Life Goes On

I know it has been a long time since I have done anything with my blog and I always say that I'm going to go update everything that has happened, but this time I mean it.  This time I am going to deliver on that promise.  Do you know why I plan to deliver this time after all those broken promises?  It's because I am mad as hell and I am not going to hold it in anymore.

We submitted the waiver to the lockbox back in October only to get an RFE in the mail at the beginning of March.  The RFE requests a ridiculous amount of information, most of which should be in the goddamned file already since it probably has it's very own filing drawer by now.  The waiver we submitted in October was 900 pages long for fucksakes.  

*facepalm*

There are no words to describe how I feel at this moment in time. I’ve been betrayed by my government, and the relationship that has spanned nearly half my life has been called into question. I don’t expect perfection from anyone, but for the love of bacon why can’t we count on a certain level of competence from people that have the power to change lives? In my last post I spoke of mistakes; I acknowledge that we are all wrong from time to time and I consider errors to be a part of the learning process. The problem is, you can only learn from your mistakes if you acknowledge their existence in the first place.

I’m sure by now you’re wondering what blunder was committed that has me so upset. As you might recall I received a case update regarding the I-130 petition that said initial processing, a status which made me quite angry. The USCIS has rescinded the approval of our I-130 petition pending an interview with them. I understand that there was a breakdown in the process and that our petition was approved after a swift kick in the ass from Senator Franken, but this is almost too much. It is the policy of the USCIS to interview every couple that files the I-130 petition while the beneficiary is in removal proceedings, or if the couple has been married less than 2 years at the time of filing. Alberto and I had only been married 3 months when the I-130 was filed, in the midst of his removal proceedings, so you see there is a reason for this development.

And then I got mad. I got terribly MAD.

Today I received an email from the Customer Assistance Office (CAO) which I believe is in response to the inquiry that I submitted to the CIS Ombudsman (CISOMB) office. The email simply stated that the response to my inquiry was attached, but I felt my heart stop when I saw the title of one of the two attachments. Obviously I opened the attachment titled “MENDEZ_DENIAL_NOTICE” first because I needed to know what the denial was in regards to. I was beyond relieved when I saw that it was nothing more than a copy of the original notice we received back in July 2012, so I opened the second attachment to see what response the government sent me that required a copy of the denial notice. The letter read something like this:

Sick and Tired

I truly believe that a pack of wild monkeys could run USCIS better than the powers that be.  So far this year we were told our file was sent to Consulate in Cuidad Juarez for processing, then that it was received by the National Visa Center which didn’t make any sense at all.  Today may actually take the cake in regards to baffling behavior; we’ve only just learned that the National Visa Center sent our file to the California Service Center to review the approved I-130 petition.  I’ll let you read the emails I received today...

Just give me a push

I am often amused by the males of our species and today I witnessed something that ranks pretty high on the usual scale.  I was walking back to my desk from the kitchen, minding my own business, when I walked past a window and became engrossed in the drama unfolding in our parking lot.  Exterior scene, nearly empty parking lot at mid-day.  A scruffy-looking man in his mid 20’s and his car, a Honda hatchback that has seen better decades, is visible through the window.  It appears that he is having car trouble.  Enter the curious employee.

‘Scruffy’ had the door on his car open and was pushing the disabled vehicle across the parking lot.  The end destination was apparently the very busy street right in front of the building.  He pushed the car into the street, jumped in the driver’s side seat and attempted to start the car.  When nothing happened Scruffy seemed more concerned that the engine still wouldn’t turn over instead of the amount of traffic whizzing by mere inches from his bumper.  After wildly gesturing his frustration at the willfulness his car was demonstrating for one and all, Scruffy got out to push the car back into the parking lot.  It was at this time a male coworker noticed the disabled vehicle and rushed over the help push the car back into the parking lot.  After a few moments of discussion, Scruffy and his new apprentice pushed the car across the parking lot and back into the street.

He who shall not be named

I don’t want to talk about what happened in Connecticut last Friday.  I feel like the media has covered the matter in way too much detail as it is.  Truth be told, I want to complain about the media coverage.  They were interviewing children as they came out of the school building for crying out loud and posting pictures of them sobbing while walking away from the school with their hands on the shoulders of the child in front of them!  We knew the name of that individual before we heard the names of any of the victims.  Those that were on Facebook saw the creation of what seemed like 600 new pages/profiles devoted to the name the media gave out first, who turned out to be the shooter’s brother.  This sick individual became a celebrity the moment the first shot was fired, even if it was only because of the hate and rage at their actions.

When you look at the reaction of the public, everything has degenerated into a flame war.  Some want to increase gun control laws.  Others say that arming teachers is the answer and best way to keep our children safe.  The arguments are broken down into factions: gun enthusiasts, gun control seekers, atheists, über-religious, and the parents like me that are at a complete loss of words.  I don’t know that more gun control laws would make much of a difference; someone that is bound and determined to wreak havoc will find a way.  When it comes to religion, stay out of this type of situation completely.  Lack of religion in our schools did NOT cause this.  The remarks about the children receiving the best gift possible for Christmas, meeting Jesus, were completely insensitive and inappropriate in my eyes.  The comments stating this *proves* that religion is nothing more than the opiate of the masses is equally insensitive. 

Decision 2012

So much for getting some sleep...  Here's a better rundown of the events of the day:

At 3pm today I received an email from the constituent services representative of Senator Franken’s office, Diana that the USCIS had notified them that a notice was mailed today.  USCIS did not let Diana know what the notice said.  I managed to get myself excited at the potential meaning of the notice.   I forwarded the email to Graciela and she responded that she was on pins and needles waiting to see what it would say.  I was floating on cloud nine thinking about all the good things that notice could say.

At 4:30pm I received the email regarding the new case status and saw that a decision had been made on the I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status).  I’ll let you read for yourselves…

DENIED

Today was the day my hope for a quick end to our suffering was smashed to pieces.  The I-485 and I-601 we filed back in February were denied in a particularly heinous fashion.  I understand it is their ‘policy’ to approve or deny people on a whim, but using 1 sentence to address a 739 page waiver packet was only slightly more subtle  than giving us the middle finger.  Our packet was a handcrafted masterpiece, their denial was a 14 page cut and paste hack job.  I mean there were several places where the quotation marks didn’t agree and there was a different in font size throughout the document.  They did not even reference one single piece of the I-601 waiver in their denial; I highly doubt they actually read any of it.  Looking at the table of contents isn’t the same thing as having read the damned thing.

Lance thinks the interviewer has never seen an I-601 waiver before, but even that doesn’t excuse such a poorly made and rationalized decision.  Graciela was horrified by denial in itself, how could they possible justify such an appalling decision?  Gather round friends and neighbors and let me explain something to you: immigration is an arm of the government that is not well trained, has no concrete set of rules, and no one appears to be looking over their shoulder.  They have the power to detain and deport people at will, and have been known to ‘accidently’ deport American Citizens when it suits them.  You know that ‘line’ that our spouses were supposed to get in?  It only exists in the narrow minds of the anti-immigration political candidates.  Have they ever looked at the processing times for the different applications?

If the petitioner isn’t a US Citizen, you will be waiting between 1 to 2 years for the initial visa appointment.

I pretty upset so I think I should just go to bed.

Ciao

Interview with the Devil’s Advocate

Yesterday I emailed Lance and Molly to see where the interview would be.  Molly told me to wait for them on the third floor when I arrive, but to try not to be there too early.  Easy for you to say since I cannot arrive anywhere less than 15 minutes early.  I was hoping that my morning errands would help to keep me grounded until the interview.

I had a fitness consultation in the morning at the local gym; she promised she wouldn’t go easy.  I was not looking forward to being tortured by a personal trainer chick that is ridiculously peppy, half my size, and frigging cute as a button.  I’m sure you’re all seen the type of fitness fanatic I’m talking about here.  I got about halfway through the consultation when an employee from the kids’ corner comes downstairs with my daughter who was visibly upset.  Ashley had an accident because no one took her to the potty.  The chick tells me she was in the kids’ corner all by herself and couldn’t take Ashley to the bathroom.  Ok, so how did you manage to bring her to me?  Well she’s the only kid I had up there to watch.  I was livid.  My almost 4 year old daughter is upset because she pissed her pants, and the accident occurred because you wouldn’t take her to the bathroom?!  I had to shut down the anger and quickly because last time I became upset at the gym, my supervisor heard about it the very next morning.  We took the rest of the consult upstairs to a private training room so that I could finish up since Ashley couldn’t go back to kids’ corner.  The personal trainer (who even has a cute name: Julia) could tell I was upset but chose to say nothing about it.  We finished up and I stalked out of the building with Ashley in tow.

Three Ring Circus

I am getting more than a little tired of the unscrupulous tactics employed by our government.  Why can’t they just leave us alone?  Graciela forwarded me a copy of the DHS Opposition to Motion to Terminate and I read it, knowing it would be ugly.  Boris Badenov stated in his “FACTS” section that Alberto came to the attention of the USICE after he assaulted someone with a rock then he listed each and every injury suffered by the victim.  It is ridiculous how they seem bound and determined to paint Alberto in the worst light.  They must be trying to exploit the human brain by repeating something enough times so that someone will believe it’s true.  In an attempt to cover his own posterior, Boris then filed an I-261 (Additional Charges of Inadmissibility / Deportability) with his Opposition.  What charge could he possibly add to this farce?  Well, interestingly enough the additional charge against Alberto is INA § 212(a)(7)(A)(i)(I):

Any immigrant who, at the time of application for admission is not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa, reentry permit, border crossing identification card, or other valid entry document required by the Immigration and Nationality Act, and a valid unexpired passport, or other suitable travel document, or document of identity and nationality if such document is required under the INS regulations.

A waiver is available under INA §212(k) where the Attorney General is satisfied that the exclusion was not known to, and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of reasonable diligence by, the immigrant before the time of departure of the vessel or aircraft from the last port outside the United States and outside foreign contiguous territory or, in the case of an immigrant coming from foreign contiguous territory, before the time of the immigrant's application for admission.

 What the hell immigration?  You paroled him into the United States for Prosecution; of course he’s not going to have a visa or other proof of lawful entry!  He was arrested at the border because of the active warrant, and the only reason he was “seeking admission” was because you stated if he said as much he could adjust status here!  Now someone please tell me how the actions of the DHS in recent months have resembled anything slightly ethical?  Sounds like a rampant lack of morals to me, not that my opinion seems to matter.  In the future Boris and his ilk will all have to answer to a higher power, I wonder how they will justify these abuses of power over their fellow man?

Infierno

I consider today to be somewhat of a disappointment, but I suppose it could have been worse.  We had our third immigration hearing this morning and the weather certainly made driving interesting.  The commute that normally takes under 30 minutes lasted a full hour and 45 minutes thanks mostly to snow stupor syndrome*.  I have a definition at the bottom of the post for those of you that are unfamiliar with this horrible disorder although I suspect a great majority of my readers may have observed something similar.  Lance arrived shortly after 9:30 am for the hearing and muttered his apologies, faulting the excessive traffic for his tardiness.  I expect to arrive well ahead of the attorney in any given situation, so I wasn’t surprised in the least.  Actually, I had been late myself, arriving about 10 after 9.

I have to say that the USICE office here in Minnesota is a downright depressing place to be.  You first begin to feel the woe when you enter the hallway to be inspected before you’re allowed into the bowels of this immigration hell.  The uniformed officials are cleverly disguised agents of evil that fix you with a potent glare and demand to see your hearing letter.  I send my own potent glower at the head agent respond coolly that I am HERE for my HUSBAND, daring him to make an issue of my presence.  I’m surprised they haven’t posted a sign in the room that says Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here.  What else could our broken immigration system be if not one of the Nine Circles of Hell created by the same people whose souls will be condemned to Eighth Circle?

Another continuance…

So Monday was my first dental checkup in about 4 years or more and it was not as bad as I expected.  It took much longer than I would’ve expected because it was the first time I’d been to that office so they had to do the x-rays and everything.  The worst thing for me about getting my teeth cleaned is that food is disgusting for the rest of the day.  At least I only have three small cavities which will be filled next month.  I’m hoping I can wear my ear buds because the sound of the drill is like nails on a chalkboard for me.  Who knows, I might get lucky if I ask really nicely…

I also got a phone call from one of the assistants at Lance’s office this morning.  I was amused when the woman spoke to me in Spanish, totally ignoring my English greeting.  She was talking so fast that I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, and her news was grim: the hearing was cancelled.  She admitted that is was most likely postponed, but either way I should wait for her to call me by 4:00 for more information.  To my surprise it was Lance that called me, and the first words out of his mouth were, “I don’t know what she was smoking but I NEVER said the hearing was cancelled.”  The moved the immigration hearing from 10 am to 1 pm, but everything else would be the same and he said he would see me there.

Act of Kindness

I admit that I get irritated when Alberto asks me to make phone calls on behalf of the people he’s in jail with.  Call this guy’s sister because he needs more money in his commissary account, call this guy’s wife because the phone has calls blocked from the jail, and the reasons go on and on.  I really don’t mind helping people, what I mind is that these people end up with my phone number when I call them.  The latest call for assistance takes the cake for sure.

Alberto warned me that he had given my phone number to a woman named Nelia so that I could help her.  You see, Alberto had told his friend about how I made it so he could call Mexico and this friend wanted to do the same.  Nelia called me a scant 45 minutes later and I began to explain how to set up the accounts.  I was shocked to learn that she did not have an email address!  Since she described herself as computer illiterate, I took it upon myself to set up the system for her.  This process I discovered involves forwarding calls through Google Voice to a long distance provider called Localphone which then connects you to the number currently listed on their system.  The reason I agreed to set this up is because the phone calls between the boyfriend and Nelia were costing them a fortune as she was in the next state.  The telecom provider for the jail is one of those companies that loves to bleed people dry with fee upon fee upon fee.  I made sure all the settings matched what I had in place since the system worked for Alberto last week.  I told her what she needed to do to change the phone number the chain would link to in the end, but I have a feeling I’ll be changing the settings for her.

We have normality…

I wasn’t expecting the peace treaty to last this long, but discord has been restored to my life.  Forgive me for not jumping for joy and, might I add, it was not my fault!  I have deliberately avoiding talking about anything remotely connected to the case because Alberto gets upset when I have words with his madre querida.  I’m sorry Caro, but Gisela is so pessimistic about everything that I never walk away unaffected.  I am always enraged when she attempts to force her opinion down my throat with her incessant preaching.  Today it was about the criminal case again and I tried to end the conversation and leave several times but she just kept talking.  I tried telling her that I could not talk about the case with her anymore because it upsets me.  Her response was to tell me it upsets her too and to continue pontificating about it!  She kept saying I need to make sure I tell the attorney this is what happened and that she knows how it started.  She knows better than Alberto who was actually present, and all of the witnesses have got it all wrong.  She is adamant that the justice system here is just as crooked as Mexico and we will soon see her innocent son locked away for good.  Now do you see why I generally avoid her even though acknowledging that I do so makes me feel like a bad nuera?  Avoiding Gisela irritates my darling husband and I simply can’t bear it when he’s mad at me.

What in the bloody hell is she basing this opinion of our justice system on anyhow?  Is it the fact that her innocent son Caña was ‘falsely’ convicted and sentenced to 4 years in prison for assault?  Maybe she’s referring to the time Caña was ‘accused’ of hitting Roscio while she was holding their child, you know despite the fact we all witnessed that particular incident.  Then there was the time that Caña tried to hit his sister Liz with a beer bottle and had to be restrained by force until the police showed up to arrest him?  Four years ago Alberto showed me some papers because he wanted to know what they were.  It was a restraining order filed by Roscio against Caña during her smarter days.  I surely cannot comprehend how such a sterling example of honorability and manhood could have possibly done what he was locked up for.  My mother-in-law acknowledges that her son deserves to be in jail for the things he’s done in his life, just not for beating the hell out of Nemesio.  Someone once said that ‘logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence’.  If you use that definition, then Gisela is quite logical.

Insert Title Here

I took a half day at work today since I have to work on Saturday.  I can only work 40 hours in a given week so when I neglect to plan ahead for just this occasion, I end up with a half day instead of a full day off during the week.  I had plans at one point to meet some people for lunch, but when that fell through I had a backup plan that took the cake.  I made myself an appointment at Massage Envy and found heaven in an hour for $39 plus tax and tip.  The majority of the time was spent on my upper back and Sarah managed to beat my knots into submission.  I felt good for the first time in about two weeks!    After my massage was over and the sales girl was giving me her spiel about their membership program and my recommended wellness schedule, I reluctantly declined membership since $49 per month is not feasible.  See how low I have sunk that a paltry $49 per month is undoable?  Maybe if I go every three months the $65 per hour long session will seem like a good investment.

My next stop was lunch, and there was a Chipotle just down the strip calling my name.  I entered the restaurant and stopped cold right inside the door.  What the hell was the music they were playing?  It sounded more like new age instead of Mexican.  I approached the counter with apprehension.  What is this?  Where are all the Hispanic men and women that could correctly pronounce ‘carnitas’ and ‘barbacoa’?  It was then I remembered the reason I had avoided Chipotle for so long; the mass firings in December 2010 of the Latino workers who made Chipotle one of my favorite restaurants.  Where is the Hispana who chatted with the hugely pregnant white girl that spoke Spanish?  I even showed her baby pictures since I was there so often since Alberto had cravings for Chipotle at least once a week.  She is gone now, replaced by new workers who have sucked the joy out of my burrito. I have officially scratched Chipotle off my list of desirable fast-food options, and I will now have a moment of silence for my loss. ***SILENCE***  Ok, I’m done now.

Interesting revelations

This weekend was rather unexciting to tell you the truth, but sometimes these are the best weekends of all.  I had to work on Saturday which isn’t terribly fun, but you have to make the most of what is given to you.  We managed to get caught up on the registrations for programs starting on Monday, and for any registrations that were turned in late for last week.  I didn’t encounter too many problems overall which always puts me in a good mood since that streamlines my data entry.  The most irritating thing we came across all day was 4 registrations that came with a cover letter from a woman that referred to herself in the third person.  Why this woman couldn’t write out what she needed in plain English is beyond me, but based on the writing I would say she most likely works in the law firm and doesn’t understand the concept of grammar.  It took a broad interpretation of the letter in conjunction with the completed registrations by no less than three individuals in order to construe what exactly it was that she was trying to say.  This is why education needs more support to help people succeed in life!

I ended my shift well satisfied with the amount of work I had completed.  I also managed to catch up on the hours I had been missing during the week without working more than 4 hours!  If Deza doesn’t work 40 hours, then Deza doesn’t get paid 40 hours and that makes Deza very sad indeed.  I can’t afford to miss work because I’m already living paycheck to paycheck. 

Not such a bad mom after all…

Today was Ashley’s open house for a summer preschool program.  A few interesting things happened and I learned that I am not a bad parent, nor is my daughter nearly as bad as I feared.  Ashley is stubborn like me and her father.  I’m hoping as she gets older we will be able to channel this into something good, but right now it means she refuses to be potty-trained.  This is a problem because she cannot attend the program that I am paying for until she is potty-trained.  I can cancel any sessions up to the Monday beforehand without any fees being tacked on, so I need to either get her potty trained this weekend, or get the first session canceled on Monday.  Here’s the funny thing, she knows when she has to go but will only tell me if she is in the bathtub.  I think this has to do with the last time she pooped in the tub and I was sternly disappointed.  I wish I could remember the incident clearly because she hasn’t had an accident in the bathtub since then.

Anyway at the open house there was this pretty little blond girl.  For the longest time I couldn’t figure out who her parents were because no one was keeping an eye on her that I could tell and there were no natural blondes among the parents.  Well during the open house when my mom had her back in the classroom since she was being a little girl, Blondie started pushing Ashley around and taking toys away from her.  I don’t know this was happening so when we migrated back to the classroom I was oblivious to this history.  At one point during the presentation on the program, Ashley went to the back of the room where one of the teachers was and discovered a hamster in a cage.  She watched his animal in his cage intently for several minutes when Blondie came over and pushed her out of the way.  I went to get out of my chair but the teacher motioned that it was ok, so I decided to wait and see what would happen next.  (Which is my favorite thing to do!)  Blondie kept pushing Ashley, and Ashley kept pushing back.  After several minutes passed, I retrieved Ashley and had her sit with me for a while.  Ashley stayed away from Blondie at that point.