Thread: Refugee cries after learning judge grants him U.S. residency

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs. ... 003&lead=1

Published July 12, 2005

Refugee cries after learning judge grants him U.S. residency

By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Ugandan refugee who has been helping coach a high school track team in Iowa cried and was left speechless after learning he had been granted permanent residency in the United States.

An immigration judge ruled Tuesday that William Keleture’s marriage was valid and he could remain in this country, ending a two-year battle to avoid deportation.

‘‘It was emotional. It was tears all over my face,’’ Keleture said by cellular telephone while returning from a hearing. ‘‘I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t say anything. My wife next to me was crying. It was tears all over.’’

The ruling by Judge Carlos Cuevas followed a 10-minute hearing conducted through a video hookup.

Keleture, 39, and his wife, Theresa, sat in a courtroom in Council Bluffs while Cuevas questioned them from Chicago.

Cuevas ruled immediately, granting Keleture an ‘‘adjustment of status,’’ which makes him a legal resident.

‘‘The judge says he doesn’t need any more proof for him to prove our marriage,’’ Keleture said. ‘‘He sees it is a genuine one.’’

Keleture, an assistant track coach at Pleasant Valley High School, has lived in the United States since 1992. His battle to stay began after the Board of Immigration Appeals ordered him to leave the country in February 2003 because his appeal of a decision rejecting his request for asylum did not have the proper documentation.

His attorney at the time did not file papers to support the effort after Keleture told him he had married.

The notification never reached him, however, and he was arrested in January 2004, subsequently spending 46 days in jail. Friends and others who heard of his case rallied for Keleture and Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, got involved.

An attorney eventually won a halt in the deportation proceedings and Keleture was allowed to apply for resident status.

His hearing originally was scheduled for last month but was delayed until Tuesday after the government said it did not have a recent set of Keleture’s fingerprints on file.

‘‘It took too long, but it was worth it. I get to stay,’’ Keleture said. ‘‘It was a hard-fought battle by my wife and everybody, but it was well fought. I’m happy because of the way it ended.’’

The couple’s 5-year-old daughter, Autumn, accompanied her parents to the hearing, though they had to wake her after the judge ruled.

‘‘They told her about everything and then she was saying, ‘Thank God. The judge let my daddy stay,’ ’’ Keleture said.

Keleture arrived in the United States from a small village in Uganda about four miles south of the border with Sudan. His father had been killed in an ambush three years earlier and a close family friend had been arrested.

After receiving a student visa to attend school, Keleture applied for asylum in 1995, but the request was denied six years later. He said Tuesday he wants to continue coaching and try to finish his schooling.

‘‘This is a country of great opportunity,’’ Keleture said. ‘‘I’m trying to see how I can achieve. In this country, the sky is the limit.’’

This is probably one of those rare instances when the system worked properly. He was here legally on a student Visa. Fine. His country has definite and well-known political issues. His father was murdered and a friend arrested so he applies for asylum. He marries an American. He had a child. Did he over-stay the Visa and then when his first request for asylum was denied, did THAT make him here illegally thereafter? Then, because of the marriage, he was here legally? It's a little fuzzy, but not bad!!

http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2005/07 ... 853098.txt

Keleture wins residency battle

By Ann McGlynn
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa â€â€

Is there some QUESTION about the marriage being valid?

Oh boy.....maybe this was not a good ruling afterall.

Is the child really his?

Did they have DNA?

Was there a marriage ceremony?

Was there a Marriage Certificate?

Were blood tests taken?

Were the Marriage Papers filed?

Why was a Congressman involved?

Why is he hoping to find work somehwere?

Why doesn't he already have a job?

How has he been supporting himself, his wife, and his "daughter" all these many years?

Is this guy a free loader?

Oh....boy.....too many questions.....not enough answers.

Just deport aliens and stop this nonsense!!

Even this one now has an "odor".

OKAY, lets analyze this "story" abit more closely:

Tears for 18 months of gratefulness to a politician who pushed his case and a community which gave money and prayed and wrote letters and made phone calls on his behalf.

"Gratefulness to a politician who pushed his case".

OOOOOPS!!

Bad sign.

William Keleture, the soft-spoken assistant track coach for Pleasant Valley High School who was arrested on a cold day in January 2004 and led away as his wife and daughter watched, became a permanent resident of the United States on a hot day in July 2005.

Assistant track coach for Pleasant Valley High School.

OOOOOOPS!!

School didn't check his "papers" before they put him with American Kids!

Bad sign.

Keleture came to the United States on a visitor's visa from his small village in war-torn Uganda in 1992. He successfully applied for a student visa, then decided to file for asylum in 1995.

OOOOOOPS!!

Comes in first on a "visitor's" visa, one of those Tourists That's Never Going Home on Their Own; then he applies successfully for a "student visa" so what happened? Did he go to college on his visa or not? Did he just cheat to beat the system to "stay alittle bit longer" hoping to scam the system for asylum? Asylum was denied after 6 years of investigation so apparently, he wasn't entitled to it under our asylum laws which are very lax and generous.

Violated tourist visa - Bad sign.

Violated student visa - Bad sign.

Violated asylum law - Bad sign.

William will be taking the day off from work at APAC today, he said, to relax a bit.

If he is an assistant track coach at Pleasant Valley High School, what is APAC?

He hopes to get a job working with computers. She is searching for a job in the medical field or in sign language interpreting. Autumn will start kindergarten in the fall.

Well, it looks like he's already got two jobs....track coach and whatever he does at APAC....so what did he get his degree in on his student visa or did he squander that and why hasn't he ever applied for one of those H1B visas? Note, He Hopes to get a job working with computers, although he appears to already have two jobs, and SHE is searching for a job too.

So...OBVIOUSLY we do not have enuf jobs to go around for everybody here in the USA. This is suspicious now, isn't it? Two illegal employers one of them a HIGH SCHOOL; 3 US Immigration Violations...under three different means to beat our system; some question still remaining as to the validity of a marriage which happened AFTER the 3 US Immigraiton Violations according to the age of the "daughter".

The Keletures will have to report to federal authorities in two years, so the government can see one more time whether their marriage is real.

So possibly a FOURTH VIOLATION concerning the "marriage".

OOOOOOPS!!

This was a very bad decision by the court. You could not possibly weed out all the problems with this case in 20 minutes. Heck, I've spent more time than that just trying to sort through the two "articles" and make some sense of all this NONSENSE!

CONCLUSION: Judge and Politican Usurped Our US Immigration Laws.

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Bad Boys!!

Throw the Bums Out!

Hey Judy you better edit your first post.

I thought you would appreciate the 2nd article that revealed a little more information about this guy. Many of these reporters don't do a very good job of detailing the facts, and it can take a while to find out the truth. Unfortunately it will probably require finding several more articles to get an idea of what actually happened in this case.