm going to make sure he never comes back to this country! And you'd better warn your congregation that if any of them are illegal, they'd better leave this country now or I'll look for them too!"
What I know about deportation: They don't send you home right away. Usually they keep you in prison for several weeks, then send you on a plane. While you're in prison, they put you in a normal cell (including toilet and shower of course) but they don't give you clean underwear - just a jumpsuit. So unless you know anyone in the US who can send you some clean underwear, you won't have any. My parents had some friends - a couple, who were deported because they allowed a girl to stay with them who wasn't legal. The wife had some kind of medical issue and she was in pain, but the people in charge wouldn't give her any medication. When some friends sent her money, the guards took it. They were finally deported. Interesting detail: they couldn't conceive while they were in the US but when they were back in Uruguay, they were able to. :) But they spent nearly four weeks where they weren't able to see eachother. I think it's fortunate at least that they didn't have children, because the mother would be seperated from her children. I'm not sure where they would keep the kids though; whether temporarily in a foster home or in a juvenile detention center...?
I understand my brother broke the law, but he didn't even scratch that lady's car and it wasn't as if he was smuggled into the country - he came here on a plane! He was trying to renew his papers and get his green card. He was just working, being a good civilian and he didn't hurt anyone.
Anyway. I agree with deportation, but I think that they should be kinder to the deportees, and allow them medicine in cases where they have medical issues. Most of them are just people who came here looking for work. Honestly, in some aspects it seems to me a lot like the Nazis with the Jews - they can just grab people and keep them in prison for weeks and weeks, interrogate them, deny them medical attention, and the deportee can't do anything about it. I understand there are flaws in any system. But we have all kinds of laws about treating people humanely - how can we detain people for unnecessary lengths of time and deny them medication they need??
Granted I'm in a personal situation here, so my view is going to be biased. But considering it does regard human beings who suffer emotional and psychological trauma when imprisoned and seperated from their families and even people who speak their language, why shouldn't it be biased?
That is crap, i do not agree with what they did to him, he was renewing it, so technically he was here legaly
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Did he hit the lady's car with his car at all or did she just claim that he scratched it when he walked by? If his car hit her car in any way, then he left the scene of an accident, whether there was any damage or not, it is still illegal to leave the scene of an accident.
Now if the lady just claimed he scratched it when he walked by, then he did nothing illegal, unless of course he really DID scratch it on purpose, which it sounds like that is not the case.
Good luck to you and your brother! Hopefully things get sorted out and he will not be deported. Maybe a lawyer could help?
Thank you. I don't think he's even allowed a lawyer as a noncitizen - I'm not sure exactly how it works. He is supposed to have some kind of court hearing, but no real trial.
According to the other guy in the car with him, he did not "scratch" the lady's car at al. I'm not sure if he hit it - if he did I think it was only a tap, and I agree it wasn't smart of him to leave the scene. It was just that in this neighborhood, the cars were lined up along the sidewalk, kind of out in the road. My dad thinks the lady was just trying to take advantage of an opportunity and get some cash.
Hopefully something will come up and he'll be able to stay. But they did give him the option of leaving willingly instead of being deported. Either way, he'll be leaving though. :(
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"Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible."
La Rochefoucauld
I will very maturely say that sucks. Where is your brother from?
If I remember correctly, if your family friends had a child here they would be able to stay. That is one reason some people get mad about illegal immigrants.
I like conspiracy theories, maybe your friends were slipped something so they could not have a kid out here and get a 'loop hole' stay.
Anyway I do not know what to tell you but good luck.
~T
A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins. ~Benjamin Franklin
If I remember correctly, if your family friends had a child here they would be able to stay. That is one reason some people get mad about illegal immigrants.
You are referring to "anchor babies".
Fortunately it does not work quite the way you describe. Illegal alien parents of anchor baby American citizens are deported all the time. The baby American citizen can go with his parents or stay in America and like any citizen can come and go from America as they please. But the parents are generally barred from any sort of legal entry for about 10 years as part of the punishment for illegal entry.
People are mad about anchor babies because the law allows illegal aliens to benefit from their crime. Eventually, when the anchor baby becomes 18 they can start sponsoring in their parents for citizenship. Family reunification is given priority in our ridiculous system so a person who broke our laws and crapped out a baby gets a preference over decent people who did not break our laws.
An anchor baby can not only sponsor in his parents but his grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and other extended family. Each of these persons, as they gain citizenship can in turn sponsor in their extended family. This process is called "chain migration".
A couple of reforms are needed. Nobody should benefit from a crime. The parents of an anchor baby should NEVER be eligible for citizenship as a result of family reunification. And, family reunifcation should be limited strictly to the core family: spouse and minor children. The taxpayers should not be saddled with elderly family members who will inevitably require support from our social welfare system substantially in excess of what they pay in. If an immigrant wants to see mommy and daddy they can buy an airplane ticket and visit home. Or just stay there.
If your brother came here on a visa, then he knew up front what he had to do in order to renew his visa. If he didn't do so in a timely manner, then oh well...that's what you get for not following the rules. Go home and re-apply.
TTFN,
Blackout
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Yes, I've changed my username from "percivale" to "Blackout." Go here if you want to know why.
Well I certainly was not expecting sympathy from everyone.
But you might have noticed that I did say in my original post that I agreed with deportation itself as a punishment, though I disagree with you that my brother wasn't being timely since he clearly was making efforts to renew his visa and the call was largely up to the head to make. (Had he been more sympathetic, my brother might have been allowed to stay in the united states, but as you say "Oh well." )
I agree with deportation and America's rights to guard it's borders. What I don't agree with is the way the deportees are mistreated, (as in denied medication, which is cruel, and clean underwear, which is just unhygienic) which you seem to have overlooked in your haste to express your apparent lack of sympathy.
Thanks for reading.
~*~*~*~
"Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible."
La Rochefoucauld
...but the bottom line is that your brother wouldn't have been in the situation he was in if he had taken the renewal deadline seriously to begin with. As for the rest, if you have evidence of a deportee being mistreated before being sent home, report it. THAT'S something I can sympathize with, and any civil servant that is stealing from or illegally denying proscribed medications to an inmate awaiting deportation should be punished to the fullest extent in accordance with the laws.
TTFN,
Blackout
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Yes, I've changed my username from "percivale" to "Blackout." Go here if you want to know why.