More military families come forward with deportation fears

[Formerly Once-Ler]

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2018/03/04/more-military-families-come-forward-with-deportation-fears/#.Wp0qPNzRYut.twitter



The day after the first family stepped forward, more followed.

In the wake of a Military Times story published Feb. 28 about a retired soldier’s wife who was facing deportation under the latest Department of Homeland Security policies, others from the military community reached out with similar stories of fear and uncertainty regarding immigration rules.

“My name is Alejandra Juarez and I just read your article. Today is not a good day for me, as my deportation date approaches. My story is the same...” wrote Juarez, who is married to an Iraq veteran and former Marine and Army national guardsman.

Then an undocumented husband of an active-duty female soldier wrote in.

“We’ve been waiting for [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to come pick me up,” he wrote from Texas, where he manages the family when his wife deploys.

Then came a Maryland Army national guardsman and full-time police officer who was worried about his wife.

“I’ve spent thousands and I am still in the process,” of protecting his wife, the guardsman said. The couple filed immigration paperwork in 2015. They didn’t get their hearing until January 2018; the case is still unresolved, he said.

“I was deployed and worried that my wife and child would be deported by the same country I was fighting for,” the guardsman told Military Times.

Last week, Military Times wrote in detail about retired 7th Special Forces Group Sgt. 1st Class Bob Crawford. Crawford and his wife Elia were facing the possibility that a Virginia immigration court would decide to deport her on Monday.

After years of saying nothing, he decided to make his case public, and the story drew nationwide attention. By Thursday night, after intense public interest, the Department of Homeland Security announced an offer to drop the removal proceedings against Elia — one step in a process that should allow her to stay in the U.S. with Bob and their two kids.

“Hopefully this brings attention to the flaws in the system so other families won’t have to worry or have the stress of going through this,” Bob Crawford said the day after the story about his family published.

more at link

[skeeter]

We need to eliminate illegal immigration as a problem and effectively control our borders.

But if there're any flaws in the system then indeed they need to be corrected.

[Hoodat]

Deportation fears?  People who break the law should be having Incarceration fears.

[Sanguine]

I wonder if/why spouses of military members are having trouble?  Have they done the required paperwork?  Or, does DHS slow-walk illegally-here spouses of military members?

[truth_seeker]

My contractor brother had an employee come forward a few weeks ago, admitting he allowed his DACA status paperwork to expire.

Carelessness? A belief that America was to incompetent, not interested, in enforcing our immigration laws?

My brother gave him a 30 day leave of absence to get legally reinstated, since the employer is liable for $1 million in fines.

That may be in part, how these military situations arose. There is no shortage of immigration lawyers.

Boo hoo hoo. My brother is the big racist white guy, that both employs them when they follow the law, and puts them on LOA when they don't.

[txradioguy]

Deportation fears?  People who break the law should be having Incarceration fears.

This.

[Night Hides Not]

I wonder if/why spouses of military members are having trouble?  Have they done the required paperwork?  Or, does DHS slow-walk illegally-here spouses of military members?

The federal government slow walks EVERYTHING. Management talks a good game about improving efficiency, but they can't make a decision to save their lives. They really clam up and steel their spines whenever they hear the word "outsource."

I retired on 12/31. Today is March 5, and I have yet to be assigned a retirement specialist. I only have 16 years of federal time for pension purposes, so my retirement income s/b about 40% of what I'm drawing from SS. So far, I've received $210...total, or $105 a month.   

You don't want to know the machinations I had to go through to be able to retire at 12/31. I had to go back through the process again for calculating what I owed for my military deposit (to be able to include my military time in my civilian pension). I had already paid over $3K (75%), but was told since that was through another agency, they wouldn't accept that. To meet their requirement, I had to write a check for about $5000. It had to be paid $1000 before declaring a date of retirement.

I can only imagine the difficulties these people are having to go through, the road blocks that have been put before them. If anything, they deserve to be put at the head of the line.

Here's the deal, though: expect the bureaucracy to get even worse, as over 1/3 of the federal workforce is over 55. Don't expect anything better from those promoted from within the ranks after these folks retire...I expect less.

ETA: don't cry for me, though. When everything has been adjudicated, I will be financially comfortable for the rest of my life. I work part time because I choose to, and I am going back to school to get a history degree. By the time I get that degree, my restrictions on pre-retirement age earnings will be lifted.

[WingNot]

Alejandra Juarez said she reached out to their congressman, Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., for help, but had no luck.

Soto is to busy finding homes for the PR's flooding FL to help the Mexicans..