Siouxland Man Gets Tangled in Immigration 'Red Tape'
http://www.ktiv.com/News/index.php?ID=20760

Being able to vote in the caucus next month is a "right" many of us take for granted.

But for one Siouxland man, being able to take part in the caucus is just a dream because he is not a U.S. citizen, even though he's been trying for years.

Santiago Saavedra of Dakota Dunes, South Dakota is a college graduate, former FBI agent for his native country, and is married to a U.S. citizen, but none of this has meant anything in his quest to become an American.

Santiago Saavedra, "You don't know what is going on with my case? Because I need to know what's going on with my case."

Santiago Saavedra has been trying to become a U.S. citizen since 2000.

USCIS agent, "And there is no other information that I have available to you sir."

On the phone with the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service, he's trying to get answers of why he has yet to receive his green card, something that usually takes about 6 months.

USCIS agent, "I know this is very expensive and time consuming but there just isn't anyway around it."

In his native country of Peru, Saavedra worked as an undercover FBI agent. He started receiving terrorists’ threats.

Saavedra, "My life and my family's life was dangerous."

And in 1992, he finally made the move to the United States after the apartment he lived in was bombed by terrorists.

Saavedra, "I can't go undercover anymore because they know, who is me."

Coming to the U.S. on a Visa, Saavedra was given a political asylum which made it legal for him to stay here. He graduated from Western Iowa Tech and married his wife Heather last year.

Heather Saavedra, "I never thought I'd marry or be with somebody that is not white."

When Heather found out Santiago had been trying since 2001 to get his green card, she tried to help.

Heather, "I know he's probably not the only one out there who needs help... there's a lot of them over here legally and they need help."

In a process that should take 6 months., 6 years later, he still hasn't got a green card to put his college education to use.

Santiago Saavedra, "I need to know right now, it's time."
The hardest thing for Santiago isn't his inability to vote.. it's not being able to leave the United States. If he leaves, he can't come back.

Heather Saavedra, "When I went to Peru in July I got to experience something he never did. I went to his mother's cemetery. And I cried because I know it was something he wanted to do, and I got to experience that first."

And if Santiago Saavedra could simply get some answers to the status of an application he filled out in 2001, he says he would at least know where he stands today.

Santiago has spent around 20-thousand dollars over the past 6 years in application fees, lawyer fees, and travel expenses in trying to become a citizen.

And he says if he doesn't get some concrete answers soon, he plans to go to Washington D.C. and picket in front of the White House for as long as it takes.