update on my student whose mom was arrested Friday

[ulysses]

My coteacher finally got in touch with her older sister (who is married and has her own kids) yesterday. My student, her dad and two other siblings were in Alabama, where their mom is being held, to visit with her. No word on the status of her case.

The family has been here for 14 years - J and her younger brother and sister were born here. Dad and the older sister both have legal status. No idea why mama didn't, but it kind of throws out the idea that they're just here to "use" America.

Thanks again to all those who've wished the family well.

[Richard Steele]

1. K&R

[ulysses]

3. thanks. this child had an emotional week.

We got the results of our state tests back on Monday, and after all her stress over them, she passed everything to go on to the sixth grade. Four days later, her mom gets hauled out of the house.

[lostnfound]

2. I wish them well.

Human beings first.

Another case of governments treating people like disposable objects without regard for family ties.

The general public so often argues for its own enslavement and captivity, not realizing that 'us' and 'them' are breadcrumbs on the trail to hell.

[ulysses]

4. well said.

:thumbsup:

[Tippy]

5. Thanks for the update......n/t

[bean fidhleir]

6. It's possible that mama didn't for the same reason so many immigrant women didn't learn English

back at the turn of the century: it wasn't considered necessary for their assigned role (a situation like, though nowhere near as horrifying as, that of the women in rural China who were never even given names)

[ulysses]

7. I suppose it's possible, but I see no reason to assume it.

Unless, of course, one were of a mind to assume it...

[bean fidhleir]

14. Well really, what are the alternatives? She was too busy? She forgot? She thought she was exempt?

The role thing seems as reasonable as any other explanation, given that cultural machismo is still alive and well.

[ulysses]

16. perhaps, having come in illegally,

she was afraid to talk to the authorities. Would have probably been a reasonable fear.

As I say, I don't know enough about the family's history to know how the rest of them went about getting their citizenship or how thath might have impacted the mother. Don't you think, though, that if the "cultural machismo" had played a role, that it would have done so for the eldest daughter as well? Your willingness to jump right to that as an explanation is interesting.

[bean fidhleir]

18. Fear? Maybe.

As to machismo, I hope (but am now less sure than I was) that you're aware that it remains a powerful, corrosive force in all Spanish-culture countries. The basis of the culture, really. See, for example http://www.libertadlatina.org/Crisis_Latin_America_Machismo.htm

Its grip is somewhat less in the younger generation, which could explain it affecting Mamacita but not Elder Daughter, though the generational difference could account for a difference in fear levels, too.

So your suspicions about my motives are unfounded as well as merely wrong.

[ulysses]

21. the daughter may have gone about things differently.

It may have been that the mother (being the mother, after all) didn't feel as if she would wait for the legal wheels to turn, whereas the daughter could.

And yes, I'm quite aware of the role of the macho outlook in Latino history. I'm also aware that it's hardly the omnipresent force in all Latino families, especially ones who have been in the US for a long time, that you seem to think it is. My student's family has certainly never struck me in that way.

[bean fidhleir]

26. I didn't see your reply before I modified mine

I don't know whether your hypothesis is plausible or not. It's hard to know what she could have imagined she would gain by remaining extralegal, if it was in fact her choice not to seek legalization. Perhaps it was sheer ignorance (or is that what you meant?).

As to machismo being an "omnipresent force", I'm sure you're aware that few people who grow up in a culture manage to break free of its credos (we can see that in daily operation at DU --regrettably). But I accept your perception that if machismo is a force in your student's family it's not always on view.

Whatever the explanation, it's costing them a lot.

[ulysses]

29. it's costing them a lot - truly enough said.

[Marie26]

24. Or she didn't qualify at all

If people enter illegally, there's almost no way to get status. The father & his sister probably got derivative status as a family member of a permanent resident/citizen (i.e. their parents). People seem to think that anyone can apply for legal status, & it's not like that at all. There are very few people who qualify, and even they have to pay thousands of dollars for an application. For most people, there is no pathway to legal residency.

[nichomachus]

19. The really sad fact is

that some immigrant husbands won't let their wives learn English -- esp if the wife is undocumented. This keeps the husband more in control.

I used to see this all the time when I worked in family court. One woman tried to go and learn English, so she could get a job. Her husband took all her clothes and splashed bleach all over them so she couldn't go out.

Another guy filed for divorce. The sheriff served the papers on the wife, but she couldn't read them. The husband, who did all her translating, told her they were nothing and that he would take care of it. Then, when she didn't respond in the alloted time, the husband filed for a default, and the divorce was granted. She didn't know she was divorced until he packed up and moved out. (Fortunately, the judge rescinded the divorce and made the husband go through proper proceedings.)

[roody]

28. Many poor meso-american women believe

that they can't learn English because it is too hard. Many read and write their first language at an early primary level, or not at all. Many immigrant women say they do not know English, but if you start chatting with them in English, they do know enough to get by. An immigrant woman friend of mine says that when she speaks English, her husband and kids make fun of her.

[bean fidhleir]

30. That's that @#$%! machismo at work!

We've a barrio back home and I used to go over there sometimes for the norteño food, which I like. But when the men were around, ugh. It turned my stomach, I just couldn't take it.

[Solly Mack]

8. Is there a legal fund I can contribute to to help them?

Something I can do?


Do you know if they have a lawyer?

And I'd be happy to send what I can to help.

[ulysses]

10. I'll find out tomorrow.

I know the school social worker was going to get involved Friday.

[Solly Mack]

12. Thanks, uly.

[ulysses]

13. thank you as well, Solly.

:)

[ulysses]

31. I'm told this morning that the family is going back to Guatemala.

:(

[Solly Mack]

32. Well..dang

That is sad.

Thank you again.

I'm sorry for them and for you. For such promise and hope to vanish. :(

It's wrong. Just plain wrong.

[LWolf]

9. I'm glad your student,

and her mom, have family support during this unnecessary crisis.

[ulysses]

11. I am too.

They're good people.

[Forkboy]

15. I had to skip the last thread because I knew how ugly it was going to get.

And by later on today I may have to skip this one too.

Hope things work out for the whole family, despite what the shitheads here think.

[ulysses]

17. yeah, I know.

I'm shutting down the computer shortly. Too much to do around here to spend the day pissed off again. :hi:

[MountainLaurel]

20. Your student has been on my mind

I hope everything works out.

[ulysses]

22. thanks.

I just hope we can find out more information this week.

[lonestarnot]

23. Such needless suffering. So fucking stupid!

[Marie26]

25. That's tragic

I hope that the family is able to recover. Why was the mother detained? (sorry, didn't see the earlier thread).

[flashl]

27. This story is common ...

Legal Immigrants, Until They Applied for Citizenship

SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Dr. Pedro Servano always believed that his journey from his native Philippines to the life of a community doctor in Pennsylvania would lead to American citizenship.

But the doctor, who has tended to patients here in the Susquehanna Valley for more than a decade, is instead battling a deportation order along with his wife.

...

The Servanos are among a growing group of legal immigrants who reach for the prize and permanence of citizenship, only to run afoul of highly technical immigration statutes that carry the severe penalty of expulsion from the country. For the Servanos, the problem has been a legal hitch involving their marital status when they came from the Philippines some 25 years ago.

...

As applications for naturalization have surged, overburdened federal examiners, under pressure to make quick decisions and also weed out any security risks, prefer to err on the side of rejection, immigration lawyers and independent researchers said. In 2007, 89,683 applications for naturalization were denied, about 12 percent of those presented.

In the last 12 years, denial rates have been consistently higher than at any time since the 1920s.

NY Times

---

Florida Muslims sue feds over citizenship delays
Muslims are sworn in after legal action to speed process

For three years and three months, Ali Hussain has waited to become a U.S. citizen.

On Thursday, his wait was over -- but not before he sued the federal government.

In February, Hussain and 24 other Muslims joined a statewide lawsuit against Citizenship and Immigration Services and the FBI for what they called unusually lengthy delays in processing their citizenship applications. Some waited as long as five years.

"The lawsuit helped my application. I have been waiting so long," said Hussain, an Orlando machinist who hails from Iraq.
Orlando Sentinel