Thread: Illegal Gomez Bros to Get Work Permits

This makes by blood boil. My relative who played by the rules is still waiting after 3 weeks for confirmation that immigration got her papers and for a work permit and these illegals who shouldn't even get one are. They will get theirs before others who have played by the rules. I am contacting the media and government reps on how unfair this is to legal immigrants especially since the Gomez family had the opprotunity for amnesty while here illegally. In fact they were ordered to leave the country back in 2003 aqnd they did not.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nation ... 7059.story

Immigrant children face deportation
Brothers in Florida are test case
By JOSHUA GOODMAN | The Associated Press
November 20, 2007
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Single page view Reprints Post Comment Text size: BOGOTA, Colombia - "Welcome to your homeland," the immigration official said as he fingerprinted Julio and Liliana Gomez. "Here you'll never be considered illegal."

That's how the couple said they were greeted two weeks ago after being deported from Florida to their native Colombia — a move that separated them from their sons, whose battle to avoid the same fate has become a test case for hundreds of thousands of undocumented youth in the United States.

The sons — 18-year-old Juan Gomez and 20-year-old Alex — were born in Colombia and taken as toddlers by their parents to the United States in 1990. The family later sought political asylum because of threats Julio Gomez said he received from leftist rebels who killed his brother, but the request was rejected and the family ordered to leave the United States in 2003.


Instead, they stayed illegally in Miami.

Their case likely would have gone unnoticed among the thousands of deportations processed every day if not for a text message that Juan — a recently graduated high school honors student with Ivy League ambitions — sent to friends as he was being taken away in handcuffs from the family's home in July.

Overnight they mounted a sophisticated campaign on his behalf, contacting lawmakers in Washington and using the popular networking Web site Facebook.

An outpouring of sympathy for Juan and Alex — even from illegal-immigration critics like CNN pundit Lou Dobbs — prompted several federal lawmakers to write legislation that lets the brothers stay in the country until 2009, pending action on the bill.

But no such life jacket was thrown to their parents and 84-year-old grandmother, who are now living with Liliana's sister in Bogota and trying to reacquaint themselves with a country they fear less but barely recognize after nearly two decades in the United States.

Between trips to the mall, where strangers offer hugs of support, they anxiously await news from their children.

"They've never been separated from us their entire lives," Liliana said, wiping away tears. "They don't know how to cook, they can't work and have nobody to take care of them."

Juan, reached by telephone at home in Miami, said the family house "is too big for just two people. It feels so quiet and lonely not having my dad watching TV and my mom cooking dinner."

He said he and brother Alex had been offered jobs by supportive community members — in a law office and at a hotel, but can't begin until pending working papers arrive.

In a mid-August speech to supporters posted on a Web site dedicated to his case, Juan said "every drop of sweat I've spilled, every ounce of blood I've shed, every single friend I've made, every pledge of allegiance I've recited, and every pivotal point of development in my life has been in the United States. I was not fortunate enough to have been born here, but I was fortunate enough to enjoy my progression from a toddler to a man in this country."

The couple said they sold their small party rental business for $30,000 to be able to support their sons in Florida. Miami Dade College has offered to waive tuition for Juan, who finished near the top of his class but had trouble applying to Harvard because of his undocumented status.

But the money is running out fast.

Despite being deported, Julio Gomez said his family's dream, like that of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, remains the American dream.

"God bless America," he said, flashing his U.S. Social Security card. "It's a beautiful country and it gave my children the opportunity to have a better future."

That future is now in peril for increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants, as aggressive immigration enforcement led to a record 27,900 detentions in the 2007 fiscal year ending Sept. 30, about 10,000 more than the previous year, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Deportations also rose, from 177,000 two years ago to 261,000.

"It doesn't matter if you succeeded in school or grew up here as infants," said Josh Bernstein, of the Washington-based National Immigrant Law Center. "The law is very harsh."

Legislation is pending that would grant permanent residence to students who finish high school and go on to college or the military. Known as the Dream Act, it could benefit some 360,000 graduates and another 715,000 still in school, according to the Migration Policy Institute, an independent Washington think tank.

But the bill has lain idle since it was first proposed in 2001 and was blocked again last month by a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate.

"The Gomez brothers are a symbol of young people who came to the United States because of their parents' decision," said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, a sponsor of the Dream Act. "Their only decision was to work hard, study and make their communities proud."

So breaking the rules gets you the privilege of being able to work.

My husband has only just got his work privilege after eight years in the country as we was on a dependent visa and had to wait till we filed our green card applications to get his. My son turned 21 while the entire process ground slowly on and we can now only keep him in the country by sending him to college and him being on a student visa (he AGED OUT as they call it). He has NO REALISTIC path to permanent residency right now. Of course we have to pay up front for his education, no breaks on that level.

Then I read cases such as this getting the privileges my son can only dream about, being able to work and support himself. Bet they get their college paid too!

Makes my blood boil too. I know as an H1B holder I am somewhat controversial but I can assure all of you reading this that I have worked every single day since coming here, paid all my taxes, not used any federal or state services to which I am not entitled etc.

I love living in the United States and assuming I do not die before I get my green card and I become eligible for citizenship I do plan to take the oath and support the country that has given me the opportunity I am currently enjoying.

Would just like to add that the DREAM act deliberately excludes young adults such as my son, who CAN show he is in a legal immigration status.

Originally Posted by swatchick

The sons — 18-year-old Juan Gomez and 20-year-old Alex ...
"They've never been separated from us their entire lives," Liliana said, wiping away tears. "They don't know how to cook, they can't work and have nobody to take care of them."

What the heck has the mother been teaching them all this time? How to avoid ICE officials? They had Ivy league ambitions?? Heh, don't we all ...

I was learning to cook by the age of 12, so are my kids. Most of the pre-teens I know can make basic food (sandwiches, eggs, soup, etc). This SOB STORY ALERT is getting absolutely NO sympathy from me. This is pathetic that these two adults cannot fend for themselves.

And BTW if they have Ivy League ambitions, why exactly can't they work as in the mother's quote?

Once again, they need to pick a side a stick with it. It doesn't work both ways.

Originally Posted by lindiloo

So breaking the rules gets you the privilege of being able to work.

My husband has only just got his work privilege after eight years in the country as we was on a dependent visa and had to wait till we filed our green card applications to get his. My son turned 21 while the entire process ground slowly on and we can now only keep him in the country by sending him to college and him being on a student visa (he AGED OUT as they call it). He has NO REALISTIC path to permanent residency right now. Of course we have to pay up front for his education, no breaks on that level.

Then I read cases such as this getting the privileges my son can only dream about, being able to work and support himself. Bet they get their college paid too!

Makes my blood boil too. I know as an H1B holder I am somewhat controversial but I can assure all of you reading this that I have worked every single day since coming here, paid all my taxes, not used any federal or state services to which I am not entitled etc.

I love living in the United States and assuming I do not die before I get my green card and I become eligible for citizenship I do plan to take the oath and support the country that has given me the opportunity I am currently enjoying.

Would just like to add that the DREAM act deliberately excludes young adults such as my son, who CAN show he is in a legal immigration status.

Welcome to ALIPAC lindiloo! While we take issue with the way H1B visas are handled, you still came here LEGALLY, which makes you one of the people we are fighting for. We appreciate and enjoy our legal immigrants into American society as we feel that people such as yourself contribute to our culture. economy, and nation as a whole. I wish you the best in getting your green cards and I certainly hope that your son is able to stay legally after he is finished with college.

I'm sorry but I don't have a lot of sympathy for these two grown children of illegal aliens.They should be deported with their parents.They've already received free educational benefits by graduating through high school,now they should go back home and help build the economy of their birth country.However one paints it,if you settle here illegally and continue to thumb your nose at our laws,you should be deported when apprehended.Either that or just stop enforcing any laws and throw out the rule of law.I can never respect any illegal,no matter their motivation for ignoring our laws.I obey the laws of this country and I expect others to do the same if they want to earn my respect.

Miami Dade has offered at least one of these men free tuition,according to the article.I wonder if my Grandson that lives with me could get the same offer since he has been turned down for college grants and has had to drop out and is now looking for work at Walmart?

Originally Posted by swatchick

Despite being deported, Julio Gomez said his family's dream, like that of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, remains the American dream.

Wow, there's certainly no editorializing there.

ChromeDome: My relative is angered by the fact her U.S. resident father who supports her and claims it on his taxes was told she would have to be an international student. According to college policy as long as she is a minor, her father supports her and he is a resident (now a citizen) she should get instate tuition meanwhile they give an illegal free tuition. I told her to go to the ACLU about it as she is not the only one who had a hard time with the college. They are actually taking it seriously and it gone beyond the first step. In a way this article may actually benefit her case. We all need to fight to get our rights back.

I had a friend in college-who I'd known since junior high-who had to pay the equivalent, in tuition, that a foreign-exchange or out of state student paid, when it costs 1,500 a semester for in-state residents. His family legally immigrated to the United States from Haifa when he was a young boy, they paid through the nose taxes, and yet a son in that family-who lived in New York for most of his life, couldn't enjoy the same benefit that should have, by rights, been his. This was at a time when the state legislature was considering granting illegal aliens the privilege of paying in-state tuition.

The Gomez brothers are a symbol of young people who came to the United States because of their parents' decision," said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, a sponsor of the Dream Act. "Their only decision was to work hard, study and make their communities proud

THESE ARE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FOR PETE'S SAKE. THEY NEED TO GO HOME OR BE DEPORTED AND MAKE THEIR "HOMELAND COMMUNITIES" PROUD.
When will reps like Diaz-Balart GET IT? Americans voted NO to AMNESTY and the Dream Act- MORE THAN ONCE!

How will he get it if he looks at himself as a Cuban American. To me anyone who is a hypenated American is not a true American.