thedrifter
02-12-08, 09:19 AM
Wife of deployed Marine faces battle at home
By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer
Immigration struggles could mean having to leave the country
This should be a happy time for Denisse Harris. The 20-year-old wife of a Marine deployed to Iraq is expecting her husband's return to Camp Pendleton this week.
But her mind is preoccupied with the possibility that she could be deported to her native Mexico, she said.
A change in U.S. immigration law in 1996 may be partly to blame, immigration lawyers said. A provision in the law no longer allows people who are in the country illegally to legalize their status by marrying a U.S. citizen without first leaving the country.
"It's a complicated situation," said Margaret Stock, an immigration lawyer and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve. "It's very, very common in the military. It's even more common in the civilian world."
Denisse Harris said she arrived in the country illegally as a 7-year-old girl with her mother and two other siblings. She attended schools in Escondido and didn't think of herself as different from any of her peers until she realized she couldn't get a driver's license or work legally in the country.
For those who are here illegally, there are few options to become legal, immigration attorneys say. One way is through family ties; U.S. citizens can petition on behalf of their foreign-born parents or siblings. Another is by marrying a U.S. citizen, but that route became even more difficult after a 1996 change to immigration law.
Under previous laws, illegal immigrants could marry citizens and pay a fine and stay while their petition was processed. But rules that changed in 1996 and took effect in April 2001 no longer give people hoping to adjust their status the option of paying a fine unless they had an earlier petition, Stock said.
Instead, these undocumented immigrants can petition for a waiver allowing them to live in the country. But in order to receive a waiver, applicants have to prove that leaving the country will cause them extreme hardship. They also have to apply for the waiver in their country of origin.
The outcome of a request for a waiver is far from certain, said Eli Kantor, an immigration attorney with 30 years experience.
"She may have a decent case to get a waiver, but you have to go to (the U.S. Consulate in) Ciudad Juarez (Mexico), and once you leave the country you can't just come back in," said Kantor, a spokesman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association who has a practice in Beverly Hills.
Attorneys say deporting illegal immigrants can be a complicated process that can take months, even years.
Denisse Harris' mother married a U.S. citizen and the family filed a petition in 2005 to legalize Denisse's status and that of her siblings. But since then, Denisse Harris' life changed -- as is common when the process is slow.
While a senior at Escondido Charter High School, she attended a party and met Charles Harris. The couple dated and fell in love, she said. They married in October 2006.
After they were married, his parents helped the couple pay for an attorney to file a new petition for Denisse Harris as the spouse of a citizen.
Cpl. Harris, 21, serves in the Marines infantry. He is scheduled to return early Wednesday morning from his second deployment to Iraq.
His parents, who are visiting from Michigan to welcome him home, said the experience has been emotionally draining.
"It's definitely a roller coaster," his mother, Colleen Harris, said Monday.
In January, Denisse Harris went to an interview in Chula Vista at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency responsible for deciding visa applications and citizenship petitions. She left the office believing that her petition to become a resident had been approved, but she later received a letter that left her unsettled.
The agency was giving her 30 days to submit evidence that she had applied for legalization prior to April 2001 in order to be grandfathered under the previous law.
"I think it's unfair. I got in the back of the line and they decide to pull the rug from underneath," she said.
Marie Sebrechts, a spokeswoman for the agency, said she could not discuss individual cases. But she said that there is help available for military families to assist in the application process.
Harris said her attorney had responded to the agency's request for additional information. That attorney did not return repeated calls for comment on this story.
Whatever the outcome, Harris, who also speaks Spanish, said is not going to give up, even if that means leaving the country to wait to be allowed back in.
"I don't want to get cookies because he's a Marine," she said. "I want to be treated fairly. I'm very lucky to be married to one, but I don't want to be treated differently."
Members of the military and their families can get immigration assistance by calling a government hotline at (877) 247-4645. Military families can also get help through the American Immigration Lawyers Association at (202) 216-2400 or on the Web at www.aila.org/military.
-- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer
Immigration struggles could mean having to leave the country
This should be a happy time for Denisse Harris. The 20-year-old wife of a Marine deployed to Iraq is expecting her husband's return to Camp Pendleton this week.
But her mind is preoccupied with the possibility that she could be deported to her native Mexico, she said.
A change in U.S. immigration law in 1996 may be partly to blame, immigration lawyers said. A provision in the law no longer allows people who are in the country illegally to legalize their status by marrying a U.S. citizen without first leaving the country.
"It's a complicated situation," said Margaret Stock, an immigration lawyer and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve. "It's very, very common in the military. It's even more common in the civilian world."
Denisse Harris said she arrived in the country illegally as a 7-year-old girl with her mother and two other siblings. She attended schools in Escondido and didn't think of herself as different from any of her peers until she realized she couldn't get a driver's license or work legally in the country.
For those who are here illegally, there are few options to become legal, immigration attorneys say. One way is through family ties; U.S. citizens can petition on behalf of their foreign-born parents or siblings. Another is by marrying a U.S. citizen, but that route became even more difficult after a 1996 change to immigration law.
Under previous laws, illegal immigrants could marry citizens and pay a fine and stay while their petition was processed. But rules that changed in 1996 and took effect in April 2001 no longer give people hoping to adjust their status the option of paying a fine unless they had an earlier petition, Stock said.
Instead, these undocumented immigrants can petition for a waiver allowing them to live in the country. But in order to receive a waiver, applicants have to prove that leaving the country will cause them extreme hardship. They also have to apply for the waiver in their country of origin.
The outcome of a request for a waiver is far from certain, said Eli Kantor, an immigration attorney with 30 years experience.
"She may have a decent case to get a waiver, but you have to go to (the U.S. Consulate in) Ciudad Juarez (Mexico), and once you leave the country you can't just come back in," said Kantor, a spokesman for the American Immigration Lawyers Association who has a practice in Beverly Hills.
Attorneys say deporting illegal immigrants can be a complicated process that can take months, even years.
Denisse Harris' mother married a U.S. citizen and the family filed a petition in 2005 to legalize Denisse's status and that of her siblings. But since then, Denisse Harris' life changed -- as is common when the process is slow.
While a senior at Escondido Charter High School, she attended a party and met Charles Harris. The couple dated and fell in love, she said. They married in October 2006.
After they were married, his parents helped the couple pay for an attorney to file a new petition for Denisse Harris as the spouse of a citizen.
Cpl. Harris, 21, serves in the Marines infantry. He is scheduled to return early Wednesday morning from his second deployment to Iraq.
His parents, who are visiting from Michigan to welcome him home, said the experience has been emotionally draining.
"It's definitely a roller coaster," his mother, Colleen Harris, said Monday.
In January, Denisse Harris went to an interview in Chula Vista at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency responsible for deciding visa applications and citizenship petitions. She left the office believing that her petition to become a resident had been approved, but she later received a letter that left her unsettled.
The agency was giving her 30 days to submit evidence that she had applied for legalization prior to April 2001 in order to be grandfathered under the previous law.
"I think it's unfair. I got in the back of the line and they decide to pull the rug from underneath," she said.
Marie Sebrechts, a spokeswoman for the agency, said she could not discuss individual cases. But she said that there is help available for military families to assist in the application process.
Harris said her attorney had responded to the agency's request for additional information. That attorney did not return repeated calls for comment on this story.
Whatever the outcome, Harris, who also speaks Spanish, said is not going to give up, even if that means leaving the country to wait to be allowed back in.
"I don't want to get cookies because he's a Marine," she said. "I want to be treated fairly. I'm very lucky to be married to one, but I don't want to be treated differently."
Members of the military and their families can get immigration assistance by calling a government hotline at (877) 247-4645. Military families can also get help through the American Immigration Lawyers Association at (202) 216-2400 or on the Web at www.aila.org/military.
-- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.
Ellie