Telenovela

I cannot believe the people that hold positions of power within our government, they have the superiority complex of a ‘B’ movie villain.  An USICE official, a Boris Badenov type, took the liberty of submitting an Opposition to the Motion to Terminate Proceedings on Friday, a scant hour before closing up for the weekend.  Thank God Lance is the type of attorney that anticipates such underhanded tactics from our government, and was able to respond to the opposition before the closing hour arrived. 

The Opposition from the USICE contained erroneous ‘facts’ and made baseless assumptions in order to deny my husband the opportunity to be reunited with his family as a legal resident of the United States.  They state that Alberto was paroled into the United States for prosecution, at the conclusion of which he became inadmissible under INA § 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) as an alien convicted of a CIMT.  They argue that Alberto was clearly an applicant for admission because he was not in Mexican custody prior to this latest entry into the US and Alberto had petitions approved that could eventually lead to his legal admission into the US.  “It is also clear that after being at the consulate in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, respondent voluntarily presented himself at a port of entry to try to reenter the United States, perhaps to return to Minnesota to resolve the outstanding criminal charges, and during inspection was paroled into the United States for prosecution, and turned over to EL Paso Police for extradition to Minnesota.  Clearly respondent voluntarily came to the port, applied for admission, was inspected and paroled in” Well, it is clear to me that this particular payaso tiene la cabeza metida por su culo.  They have no shame or sense of humanity whatsoever.

I know that Alberto listened to our attorney when we told him to tell USCIS officials that he was not seeking admission into the United States.  The police report states that Alberto told the consulate official he was going to go to the port of entry in an attempt to resolve the warrant, when in reality it was the consulate official who told Alberto to ‘go get some paperwork’ from the officials at the port of entry.  Lord knows that if we has known he had the ability to fix this clusterfuck of a situation that way it would have been done THREE YEARS AGO.

Lance responded to the Opposition by calling the DHS to the carpet for this dastardly tactic as well as taking them to task for conveniently muddying the issues and changing their position on whether Alberto was seeking admission or even paroled.  During prior hearings the DHS was adamant that Alberto was not paroled in at all.  Lance cited additional rulings that show that in the past parole has not been an admission, and that Alberto did not seek admission when he went to the port of entry.  “It is irrational to think that Respondent would have knowingly crippled his chances to immigrate lawfully to the United States by seeking admission at the border.”  He then went on to state that we have made countless, albeit unsuccessful, efforts to obtain the parole documentation from ICE.  “To date, the Government simply cannot satisfy the conditions of the NTA and cannot prove parole.  Respondent is a hostage of the US Government.  He has satisfied the conditions of his parole and been denied his right to return to Mexico.”  I really think that someone guided us to Lance when we were looking for an immigration attorney.  We made the right choice.  I’m not looking forward to visiting Alberto tomorrow as I have to digest all of this information in order to explain to him what is happening with our case.

On a higher note, I took the opportunity to decompress with a good friend of mine on Friday night.  I took advantage of ‘Parents Night Out’ a program run by the local YMCA in which, for a small fee, they will babysit for up to 4 hours while providing  art projects, movies, playtime, and pizza.  It was wonderful!  I love Ashley with all my heart, but every once and awhile I need to do something just as an adult and not as Mamí.  I had made plans with Veronica, but we had to make some changes when her chicles quedaron pegados.  She wasn’t able to break free from her husband and son, but even so the evening was not ruined in the least.  Andres wanted to know all about the case and our current status, so that was the topic over dinner at Acapulco’s.  Andres said he didn’t understand why I didn’t just go and remake my life, cutting my husband free because of the problems with immigration.  I told him that Alberto is mi media naranja, and I can’t imagine a life without him since that is the truth. 

I’m not going to claim our life was perfect since there is so much evidence to the contrary no one would ever believe it.  What I will say is that every time an obstacle appeared, I thought long and hard about my choices and selected whatever I believed was the right thing to do.  I don’t take my choices lightly, nor do I uselessly look back and wonder what might have been.  I regret nothing and look at every day as a new beginning.  We need to keep moving forward.

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Ciao

Interesting Spanish Words/Phrases:

Telenovela                                          Soap Opera

Payaso                                               Clown, Fool
Tener la cabeza metida por su culo     To have one’s head up one’s ass
Chicles                                               Gum
Quedar pegados                                  To have been glued/stuck/attached
Mi                                                      Me (expressing ownership)
Media naranja                                    Better half, Soulmate (lit. Half of an orange)