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Introduction
Sandra is a US citizen and has been in the country for almost 20 years. She is Jamaican and originally came to the US with her first husband, who was American. Sandra’s second husband John (not his real name) is also Jamaican. John has a green card, and he and Sandra have two children born in the United States. In July, John returned to Jamaica to watch his daughter from a previous marriage graduate. When he came back on July 10, he was questioned by authorities in Atlanta. They asked him to provide paperwork in reference to a prior arrest in 2004. John’s 2004 arrest had gotten him 12 months probation, which he completed with no problems. He also paid his fine and never had to go to jail. John brought the paperwork to Homeland Security on August 13th, as requested, and was immediately detained.
Sandra and John never knew that John was at risk to be detained. They never knew of any threat or the law regarding a past criminal conviction as means for deportation. John had just renewed his green card. He was never told that he might be detained. On arrival at Homeland Security, he was not allowed to see anyone, not even Sandra. The officers called Sandra to come get his things.
An entire family affected
Since then, John has been detained at a center 3.5 hours away from her house in Georgia. When Sandra makes the grueling 7 hour round trip visit to see him, she can only stay for 1 hour and must sit on the other side of a glass wall. Sandra would understand this measure if John was a hardened criminal. But he is not, so she finds this separation unnecessary. John has had a job as a Service Consultant for many years – he is a hard worker, not a criminal.
John is not happy in the detention center. Sandra warned authorities when they moved him to the center that he needed glasses or he wouldn’t be able to read. Authorities would not let Sandra give him glasses. She had to go through a long process of calling many people in order to figure out how to get the glasses to him. Sandra mailed the glasses. Two weeks later, John had to ask if they had come in yet. The package had arrived; the jail simply had not given John his mail.
John’s detention has tremendously affected the entire family. John was the bread winner for his family. John’s 13-year-old daughter has not gone a day without crying since her father was taken away. His 18-year-old son is a freshman in college and has taken on two jobs to help the family. Sandra is still working, but John has lost his job. By the end of the month, the family will lose their insurance. Their house was just mortgaged last year. When you add the many hours it takes to commute to see their father/husband, the effects of detention are in no ways small.
“I wish someone had told us”
Since being detained, John really has no timeline. His immigration hearing will take place this month, and no one knows what will happen. Sandra has spoken to many lawyers. She was advised to finally hire a criminal lawyer who can potentially help. However, he has not been able to do anything for over a month. Sandra wishes that more people in her situation were informed. If she and her husband had known about the laws, he could have gotten his citizenship when he could. For all the immigrants out there, Sandra wants you to know what is going on. Become informed so that you can hopefully avoid the same situation.
