Community | June 27, 2009 | 6 comments

U.S. relents in 11 year-old girl's deportation case

source: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/06/26/georgia.girl.deportation/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

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Eleven-year-old Ewelina Bledniak was looking at a year split from her parents, friends, and everything she loves about living in America. The federal government was ready to deport Ewelina to her native Poland because when she was 3 years old, the family missed a deadline to file a key immigration document.

"I love going to school here, and my friends, I'm going to miss them," Ewelina said as she worried about being deported. "I like living here."

But things are looking up. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorney last week asked the U.S. Immigration Court in Atlanta, Georgia, to reopen Ewelina's case and terminate the deportation proceeding ICE had initiated. The motion asks the court to send the case back to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for resolution.

"They seem to be willing to find a favorable solution to this matter," said Ewelina's attorney, Maria Odom of Atlanta. "... It's good news for the child, absolutely."

Her father, Hubert, came to the United States legally and is a naturalized U.S. citizen; and her mother, Agnieszka (Agnes), also arrived legally and is a legal resident. Ewelina is neither.

Under a temporary amnesty program at the turn of the 21st century, illegal immigrants could seek legal status without returning to their home countries. However, a previous lawyer for the Bledniak family missed an April 2001 deadline to file the petition, the Bledniaks say.

Years later, when it authorities realized Ewelina had never achieved her legal status, ICE ordered her to return to Poland to apply for legal U.S. residency through the U.S. Embassy there. "That process could have taken a year," Odom said.

"The government gave Ewelina until July 23 to leave the country voluntarily; after that date, she would be deported and ineligible to return to the United States for 10 years," Odom said. The family has booked a July 20 flight to Warsaw, Poland, where the parents planned to stay for a few weeks before leaving the girl with her maternal grandmother while the immigration process played out.
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6 comments // U.S. relents in 11 year-old girl's deportation case

  • Incredulous
  • GodsnLiberals
  • bleem411
    • 0
      bleem411  

    • I really think this is ridiculous. If a child (under the age of 18) has two parents, legally here then she should have automatic citizenship until she is able to care for her self deemed by the state she lives in. She is 11. What if she had no relatives in Poland? How is an 11 year old supposed to care for herself? I doubt that Polands orphanages would or be willing to take the iniciative(sp) to try and get those papers filed for her. She is in effect defecting. Without her parents there are terrible atrocities that could happen to her. 11 or not most countries don't like it when their citizens defect.

    • 2 years ago
  • TravG73
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