Signs in San Francisco's Mission district.
Marisa Trevino at LatinaLista has up a guest post from Barack Obama on immigration issues. It is long and thoughtful. The candidate has also participated in the comments. Here's a bit from a follow up he made:
Go read the whole thing.... I know that families should be at the core of the debate on immigration. We must realize that in order to fix our broken immigration policy, we must bring people from out of the shadows and provide a pathway to legalization. I also believe that any immigration reform bill that is proposed and does not focus on the reunification of families is missing the mark. It is for this reason that during the summer of 2007, I proposed an amendment to the comprehensive immigration reform bill that gave points to those who seek to immigrate and already have family in the United States. I continue to believe that comprehensive immigration reform is crucial and I have pledged to address this issue within my first year as President. It may not be politically convenient or easy, but we have to treat this problem with the urgency it demands. I stood with those calling for comprehensive reform when I marched on May 1, 2005 in Chicago, and I will stand with them as President.
For me, Obama's emphasis on families cuts to the heart of the discussion of what will become of the United States' huge undocumented low wage work force. Most of these folks are part of families, some of whom have papers, some of whom don't. Many have children who are citizens. Immigration is about families as much as about workers.
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Minnesota caters to illegal immigrants and marriage for U.S. residency scams using VAWA laws. My wife is an immigrant from Guatemala who entered the country on a tourist VISA. Before we married, we had a child together and she received well over $30,000 in free healthcare through the state or county. She overstayed her tourist VISA and returned to Guatemala with our son for 3 months over Christmas and the New Year leaving me in the U.S. to work. She asked for money for liposuction surgery in Guatemala and I gave her funds to travel and to have the liposuction procedure. When she returned, she said we would need to marry for her and the baby to stay in country. We married quickly in the Dakota County court house and the marriage disintegrated from there. I was hesitant about marriage, but I wanted to keep my son in country and tried to build a happy family. However, my wife wasn't in the relationship for "love" like I was. She entered this relationship with ambitions of acquiring U.S. residency and running an import business ( indikohandcrafts.org ) in the U.S. that does not pay taxes and claims to be a fair trade organization.
My wife's family came to visit for a few months and they continually attempted to provoke confrontations between my wife and I. Ultimately, my wife had to assault me by punching me in the neck to get a defensive verbal response from me. I did not hit my wife back or abuse her in any way. I was arrested by the Eagan Police for 5th Degree Domestic assault and spent 3 days in jail for something I didn't do and for not leaving my home under duress. Two years to date after we had been in country together, my wife made a fraudulent VAWA complaint to expedite her immigration process in lieu of U.S. residency through marriage.
While I was in jail, my wife cleaned out the joint bank account. When I was released from jail, the courts issued an order for protection. I was broke, homeless and sleeping in my car and under my desk at the office. Shortly after, my wife contacted me and asked for me to write a letter to immigration which stated I was an abusive husband. She said if I wrote the letter in her favor she would work with me to get my home back. Instead of allowing myself to be blackmailed, I wrote immigration to withdrawl my spousal petition for my wife's U.S. residency and reported all of the facts. I used my last credit card to retain a lawyer to petition for divorce and that was all I could afford. My wife said she was in no hurry to divorce. Being married for two years to acquire conditional residency was a back up plan incase the VAWA complaint to immigration fell through.
The courts later granted my wife all of the marital property before a divorce hearing. They ordered that I surrender a car to my wife that was solely in my name. She demanded $3000 a month in support payments, but inly received a judgement for $1200 a month in child support. During the order for protection hearing, I asked my wife about her employment and academic credentials. She worked as a teacher at a school in Minneapolis called Passport Pals and claimed to have a degree in Psychology. In court and under oath, my wife stated she was a teacher and that she had a degree in Psychology. I challenged her about her academic credentials and she lied with a straight face. I pushed the questioning and she finally admitted to not holding a college degree.
Even though the judge saw that my wife lied under oath, he granted her a one year order for protection. My house recently foreclosed and I am excluded from employment opportunities in my professional field due to having a "criminal" history now. I was charged with 5th degree domestic assault, but I was not found guilty of domestic assault or abuse in a court of law.
A group called Civil Society Helps ( civilsocietyhelps(dot)org ) is now representing my wife and they are still supporting her assault and abuse claims to assist her with expediting her immigration process. They help many immigrant women file false abuse claims under VAWA to assist them with their immigration process. My wife's pro-bono attorney Martha Sullivan ( Civil Society Helps Attorney) even threatened an order for protection against me in the court house lobby when divorce negotiations broke down. I recorded the entire conversation and her threats were completely unwarranted. During another court hearing, I informed the judge of Martha's threats and she laughed in an embarrassed manner and said she was afraid of me (complete nonsense).
I lost everything and I am no longer employable in my field by many corporations due to my "criminal" history. I had no previous criminal history at age 36 and I honorably completed 4 years of U.S. Army service.
Last year I earned a very high salary, lived in a house by a lake and enjoyed life as much as I could with a wife that didn't love me. In 3 days, I was reduced to living in poverty and was homeless for weeks after being released from jail. With all of this going on, I am doing the best I can to pay child support ( ordered to pay $100 a day / $3000 a month) for two children between my first wife of 8 years and my immigrant residency seeking wife of 1 year. Since June 2007, I have paid over $12,000 in child support payments. I have attempted to acquire employment contracts, but have been frequently excluded due to my new criminal history ( 5th degree domestic assault charge - no conviction).
With lies from an immigrant residency seeker and the help of VAWA laws, a stable American citizen can be reduced to living in poverty. All of your assets can be seized and given to the immigrant residency seeker even if you are not found guilty. You will immediately be forced to surrender a portion of your income to the immigrant residency seeker. The courts will order you to turn your motor vehicle over to the immigrant residency seeker even if the car is in your name and the residency seeker does not have a drivers license.
My wife has been confronted by the Eagan Police several times for driving without a license or insurance. On multiple occasions she was just given a warning and she continued to drive my vehicle in Minnesota without a drivers license or insurance.
Later, I spoke with one of the officers that was on scene when I was arrested. Sgt. Mason of the Eagan Police department was going to allow my wife to drive a motor vehicle without a drivers license or insurance while my son was in the car. I called him on it and said it was against the law for anyone to drive a motor vehicle in Minnesota without a license or insurance. Sgt. Mason's partner threatened to arrest me for public disturbance. I did nothing wrong and she (Sgt. Mason's partner) threatened to take me back to jail for disorderly conduct.... They backed off with their threat of arrest when I informed them I had a witness looking on....
Immigrants in Minnesota have more rights and free legal services than American Citizens do. VAWA is completely unconstitutional and clearly provides immigrants with loopholes and fast track plans to acquire U.S. residency under fraudulent pretences.
My wife contacted me several times after the Order for Protection was issued. She always called me an "ABUSER" real slow and sarcastically on the phone. Knowing how groups like the civil society work, I can only imagine how they coached and indoctronated my wife into the liberal feminist movement. Martha Sullivan's order for protection threat was completely uncalled for and demonstrates how this pro-immigration group operates.
Sorry for the rant, but people need to know about these kind of immigration scams. People need to know about the organizations that promote marriage for immigration scams. The courts have violated my rights as an American citizen and I am alienated in my own country. My wife became legal and I became illegal.
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