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  1. #1
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Student who fought deportation last year wants more time in

    http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/breakin ... 862607.htm

    Posted on Tue, Jun. 20, 2006

    Student who fought deportation last year wants more time in U.S.

    SAM HANANEL
    Associated Press

    WASHINGTON - Marie Gonzalez, the Missouri student who won a rare deferment last year from deportation proceedings to Costa Rica, is seeking another extension so she can remain in the United States.

    The 20-year-old Gonzalez has a powerful ally in Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, who has again asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to intervene in her case. She has been ordered to leave the country by July 1, when her yearlong deferment runs out.

    Durbin wants to postpone the deportation order a few more months, anticipating that Congress will pass immigration legislation that would give students like Gonzalez a chance to gain legal status.

    "Marie has done nothing to merit being uprooted from her home and sent to a nation she can barely recall," Durbin said in a letter to Chertoff last week. "We are not a country that punishes children for the mistakes of their parents."

    A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said Tuesday that the case remains under review.

    Gonzalez was born in Costa Rica but has lived in Jefferson City, Mo., since she was 5 years old. That's when her parents came to the United States on six-month visitor visas. They never left after the visas expired.

    Her parents claim their situation arises from a misunderstanding about immigration laws. They say attorneys told them in 1991 that they could apply to become permanent residents if they lived in the United States for seven years, even if they entered on the visitor visas. That option was repealed by a federal law in 1997.

    While Gonzalez's parents were forced to return to Costa Rica last year, Marie won the right to stay in the U.S. for an additional year after mounting a national publicity campaign.

    Gonzalez, who just completed her freshman year at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., said Tuesday she still can't imagine having to leave the country where she grew up.

    "It eats at me now not knowing what's going to happen," she said in a telephone interview. "As much as you can prepare yourself for it mentally, it would still be a shock."

    Durbin is a sponsor of the DREAM Act, a measure that would give students who have lived in the United States five years or more the chance to become U.S. citizens - even if they are in the country illegally - if they complete college or join the military.

    The Senate last month passed immigration legislation that includes the DREAM Act, but lawmakers have not begun negotiations to resolve differences with a House immigration bill.

    Both of Missouri's senators, Republicans Kit Bond and Jim Talent, voted against the Senate bill, saying they would not back legislation that encourages people to come to the U.S. illegally or that moves toward amnesty.

    "The facts about the Gonzalez case are well known and Sen. Bond has aided them in their appeals, but the law is the law," Bond spokesman Rob Ostrander said.

    Spokeswoman Erin Hamm said Talent's office received Gonzalez's latest request for help and is forwarding it to the Department of Homeland Security "so that she has the opportunity to assert any claim she has under the current law."

    Gonzalez's father was working as a courier and mail opener in the governor's office when he was fired in 2002 after an anonymous tip about his status. News coverage of the case led to deportation proceedings.

    "My parents wanted me to have a better future," Marie Gonzalez said. "I hope people understand that we're not at fault and that we deserve a second chance."
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  3. #3
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    "Marie has done nothing to merit being uprooted from her home and sent to a nation she can barely recall,"

    The sooner she is sent home, the quicker she will learn about it. Illegal is illegal.

  4. #4

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    Excuse me?

    "Dream act"? ok---Durbin needs to be woken up! He is dreaming---about his re-election, and his paycheck! WTF is it with these sleazy politicians that they take sides with a FELON before listening to a constituent? HUH DURBAN?
    Title 8,U.S.C.§1324 prohibits alien smuggling,conspiracy,aiding and
    abetting!

  5. #5
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    http://www.belleville.com/mld/bellevill ... 878671.htm

    Posted on Thu, Jun. 22, 2006

    Missouri student wins another deferment from deportation

    SAM HANANEL
    Associated Press

    WASHINGTON - A Missouri college student who waged a highly publicized campaign to fight her deportation to Costa Rica has received another extension of her stay in the United States.

    Marie Gonzalez can remain in the country for one more year under the decision reached by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, agency spokesman Dean Boyd said Thursday.

    The 20-year-old student won a similar reprieve last, but that would have expired on July 1.

    "It's been a crazy day," Gonzalez said in a telephone interview. "I haven't really had a chance to let it sink in."

    Gonzalez said she called her parents in Costa Rica immediately after hearing the news Thursday morning.

    "Dad and I both cried on the phone together," she said. "We were both overwhelmed. This is what they wanted to hear."

    Gonzalez was born in Costa Rica but has lived in Jefferson City, Mo., since she was 5. Her parents, who entered the country in 1991 on six-month visitor visas, say they misunderstood legal advice and missed their chance to apply for permanent status.

    Gonzalez's father, Marvin, was working in Gov. Bob Holden's office as a courier and mail opener when he was fired in 2002 after an anonymous tip about his status. Gonzalez's parents were both deported to Costa Rica in 2005.

    After a nationwide publicity campaign last year - and personal appeals for her from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and other high-profile lawmakers - immigration officials granted Marie Gonzalez a one-year deferment.

    Since then, she has finished her freshman year at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., and has been waiting for Congress to pass an immigration bill that would give students like her a chance to become U.S. citizens.

    "America should not lose talent like Marie Gonzalez," said Durbin, who sent a letter last week to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, asking for another deferment.

    "She is a bright young woman who wants to use her talents to help the only home she has ever known," Durbin said.

    Durbin said thousands of other illegal immigrant students are in a similar predicament through no fault of their own and should be given a chance to become citizens after spending most their lives in the United States.

    Durbin has sponsored the DREAM Act, a measure that would allow illegal immigrant students to apply for the chance to become U.S. citizens if they complete college or join the military.

    The bill was part of immigration legislation that passed the Senate last month, but it may be months before lawmakers begin difficult negotiations to resolve key differences with a House immigration bill.

    Gonzalez said she is excited about the chance to return for her sophomore year at Westminster and plans to continue speaking at universities and public forums about the DREAM Act.

    "It's still hard thinking its another year that I won't see my parents," she said. "But at the same time, we know that it's worth it and we're doing this for a reason."
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