Thread: Deportation of Vietnam-Vet Brothers Postponed

Politics
Deportation of Vietnam-Vet Brothers Postponed

Published January 05, 2011

Two Mexican-born Colorado brothers who served with the U.S. military in Vietnam will be able to remain in this country for another year.

Two Mexican-born Colorado brothers who served with the U.S. military in Vietnam will be able to remain in this country for another year after a judge decided to postpone until 2012 carrying out the deportation orders against them.

Valente and Manuel Valenzuela, ages 62 and 59, respectively, are among the 11 children of a New Mexico woman and her Mexican-born U.S. citizen husband.

The brothers live in Colorado Springs.

In 2005, Manuel was arrested for speeding. To his surprise, the police told him that his driver's license was not valid.

When he went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to clear the matter up, he learned that his license had been revoked because he did not have a valid Social Security Number.

Manuel thought that it was a mistake until he was informed that the U.S. Homeland Security Department had ordered the license revoked because doubts existed about his citizenship.

Despite numerous attempts by both brothers to prove that their parents were U.S. citizens and that they had arrived in the country legally, the Valenzuelas last year received deportation orders.

After several postponed hearings, on Tuesday Manuel appeared before Judge Donn L. Livingston in the Federal Court in Denver.

An estimated 80 people accompanied the Valenzuela brothers to the hearing to testify in favor of them and against their deportation.

"Manuel will have a new hearing in 2012, but the details are not yet available," said Hedy Trevino, the founder of the group Stop the Deportation of Vietnam Veterans.

"I thank God because today we were given more time to prepare ourselves for the future hearings, since the proceedings against Manuel and ... Valente are still going on," she added.

Trevino called the deportation orders against the brothers unfair and "shameful" and recalled that Valente joined the U.S. Army in 1967 and Manuel was a Marine from 1971-1974.

Both were decorated for their service in Vietnam.

But because Manuel was caught speeding in 2005 and due to a legal problem that Valente had in 1985, the brothers now are considered "foreign criminals" by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, though the offenses in question were only misdemeanors.

In prior interviews with local media, Valente explained that the 1985 incident, to which he pled guilty although he provided no details about it, was "the result of having returned home from the battlefield" and was linked to the serious medical problems he has had to deal with since serving in Vietnam.

Manuel, meanwhile, said that he did not understand why there is still any doubt about his legal situation in the United States. In fact, he said, he was so confident that his case would be resolved easily that during his first two hearings before a federal judge in Denver he showed up without an attorney.

The hearings, the apparent ambiguity of their immigration status and the sudden lack of valid documents has left the brothers "without any money, without a home and without even a bank account" because of the expenses they have incurred during the legal proceedings and because they don't have jobs, Manuel told local media.

Because of that, Valente considered suicide. And he probably would have killed himself if not for the intervention of his brother, who told him: "We have to put our uniforms on one more time, Valente. But this time, let's put them on for ourselves."

"If Homeland Security can do this to a veteran, what do you think they can do to a citizen? This is no way to treat people who fought for this country," Manuel said.

According to recent ICE figures, some 3,000 war veterans are facing deportation proceedings.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politi ... z1AEiJ372F

"According to recent ICE figures, some 3,000 war veterans are facing deportation proceedings."

And yet capitol hill only cares about the hispanic caucus and la raza.
Where is the DOD? I am sick when our vets get screwed and spoiled dream brats get priority. Wrong, Just Wrong!

Speaking as a Vet, I often see that those who signed up to serve under many conditions and fulfilled those committments are often treated as "outcasts". It is one thing to sign up to serve in the U.S. Military, but when they do, there is other responsiblities borne by the Government that they haven't yet conveyed...one of them is Citizenship. You know, we worry about the Millions that cross our borders daily who do nothing but act as locusts consuming every resource available, and those who served this country get treated like common cow manure. It is a shame, just like the last congress who spent us into the ground. Someone should find the idiots repsonsible and put them in jail until they wake up! Nuff Said...

I don't get it, if their parents are US citizens than why aren't they?

There are unanswered questions with this story. Unfortunately I can understand how this could happen? Just because their parents are now U.S. citizens doesn't automatically make them U.S. citizens. Just because they served in the military in Vietnam does not automatically make them U.S. citizens. During the Vietnam War we still had draft. Any male at 18 in the U.S., citizen or non citizen was required to register for the draft. Many non citizens used this as a way to acquire their U.S. citizenship. Possibly they failed to take the steps to become a U.S. citizen. They were in the U.S. in 1986 at which time even without serving in the military they could have become U.S. citizens.

Do I think they should be deported, no, but I can understand how this could happen. I bet they are kicking themselves royally for not following through and becoming legal U.S. citizens.

Found this from last May:

Vietnam Vets Continue to Fight Deportation
By: Mireya Garcia

UPDATED: 6:38 pm MDT May 4, 2010

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Valenzuelas are a military family with sibling veterans in every branch of the United States Military. The two eldest brothers, who are Vietnam veterans, continue to fight to stay in the country. Valente and Manuel Valenzuela told NEWSCHANNEL13 they don’t want any special treatment, only what the country and the Constitution promised them.

“In my first interview I said this was a nightmare…well this is chapter two. It’s a double nightmare,â€

This is from last June:

Veterans and brothers fighting deportation

Posted: Jun 2, 2010 9:26 PM by Andy Koen
Updated: Jun 3, 2010 6:27 AM

The government is seeking to deport two local Vietnam Veterans, one of them a Bronze Star recipient.

Manuel and Valente Valenzuela came to the US as legal residents from Mexico in the 1950's with their mother, an American citizen and their father a Mexican Citizen.

They grew up in American. Valente Valenzuela joined the Army in the late 6o's and served with the Airborne in Vietnam and earned a Bronze Star. Manuel Valenzuela joined the marines in the early 70's and also served in Vietnam.

For the past couple of years the brothers have been fighting deportation.

"They're trying to make us aliens, we are not aliens," Manuel said. "We are American citizens."

"I feel like my family has been defrauded, you know," said Valente.

The brothers say no specific reason has been given as to why the government is pursuing them.

One of their attorneys, Dennis Hartley said "Homeland Security has completely overstepped their bounds."

Both men do have decades old misdemeanor convictions on their records.

Tim Counts a spokesperson for US Citizenship and Immigration Services couldn't speak directly to their case, but said in general you can lose legal status for committing a crime.

"If you are here on some sort of a temporary status, whether it's on a visitor's visa or whether it's a green card holder, and you commit certain crimes, the law is very clear, you lose that status."

However, immigration attorney Robert Barron says the government's case is weak.

"Given that they both have a US citizen mother, there's the possibility that they are in fact derivative United States citizens in which case the immigration proceedings against them would come to a screeching halt."

Hartley says the brothers are preparing to sue the government for discrimination.

"We will try to force Homeland Security's hand by filing a legal action."

The Valenzuela's have written to their senators, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and even President Obama over their dilemma to no avail.

Their deportation hearings are scheduled for September and January.

http://www.newsfirst5.com/news/veterans ... portation/

January 13, 1941 to December 23, 1952 - If you were born between January 13, 1941 and December 23, 1952, both your parents were U.S. citizens and at least one had a prior residence in the U.S., you acquired U.S. citizenship at birth. If only one parent was a U.S. citizen, that parent had to reside in the U.S. at least ten years prior to your birth and at least five of those years had to have been after he or she reached the age of 16. To maintain your citizenship, you must have lived in the U.S. for at least 2 years between the ages of 14 and 28. Alternatively, you could retain your citizenship if your non-citizen parent naturalized before you turned 18, and you began living in the U.S. permanently before age 18. If you were born after October 9, 1952, your parent had to fulfill this residence requirement in order to confer citizenship on you, but you did not have to fulfill the aforementioned residence requirement. If your father was your one U.S. citizen parent and your birth was illegitimate, the same rules applied provided you were legally legitimated prior to your 21 st birthday and you were unmarried at the time of legitimation.

http://www.visas-america.com/eng/citizenship.html

I can tell you from personal experience that any children of US Citizens born on foreign soil in a foreign hospital are NOT given US birth certificates. It is up to the parents to contact the US Embassy and fill out the proper documents.

This happened in my family, family member in the military gave birth in a foreign hospital because there was not enough time to get to the US base. Both parents were born US citizens too. The kid's original birth certificate isn't in english because he was born in a non-english country.


The article also mentioned:
Manuel was caught speeding in 2005 and due to a legal problem that Valente had in 1985, the brothers now are considered "foreign criminals" by U.S.
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I have to ask, what happened back in 1985 and why didn't they get this cleared up back then?