10 months

It has been 10 months since Jose was ripped out of our lives. Almost a year! Cairo has since grown up some and his little personality has really started to shine. He's become this little man with such a strong personality, I really wish Jose was here to see that. The household responsibilities have, of course, become all mine. From washing dishes, cooking, to mowing the lawn and shoveling the snow. Cairo helps in what ever he can, I'm not sure if it's because he feels a need to help or because he thinks it looks fun and wants to try doing something himself.

Even though it's been almost a year since Jose has set a single foot in this house his absence is just as strongly felt. When we go grocery shopping or when we sit around watching movies on the weekend, he is sorely missed. The emptiness is still there, following us around were ever we go. I've gotten to know his family more now.  I've seen my brother-in-law and his family and my sister-in-law and her family more in the last months than in the 10 years I've been with Jose.  They are great and I love hanging out with them and Cairo is just ecstatic with his cousins and uncles and aunts. No matter how much we see them, no matter how many dinners and outings and movies we watch together and games we play together the hole is still there.

Friday night I had to tell Jose about the monster. He was hurt really bad, he was angry and disappointed. I can't imagine what he must be going through.  It's hard enough to be out here and to feel that disappointment, but we're free. He's locked up with no way to express his emotions, he can't just walk it off or cry into a pillow or hug someone. He's trapped.

Now what? Well, we will be in immigration court tomorrow afternoon.  The judge will want to know what happened with this case from Friday and we will have to tell him that we were denied. Mr. Little B. will do what he can to stall to give Tim time to work and is even planning on challenging the supreme court decision that says probation is a conviction even though state says it's not.  There is also an amendment out there to the Post-Conviction Relief Act that is being supported by many groups, like the CBA.  Mr. Little B and others began this process some time ago and now they are looking for a sponsor for the amendment.  As I described before there are limitations to the Act as it is now. We want an amendment that will allow people to bring forth a petition under the act when ever the find out their rights were violated, as in Joses case.  This doesn't mean that anyone will be able to get their cases vacated.  It means people who believe their rights were violated will be able to at least get their foot in the door to be heard, and if it is found that their rights were violated and their cases are vacated it means the charges *can* be brought back and they might have to fight their case all over again. So it's not an eraser it's a basically a do over for people whose rights have been violated.

9 months

We just passed the 9 month mark of our family being separated by inhumane immigration laws.  What has happened up until now has at times made us feel hopeful, hopeless and in some instances made us want to just say f**k it.

We are still trying to bring my Gordo home but we are running out of time.  His next immigration court is next week and I just want this to be all over.  I want him to be home, I want our lives to be back to normal.  The affects on Cairo have not diminished even though he is much more vocal and expresses his feelings more.  He needs to be a regular 6 year old that has both his parents at his side.  I just can't wait to see that day come, when I can tell my son that his daddy is finally coming home.

I've come to appreciate Jose so much more during this time.  As I told him in one of my recent letters, it's not because he takes out the garbage or because he helps out around the house or rescues me from spiders.  It's because he's my best friend. He's the one that makes me feel better when I'm down and helps me find a solution to any problem.  He's the one I need now during this time, not only to comfort me but so that we can tackle this situation head on together.

Today the administration announced more immigration policy changes.  Basically immigrants and their families can apply for waivers against the 3-20 year bars many are being faced with.  It's a great start and I really hope this helps out a lot of people I know who are now living in exile because of these ridiculous bars.  What bothers me is that there are so many who are basically ignored when it comes to policy change.  So far none of the policy changes made would help my family and many other families who are facing PERMANENT bars from the country.  Is it too hard to ask ICE and the federal government to at least respect state level laws when it comes to their definition of "conviction"?  They have split up immigrants into good immigrants and bad immigrants.  The problem with this is that their definition of "bad" immigrants aka those who have committed "crimes" is so broad that it is hurting people who are no threat to the community or this country.

None U.S. Citizens aka anyone with or without a valid VISA who have made poor choices in their past are now facing being barred from the country.  I'm not talking about people who have committed murder or rape or any type of violent crime.  I'm talking about people who might have driven a friend to buy a controlled substance or a person who accidentally walked out of a store without paying for one of their items.  Or someone who just made a dumb mistake that landed him in state court.  If they admit to their guilt they state normally gives them a slap on the wrist, but that slap on the wrist is enough for ICE to come looking for them, detain them, deport them and never let them back in the country even if they are married to a U.S. Citizen or have U.S. Citizen children.  Is that really fair?  Is it fair for a person who is married to a U.S. Citizen to be exiled from the country for a moment of poor judgement that was not violent or harmed anyone?  Is it fair to destroy a family over something so minor?  If the state can give that person a slap on the wrist why can't DHS?  I'm not only talking about people who have entered the country un-inspected, I'm talking about people who have student VISAS, vistors VISAS, people who are lawful permanent Residents.  Anyone who is not a U.S. Citizen can find themselves in this situation.

Again, don't get me wrong. I think these policy changes are good and hopefully will help a lot of people.  It's just that there are a lot of people who are left out and no one is really fighting for them.

As an update on the law we, we is too many, Mr. Little B and his committee, are trying to change.. it was voted upon yesterday.  I was invited to be present for the second presentation.  I don't know the results of the vote yet but from the questions and comments I'm guessing they are supporting the change.  At this point I believe they will asking the support of another group in the CBA, which I hope will also be in favor.  Once this has happened they will be looking for a legislative sponsor and there will be full blown petition signing and call your reps type of thing going on.  I'm really hoping this passes, so many people can be helped by this change in IL.

Attorney number 3 ?

As some may know and many others may not know, if you plead guilty to a crime, regardless of how minor, and you are a none U.S. Citizen you will be deported and exiled from the country, because it is a "conviction" under immigration law.  In some cases people are told to plead guilty because it is the easy way out and they will not serve time.  Which may be a great deal for a U.S. Citizen but if you are not, it can have dire consequences in the future.  People who are none Citizens are served a double punishment, the one that is dished for the crime and the other dished by immigration.  This means that a U.S. Permanent Resident, who has been in the country for 15 years and pleads guilty to petty theft, like stealing a snickers bar from a convenient store, or for a traffic violation, or possession of a minimal amount of a drug, this would get misdemeanor charges or very minor felony charges but then after pleading guilty they would be deported and barred from ever re-entering the country.  This seems extremely harsh form something so minor, but it is the reality of what many none Citizens are facing.  This page pretty much describes it better than I ever can.

The good news is by law a none Citizen must be advised of the immigration consequences before entering a plea of guilty, otherwise it is a violation of their rights and in many, if not all, states you are allowed to go back and have your case reviewed so that if your rights were violated and you can prove that if you would have plead not guilty the outcome of the case would have been different you can fix it and remove the conviction.  The bad news is most people don't even know their rights were violated until they are picked up by immigration years after the fact which isn't a problem in some states but if you live in Illinois like we do, it is a major problem.  In Illinois, the only way you can go back and have your case reviewed for rights violations or for a judge to have jurisdiction to review it is if you fall under one of the following:

1. If you are on probation for the crime in question
2. If you are on parole for the crime in question
3. If you are in state custody for the crime in question

Considering that most people do not find out about the immigration consequences until they are arrested by immigration officers which can be years later, many none Citizens are facing deportation and are blocked from any type of relief.  So it doesn't matter if they are married to U.S. Citizens or have U.S. Citizen children or if they served in the military or how long they have been in the country, they will be deported and barred from the country.

This is what we are facing.  Jose is not going to get a 10-20 year punishment, he's going to be exiled and even though he's been in the country for 17 years and he has a U.S. Citizen wife and child, he has no way to fight his case.  Even though he pleaded guilty to a minor charge he will be exiled because it's been six years since he pleaded guilty and he doesn't fall under the requirements to have his case reviewed. I've sent letters to the States Attorneys Office, I've actually gotten a response but even though they are sympathetic, they refuse to help us. 

Last week I was present at the Chicago Bar Association Legislative Committee meeting.  I was invited by Mr. Little B because he and another attorney were presenting an amendment they want to make to Illinois law that would allow anyone to come back at have their cases reviewed if their rights have been violated regardless of when they find out about it.  As it is now, someone who has been sitting in prison for 18 years on a 20 year sentence can have their cases reviewed but someone who as has completed a 5 year sentence can not.  The change would not mean that these cases would be thrown out, it would just allow them to be heard in the first place.  This amendment would greatly help Jose but I don't if it will be in time.  After this meeting I stopped by to see Mr. L. and asked him about Joses other case.  He basically said that we are facing a brick wall and he didn't want to try to get our case reviewed because we'd be blocked right away because of the jurisdiction issue.

This is where attorney number 3 comes in, that will be a total of 4 attorneys working on Jose's case.  Criminal and Immigration wise, not to mention the countless I spoke to before I hired anyone.   I spoke with Mr. Little B. shortly after talking to Mr. L.  He basically said to get a second opinion and he referred me to another criminal attorney, let's call him Mr. R. .  I told him I don't know how speaking to another attorney will change the current laws.  His response was: just like you get a second opinion for a health issue you get one for a legal issue, call him.  So I called, the consultation is free.  The attorney he's referred me to has been successful at these cases, as a matter a fact he recently won a very similar case not too long ago.  This kind of gives me a little more hope.  I've sent him all the relevant documents over the weekend but I have not heard from him yet.   I called him earlier today but he was not available.  I'm crossing my fingers that something good will come of this.  Wish us luck!

Laws Shmaws & my trip to the ER

Last week Jose had court for his immigration case.  It could have gone two ways. Either the judge was going to grant yet another extension or he was going to deny it and have us enter a plea.  Thankfully he granted the extension based on the petition the other attorney submitted.  Jose has a "conviction" from six years ago, even though it's not a conviction under Illinois law it sure hells is under immigration law and would bar him from returning to the U.S. for life.  So we are trying to vacate that conviction.

Today we went to Illinois criminal court to try and get the judge to look at our case and get the ball rolling to vacate the case.  There ar laws in place that allow for this...I don't know what they are, what matters is that the attorneys do, anyway we stood in front of the judge this morning to make our case.  Mr. Little B, John & myself.  We were confident, we were within the bounds of the law, nothing fishy going on, we were asking that is within Illinois law, the law was on our side and the judge totally shot us down.  John made our case, our family is being torn apart, the consequence is hugely disporportionate to the conviction and his response was "You can appeal the decision but I'm not gonna do it".  John argued, and by argued I mean ARGUED, we were within legal right of the law. I haven't gotten the transcript yet but the judge said something a kin to he was not there follow the law. John argued some more saying something like "hellllooo we're in court, what else are we supposed to be doing?". I'll update this post with the real quotes once I get the transcripts.  We were dismissed. "You can say what you want but you will not change my mind" said the judge.  Honestly, I thought John was going to be held in contempt.  As a matter of fact, he was prepared with someone to get him out if he were to have gotten himself arrested in court.  What do we do now? I'm not sure, but when John and Mr. Little B were talking they were mustering up another plan.  Hopefully this one will have positive results.

For the last several days I've had this tightening pain in my chest.  Today I was sent to the ER by my doctors office to get checked out.  Thankfully everything checked out ok. The whole time while I was half naked in a hospital gown I kept thinking how Jose should be there with me. The tears just flowed as the nurse asked me if I had problems at home, why I was stressed, if everything is ok. I told her Jose was being deported, she said "that's stressful" and that was that.  All the tests came back good and I was free to go. The sick part was that I hoped something was wrong with me, maybe it would help Jose come home.