"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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- slarabee
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- retro_Syl
- added this
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smh
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There is no country on planet earth more welcoming of immigrants than we are. None.
Our system is not perfect but the resolution of this is an example of our system working and not a fail.
This was not about a child being deported by herself. This was a choice her parents were being forced to make.
The laws that we have can be intricate. Sometimes confusing when it comes to immigration. But if you think that "loosening" those laws are a good thing to do you are sorely mistaken.
the lady says:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"She does not say however that there are no rules. No laws here. We as a nation abide by them or we face the consequences. So then must our immigrants.
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And if I seem harsh let me add to the girl and her parents:
Welcome. :)
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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.
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before you leave little girl.your both our parents in the ass for being lazy asses
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- GodsnLiberals
- 5 months ago
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lest we forget...we are all the descendants of immigrants...
even the American Indians, they just got here sooner.
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- Incredulous
- 4 months ago
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