Thread: Congress May Not Hear Plea To Halt Deportation

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_d ... 88767.html

IMMIGRATION
Congress may not hear plea to halt teen's deportation
With three days left before the congressional recess, it's uncertain whether Congress will hear an appeal to prevent the Gomez brothers' deportation.
Posted on Wed, Aug. 01, 2007l
BY LESLEY CLARK AND KATHLEEN McGRORY
lclark@MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON -- Juan Gomez's classmates pleaded Tuesday with members of Congress to stop the teen from being deported to a country he left as an infant, but it remained in doubt as to whether Congress will take up the matter.

Though several members voiced optimism about the effort -- and praised the students -- Congress is preparing to leave town Friday for a five-week recess, and it was uncertain whether a House subcommittee would consider legislation that could block the deportation of the Miami Killian Senior High School graduate and his brother Alex, both Colombian nationals.

The legislation already faces daunting odds: Critics call bills that benefit only particular individuals ''private amnesty,'' and of 117 private bills filed on immigrants' behalf in the last Congress, not one passed. Between 1995 and 2006, just 36 bills were approved out of 495 filed. This year, more than 50 are pending; none has been approved.

'You're going to get a lot of people saying, `This is accepting illegal immigration,' '' Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican who supports the measure, cautioned the students.

She noted there was a hostile environment for immigration-related legislation, adding that critics often suggest such bills foster ''chain migration'' because those who secure residency can petition for family members to come to the United States.

The exhausted students, who worked the halls, cellphones in hand, camera crews following their every move, were undaunted if a bit disappointed by the potential backlash.

''We're just going to give it our all,'' said Scott Elfenbein, one of almost a dozen students who made the trip from Miami. ``We have to show them the flaws in the system.''

But even Rep. Lincoln DÃ*az-Balart, R-Miami, who filed the bill on Gomez's behalf, acknowledged its success was ``a long shot.''

''It's a long shot, but it's a legitimate shot,'' DÃ*az-Balart said, urging the students to lobby Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., a former immigration lawyer who chairs the House immigration subcommittee and whom DÃ*az-Balart described as ``big-hearted and pro human rights.''

Lofgren said late Tuesday she's sympathetic but that several Republicans are opposed to hearing the private bills. She said she planned to continue pushing to have them considered.

''It seems a very heartbreaking situation, and I'm very sympathetic,'' Lofgren said. ``I wish the Republicans on the committee were sympathetic as well. We don't have time to contemplate on this one.''

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, last week objected to hearing four other private immigration bills involving immigrants who came to the United States as minors. He said Republican members had not been given enough time to review the cases. They are still pending.

While private bills are generally proposed under sympathetic circumstances, they often generate criticism.

Jack Martin, special projects director at the Federation for Immigration Reform, which champions tighter restrictions on immigration, likened the bills to a ''private amnesty practice'' and said they open lawmakers up to abuses of power.

''The immigration laws of the country protect the people who need to be protected as they are currently written,'' Martin said. ``It is an abuse of the system to introduce these private bills -- even if they're only done symbolically.''

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the bills also raise questions of fairness.

''They don't necessarily benefit the most desperate cases,'' said Krikorian, whose Washington-based think tank supports tighter controls on immigration. ``Instead, it's usually the people who have political connections or those who can pull strings. Tell me, how just is that?''

The Miami Republicans who met with the students, however, said Gomez and his brother shouldn't be punished for their parents' mistakes. The parents arrived in South Florida in the 1990s on a six-month visitor visa when the boys were toddlers. The parents eventually sought legal status, but the request was denied, a decision that was upheld on appeal.

''The decision was not Alex and Juan's,'' said Lincoln DÃ*az-Balart, who met with the students along with his brother, Rep. Mario DÃ*az-Balart. ``Their decision was to go to high school, to play by the rules and to make their community proud.''

Other efforts are under way:

• Ros-Lehtinen said she met with President Bush at the White House Tuesday and gave him a letter signed by Miami's three Republican lawmakers, asking him to stay the deportation. A White House spokesman said Bush had received the letter and ``we will be reviewing it.''

• Sen. Bill Nelson's office asked immigration officials to consider a request for a delay in deportation proceedings until DÃ*az-Balart's bill can be heard.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement defended the seizure of Juan Gomez and his family, saying the agency was enforcing the law. Barbara Gonzalez noted the family -- which lost its appeal in 2002 -- had had ``due process under law and exhausted all legal remedies for relief.

''It is unfortunate parents place children in these circumstances by breaking the law,'' Gonzalez said.

''We're just going to give it our all,'' said Scott Elfenbein, one of almost a dozen students who made the trip from Miami. ``We have to show them the flaws in the system.''

Yeah, the flaw in the system is tey weren;t deported back when their lawbreaking parents originally overstayed their visas.

The Miami Republicans who met with the students, however, said Gomez and his brother shouldn't be punished for their parents' mistakes.

So if my parents buy a house they cannot afford back when I was a baby and they are now facing foreclosure and eviction, does that mean I should be allowed to keep the house because I shouldn't be punished because of the mistakes made by my parents?

Originally Posted by swatchick

A White House spokesman said Bush had received the letter and ``we will be reviewing it.''

That's nice. Maybe Pres. Bush now has time to receive and review the thousands of petitions for release of political prisoners Ignacio Ramos and José Compean.

Lofgren said late Tuesday she's sympathetic but that several Republicans are opposed to hearing the private bills. She said she planned to continue pushing to have them considered.

''It seems a very heartbreaking situation, and I'm very sympathetic,'' Lofgren said. ``I wish the Republicans on the committee were sympathetic as well. We don't have time to contemplate on this one.''

Thank goodness the Republicans are keeping the Democrats in check on this one!

Lets hope in 2008 the Dems. don't get anymore power than they have now or we ae screwed!!




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AMNESTY ALERT!!.....Senator Specter was talking of giving green cards to all illegals on the Senate Floor last night. Time to nip this in the bud right away!!
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Isn't it amazing when these things happen it amost always involves Hispanics followed by Brazilains. There are many other illegal immigarnts in this country but it seems that we almost never hear about their problems.
My relatives had a problem with immigration and were here LEGALLY and they got no help from the Senator or any other politician. They got help from a friend of mine who is a lawyer and has a lawyer friend who made phone calls on their behalf asking why there case is dealyed.

What angers me as much as these criminals expecting a pardon is the perpetual media covered sob stories. The rapes, murders, drunk driving stories are NEVER told on any news channel, yet as I was flipping channels this morning . . . . . there were two AMERICAN KIDS on CNN's cameras pleading the case of the illegals and their family complete with pictures of the criminals who expect amnesty for breaking the law.

These people have no morals. This morning there was a County wide missing person BOLO that originated in Miami Beach for an elderly Columbian woman who recently came here and doesn't know her way around and doesn't speak English. Why? With other elderly people it is usually those with alzheimer's disease who may have wandered off.

He and his family were given 45 days reprieve.