Thread: IMMIGRATION: Local woman to be sent home after living legally in the United States

IMMIGRATION: Local woman to be sent home after living legally in the United States

Her family says they've been fighting the immigration system for years

Published 10:58 AM CST Nov 28, 2014

Text Size:

This is one of the last conversations Ali Gray and her daughter Lauren will have before saying goodbye -- Lauren is being forced to leave the place that she calls home due to current immigration laws.

The family has owned and operated The Lakeview Lodge and Restaurant in Trenton, Mo. since 1995 -- when they legally came to the United States from the United Kingdom. They employ 30 Americans. Yet, after nearly two decades of trying, none of the family members actually are American.

"If I'd know it was going to take this long, I wouldn't have come because I wouldn't have put our family in a situation where we were forced to be apart."

Gray says her daughter has been here since she was 4-years-old. Now, at the age of 23, she doesn't have a work permit or a green card. Now that she's done with school, and after fighting the system for years, Lauren says she's giving in and going back to the U.K.

"The system is totally broken and I think that it needs to be fixed," says Lauren.

Lauren Gray considers the U.S. government as her government. But she says that's not a feeling the government shares with her citizenship.

"When I went to Capitol Hill two years ago, I saw a side of the government that I didn't really know existed."

She says legislative aids seemed hopeless, exhausted, and no longer invested in reforms for legal immigrants.
So, when President Obama announced last week that illegal immigrants will soon have what she hasn't received after years of obeying the law -- it was a slap in the face.

"Instead of helping people that came to America legally, they are just going to give amnesty and make hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants legal instead of us."

For Ali, as a mother, the hardest thing is not knowing when she will next be able to see her daughter again.

"Not being there to help her if she needs me. That's going to be hard. I've always been there to be her support system."
"My parents and my younger sister are a big part of my life," says Lauren. "That's going to suck not being able to be around them for the holidays."

Lauren leaves the Saturday after Thanksgiving to go back to a country where she hasn't lived since she was 4-years-old...with no plans of when she'll be able to come back.

The family hopes to receive their green cards as soon as May. If they don't their younger daughter may also be forced to leave the country.

http://www.kmbc.com/news/immigration-local-woman-to-be-sent-home-after-living-legally-in-the-united-states/29968600

Then, there is this one, in a story from the same station, that has two kids and doesn't work but will get amnesty.
By Micheal MahoneyBIO

Undocumented immigrant hopes new rules help her

President Barack Obama expected to announce changes Thursday evening

Published 5:36 PM CST Nov 20, 2014


Published on Nov 20, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —A Kansas City woman said she may be one of the people affected by the immigration changes that President Barack Obama is expected to announce Thursday night.

Norma Loya, 38, came to the United States on a tourist visa 12 years ago and stayed. She said she hopes that the president's plans can include her.

"A paper. One paper that can change our life," she said.

Loya volunteers at El Centro when she's not raising her two children or working. She said she'd like to finish up her bachelor's degree.

"It's very frustrating to me because I've finished my associate's (degree) in early childhood education, and I want to get a job," she said.

It's very hard for her to get a job without proper paperwork. She said she doesn't want to lie to get a job.

"If I went someplace and said a lie, maybe in my future, it would appear," Loya said. "I don't want it to."

Illegal immigration is not considered a big problem in Missouri. It is a bigger issue in Kansas, but overall Kansas illegal immigration numbers are declining.

The director of El Centro said the expected immigration changes are not that big.

"There is no line for people to stand in (to become citizens) currently," said El Centro's Irene Caudillo. "There are limited opportunities for those that are here undocumented to be able to become citizens."

She said 30 to 40 percent of El Centro's clients may be undocumented workers, about 3,500 people.

El Centro may soon start classes to tell people what is and what is not in the new immigration changes.

http://www.kmbc.com/news/undocumente...p-her/29846584

Originally Posted by Newmexican

IMMIGRATION: Local woman to be sent home after living legally in the United States

Her family says they've been fighting the immigration system for years

Published 10:58 AM CST Nov 28, 2014

Text Size:

This is one of the last conversations Ali Gray and her daughter Lauren will have before saying goodbye -- Lauren is being forced to leave the place that she calls home due to current immigration laws.

The family has owned and operated The Lakeview Lodge and Restaurant in Trenton, Mo. since 1995 -- when they legally came to the United States from the United Kingdom. They employ 30 Americans. Yet, after nearly two decades of trying, none of the family members actually are American.

"If I'd know it was going to take this long, I wouldn't have come because I wouldn't have put our family in a situation where we were forced to be apart."

Gray says her daughter has been here since she was 4-years-old. Now, at the age of 23, she doesn't have a work permit or a green card. Now that she's done with school, and after fighting the system for years, Lauren says she's giving in and going back to the U.K.

"The system is totally broken and I think that it needs to be fixed," says Lauren.

Lauren Gray considers the U.S. government as her government. But she says that's not a feeling the government shares with her citizenship.

"When I went to Capitol Hill two years ago, I saw a side of the government that I didn't really know existed."

She says legislative aids seemed hopeless, exhausted, and no longer invested in reforms for legal immigrants.
So, when President Obama announced last week that illegal immigrants will soon have what she hasn't received after years of obeying the law -- it was a slap in the face.

"Instead of helping people that came to America legally, they are just going to give amnesty and make hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants legal instead of us."

For Ali, as a mother, the hardest thing is not knowing when she will next be able to see her daughter again.

"Not being there to help her if she needs me. That's going to be hard. I've always been there to be her support system."
"My parents and my younger sister are a big part of my life," says Lauren. "That's going to suck not being able to be around them for the holidays."

Lauren leaves the Saturday after Thanksgiving to go back to a country where she hasn't lived since she was 4-years-old...with no plans of when she'll be able to come back.

The family hopes to receive their green cards as soon as May. If they don't their younger daughter may also be forced to leave the country.

http://www.kmbc.com/news/immigration-local-woman-to-be-sent-home-after-living-legally-in-the-united-states/29968600

what about the rest of them -to be sent home ? hello