Thread: Reprieve too late to end immigration nightmare

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story. ... =7/26/2006



Reprieve too late to end immigration nightmare
Schenectady woman agonizes as husband is returned to Peru a day before appeal is upheld

By MATT PACENZA, Staff writer
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First published: Wednesday, July 26, 2006

SCHENECTADY -- Lisa Rodriguez got a call Tuesday morning: The federal government had upheld her husband's appeal fighting deportation to his native Peru. Miguel Angel Rodriguez could try to convince a federal judge that he should be allowed to stay and support his wife and newborn daughter.
Just one problem: Miguel Rodriguez already had been sent back to Peru on Monday.


Lisa Rodriguez screamed aloud when she found out the Board of Immigration Appeals acted one day too late.

Now that her 33-year-old husband is back in Lima, Peru's capital, she doesn't know what the next step is: Is it possible to fight a deportation after you've been deported?

"We have to try and go through the whole process of getting him back here again," she said from her apartment in Schenectady.

No one knows if Rodriguez will be able to fight to return to his family in Schenectady. Typically, people who are deported have to wait at least 10 years before they can apply to re-enter the United States.

Deportation orders were filed against Miguel Rodriguez because he overstayed a temporary visitor's visa in 2001. Lisa Rodriguez, 28, claims that her husband never received notice of several hearings at which he could have made the case that he deserved to stay.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, on the other hand, said Rodriguez had ample opportunities to contest his deportation.

After Rodriguez was arrested in May, his family filed an emergency appeal, trying to keep him in the United States. It cited several reasons: his marriage last year to an American citizen, his baby daughter and the fact that he had a job at a local factory that helped him secure work authorization.

"It's in the best interest of the U.S. to have Miguel here," said Steven Christopher, a self-taught expert in immigration law who has been helping the Rodriguez family from his home in Latham. "He's a very good worker and a very dedicated family man."

The appeal was initially rejected, but then early Tuesday the board notified Christopher that it had reversed course.

"It's very unfortunate that the board took this long," Christopher said Tuesday. "We requested an emergency stay, asking them to immediately take action."

A spokeswoman for the board couldn't say why it took seven weeks to issue a decision. The board receives between 3,500 and 4,000 appeals each month.

"We try to get to each case as quickly as possible," said Elaine Komis of the Executive Office of Immigration Review. "It's unfortunate this person has already been removed."

Komis said she wasn't sure what, if anything, Rodriguez should do next. She suggested the family contact an immigration attorney.

Lisa Rodriguez has applied for welfare benefits because her husband was the family's sole supporter. She now plans to look for work, possibly as a security guard, and put their daughter, Isabella, in day care.

Rodriguez drove six hours to visit her husband at a federal jail near Buffalo four times after he was sent there in June. The "non-contact" visits she and Isabella had with Miguel were agonizing.

"She would try to touch him but the window would stop her," said Rodriguez. "She would get aggravated and start screaming. She's just 5 months old. She doesn't understand. I'm just glad she's too young to remember any of this."

Matt Pacenza can be reached at 454-5533 or by e-mail at mpacenza@timesunion.com.



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"We have to try and go through the whole process of getting him back here again," she said from her apartment in Schenectady.

Peru probably has room for two more. I hate to see a family separated, why don't you pack up the child and catch the next flight to Peru?

Why is it that everyone must come back to the United States to be reunited with family members? Why don't the family member living in the U.S. join the individual that was deported? Airplanes flight both ways!

MW, because it is much easier to sneak back over our border like a thief and enter again illegaly then it is to do things the right way! He will be back here in no time.

"Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators."
Will Rogers

LOL nothing to do with the article. I am a Will Rogers fan and I had missed this one. tooo true toooo true!

These people dont want to live in Peru because they are racist? Whats wrong with Peru? Peru is doing just fine!

Another sob story.

Of course, he might be a good father and a good husband, but he is also an illegal.

The government does these things though. While I shed no tears and agree with his deportation, the government could pick up thousands of criminals any day of the week. Instead, they deport this man - and dollars to donuts - alerted the media on this one.

I really like this comment:

"It's in the best interest of the U.S. to have Miguel here," said Steven Christopher

No Steven it is not in the best interest of our country to let illegal aliens who break our laws stay. What an idiot?