Thread: State Island Ferry crash widow fights green card denial

State Island Ferry crash widow fights green card denial

Posted 2 Minutes ago MAHWAH, New Jersey (AP) — A northern New Jersey widow's fight to get permanent residency status after the death of her husband could have a big impact on similar cases around the U.S.
Mahwah resident Osserritta Robinson is an immigrant from Jamaica whose husband, a U.S. citizen, died in the 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash.

Immigration officials denied her green card application because the couple had been married eight months instead of the required two years.

An appeals court upheld the decision, but Robinson's attorney tells The Record of Bergen County that he is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court.

An advocacy group, Surviving Spouses Against Deportation, says 170 widows and widowers face deportation because their citizen spouses died before two years of marriage.
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deport em all, if they are illegal.
i dont care if a spouse died or ont

I feel sorry for anyone whose spouse has died. However, if they are in our country illegally it is not our responcibility to bear the brunt of any of their financial care.

A compromise could be treating the deceased spouse as still alive and to have the survivor apply for admittance two years after the marriage.

So Long Sister!!!
You had a nice vacation, now go home.
Sorry about your husband, grieve him elsewhere!

Sorry Richard but no more compromising! That empowers La Raza, other countries and ACORN.
We have been doormats too long.
It's time to get tough and straighten out our countries for Americans and NOT Amerikans.

I think that this is sad, but a very sticky situation to make a decision on.

On one hand, this woman, or others like herself, did not make the situation, they expected their spouse to be alive. On the other hand, if the government allows one in this situation, then that opens the door to so many other similar, even if mildly, situations. We could then have a flood of people saying they too deserve to be allowed in to stay, and so inundate our immigration system, that assuredly, there will be no ability to really investigate each case fully before granting admittance.

In other words, a lot of fraud could be had by those wishing to overwhelm and dupe the system.

AE I lost ALL compassion for illegals about 1 year ago, as you might be able to tell.

While I sympathize with this woman and others in her position, the 'rules' are made perfectly clear throughout the whole immigration procedure so I guess it's a chance we all take.

I would think that if she had only been in the country eight months or so she would want to return to where she, presumably, has family & friends. That short a time is really not long enough to put down 'roots'.

I agree, I do not have compassion for someone who is illegally here. If this woman is, she should be deported immediately.

If she is not and her status is pending, and she is yet legal, she is within the laws and I feel for her, yet know that if we start approving for one in her situation to stay (and the laws are clear on her pending status when her husband WAS alive, and he is not now), we are just opening the door to way too much potential fraud and problems.

We could have so many people coming back to us saying, "you let her stay, and I was sent home, I want in now". Then the flood gates would be pushed open, that was my point. We do not need that.

If it were me, and my husband, my only connection to a nation I was not native to, died and left me alone, I would prefer to go home to my friends and family. Her wanting to stay sends a little red flag to me, that her goal may have, all along, to simply become a legal citizen.

Why do people from other countries come here and expect us to change our laws to meet their demands ?