Thread: An oversight 30 years ago may send mother to Mexico

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/539708.html

What the article above does not mention is that she LIED to get the visa. They would have NEVER have granted her a visa had they known she was married. Our local FresnomexicanBee is always trying to twist things in favor of the illiterate criminals who sneak across our border. She deserves a one way cattle car ride BACK across the border. How much you want to bet that she and her family has been and continues to live off the American taxpayer. NOTICE AFTER 30 YEARS, SHE STILL CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH!!!!!!!

What bologna! She knew very well, but thought she could get away with it. No sympathy! Wasn't an Asian couple deported for this same problem this year?

My father was issued a visa to emigrate, in the meantime he had married my mother and had me. He came to American without us and had to sponsor us. He knew his visa was only good for him. He had filed for the visa 15 years before and had not met my mother yet. The forms ALL state the laws you must follow! My mother and I finally came over about 6 MONTHS later and had no problems getting our citizenship 5 years later.

How could anyone be in a country for thirty years and not speak the language!! That is just total languor and a repudiation of the country she lives in!

An oversight 30 years ago may send mother to MexicoBy Vanessa Colón / The Fresno Bee04/20/08 21:58:53
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Margarita Mendoza of Fresno was excited last year about the prospects of becoming a U.S. citizen.

Now Mendoza, who has lived in the United States for 30 years, might be deported.

Her citizenship application was denied because of an omission that occurred 30 years ago: She failed to tell immigration officials that she had gotten married between the time she applied for a visa and the time she received it. At the time, no one ever asked about it, she said.

Immigration advocates say cases like Mendoza's are relatively rare. But with last year's surge in citizenship applications, those advocates say more cases like it are likely to emerge. She's scheduled to attend a hearing at an immigration court in San Francisco on May 16.

"Immigration agents never asked if I was married or single ... I didn't know it was a problem until I tried to become a U.S. citizen," she said in Spanish. "If they would have asked me, I would have told them the truth."

Roxanne Hercules, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Mendoza should have updated her information regardless whether she was asked by officers if she had gotten married.

"It's her responsibility," Hercules said.

Hercules said officers will ask questions based on the information they have on the person coming into the United States, but it depends on the case.

But immigration advocates say Mendoza made a trivial mistake and she shouldn't be entirely held responsible for it.

"If I were a person living in a foreign country who was about to immigrate and not an immigration lawyer, I could have easily made that mistake," said Mark Silverman, a staff attorney at the San Francisco office of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, an advocate for immigrant rights.

Rick Oltman, national media director of the Santa Barbara-based Californians for Population Stabilization, declined to comment specifically on Mendoza but said it's the kind of issue that the immigration court is set up to decide. The group favors eliminating illegal immigration and limiting legal immigration.

"The rules were written for a reason and you have to abide by the rules," Oltman said. "If they've [applicants] violated a rule or law, it has to be looked at."

Usually, citizen applicants are placed in deportation proceedings because of past criminal convictions, Silverman said. He estimates that of the thousands of applicants, about 30% of them in California will end up in deportation proceedings because they had a prior criminal conviction.

Overall, just over half of those deported in 2007 -- including undocumented immigrants as well as green-card holders -- had a criminal conviction, according to data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The data cover 11,710 deportations from a region extending from Bakersfield to Northern California.

Nationwide, 1.4 million citizenship applications were filed last year, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. That matches the prior record, set in 1997.

Historically, increases in applications happen before a fee hike, presidential elections, immigration debates and new legislation, according to the federal agency.

Mendoza's case is a lesson for everyone who wants to become a U.S. citizen this year, Silverman said.

Since arriving in California, Mendoza worked at a packinghouse in Sanger and then became a homemaker. Over the years, Mendoza traveled several times back and forth from Mexico to United States with her green card. She filed her naturalization application in June.

Then in November, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services informed Mendoza her naturalization application was denied. Two months later, she was ordered to appear in court for a hearing that could lead to her deportation.

Mendoza was issued a visa as an unmarried daughter of a legal permanent resident on April 29, 1978.

But a Mexican marriage certificate shows she married Carlos Vega Hernandez March 9, 1978, and her son was born April 7, 1978, according to the letter from Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Sharon Rummery, an agency spokeswoman, said if someone gets married before entering the country and uses a visa meant for an unmarried daughter or son, the visa becomes invalid.

"The law says a lawful permanent resident can only petition for an unmarried minor or adult child," Rummery said.

Now 53, Mendoza said her mother, who petitioned for her green card, is deceased.

Today, Mendoza lives with three of her five grown children and has been separated from her husband for 10 years, she said.

Lazaro Salazar, Mendoza's attorney, said the law must be respected but he believes Mendoza has a chance of remaining in the United States. Salazar said her absence would create a hardship for her twin sons who have special needs because of mental health issues.

Mendoza wishes she could go back in time.

"If this would have happened from the start, I would have returned to Mexico," she said.
The reporter can be reached at vcolon@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6313

This article should be in the "News Stories" forum.

Duplicate...locking this one as the other is in the correct forum.

Link:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... c&p=669356