June 20, 2007
Opinionist: Alex Jimenez' Wife Might Be Deported
The US government is considering deporting the wife of Alex Jimenez, the soldier from Lawrence who has been missing in Iraq since May 12. Jimenez is a citizen of the United States. His wife, Yaderlin, is not. She came here illegally from the Dominican Republic, and they married. She was in the process of getting a green card, but, according to WBZ, an immigration judge stopped the process when Alex Jimenez went missing. Her lawyer is saying that, if she is deported, she will have to wait 10 years until she can apply again.
Jimenez requested a green card for his wife. He was looking out for her. He actually followed the law, and this is what he gets? For all the talk about the importance of entering the states legally, why bother if it is so difficult? Based on what we know (granted, there may be some things we don't know), it appears that Alex and Yaderlin Jimenez did everything right – the citizen and the immigrant got married, they asked for the green card, and they monitored the situation. But that's precisely what got them into trouble with the government.
More important, is this how the US thanks the family of a soldier who is missing and who may have made the ultimate sacrifice for his country? Is this how we support our troops? By deporting – or even thinking about deporting - their wives?
Raw Story reports that Senator John Kerry has acted and wrote a letter to Department of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff.
Kerry wrote: "As Yaderlin waits to hear what has happened to her husband I ask that she be allowed to stay in our country. I believe this is a very real test of our government’s compassion for a military family which has already made enormous sacrifices for the United States.”
There's a lot of hot air puffing up the immigration debate right now. But it seems like a no-brainer that anyone putting themselves in harm's way by fighting in Iraq is a citizen – not just a citizen, but an uber-citizen. And the same goes for their families.
Army image of Alex Jimenez. We didn't have access to it, but a beautiful image of Alex and Yaderlin Jimenez by Susanne Opton is here.
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This is a tough one. If congress allows the wife to stay, then many others will step up and ask for their partner to stay. They have to uphold the law and act on it however bad it hurts. If the wife is a illegal immigrant, then the law must be abided by. I hope this matter is not "staged" to push the amnesty bill through.