“Never, never, never give up!” Winston Churchill
Update November 5, 2014
First, thank you to all the people who keep asking for
updates on Olga. I am sorry I have not written but as a college Spanish teacher
used to say, “Mas vale tarde que nunca”, better late than never. The last time
I wrote this blog we were hoping Olga would be home by Christmas 2013. Well
Christmas, birthdays and anniversaries have come and gone.
In May of 2014 our lawyer requested the help of the
Ombudsman at the USCIS office. He was
contacted by the Ombudsman office in August that they were closing the case due
to USCIS informing the Ombudsman on the 20th of August that a decision had been
made. We waited till mid-September and
still did not receive any communications from the USCIS office. The Ombudsman’s
office was contacted again and reopened the case.
On October 30, 2014, we found out that USCIS had made a decision
to deny my wife a VISA. They said the reason for the decision would be mailed
to us. We received the paper work yesterday and USCIS has denied her VISA for
three reasons.
- First for being in the U.S. for over a year without a VISA, that has a 10 year ban but can be waived if I can prove it would be a hardship for the children and I to be separated for her. This one we have all the paper work done and have been told should be no problem.
- Second for failure to appear for her hearing in Texas. We had that case reopened last year and all charges were dismissed. We just have to point this out to the Government.
- Third, and this one is a new one for us and the one we have to fight, they said when she entered the United States she was smuggling in another person. This charge carries a lifetime ban from being able to come to the United States.
When Olga was in Mexico she was instructed by the Coyote that when she crossed the border into the United States to stand on the other side of the river with a young man and say that he was her nephew. If she did not do this, she was informed by the Coyote that she would be sent back across the border by ICE and the Coyote would leave her to the dogs in Mexico. Not wanting to lose the money that was spent to get her to the U.S. and be left with nothing in Mexico, she did as she was instructed. Now she is banned for Human Trafficking.
Imagine for a few moments if you were a young woman in a
foreign country fearing for your safety and only wanting to do what was best
for your family, what would you have done? Until we walk in someone else’s
shoes we can’t truly understand what they were feeling.
My wife is the bravest person I have met and I love her very
much. When we exchanged vows it was for better or worse till death do us part. Since I am still breathing I will fight this ban.
