ICE Priority – Deporting Wives/Mothers

After the story of Brian and Anya last week, here is yet another American family ripped apart in similar fashion by the ridiculous nature of U.S. immigration law.

From the El Paso Times:

Robert Hosey, 26, said Border Patrol agents detained his wife Sunday and told her she would be deported because she had violated the terms of her student visa.
He cried during an interview Tuesday when he related what happened.
His wife, Araisa Patu Hosey, 27, a native of the Independent State of Samoa, also known as Western Samoa, came to the United States to attend school before she met and married Robert Hosey. Her country is not part of American Samoa, which is a U.S. territory.
“When they asked us our citizenship at the checkpoint near Sierra Blanca (68 miles east of El Paso), she showed them her passport and student visa,” Hosey said.
“They said she had violated her visa because it had expired, and they took her away. They want to deport her immediately.”
Leticia Zamarripa, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso, said Araisa Patu Hosey was arrested by the Border Patrol and was in ICE custody.
“She is undergoing removal proceedings,” Zamarripa said. “All detainees are medically evaluated and housed accordingly. For privacy reasons, we cannot release more details about her condition.”
Hosey said he visited his wife Monday at the El Paso Service Processing Center in East El Paso.
He said he and his wife had lived together before they got married about six months ago in Ontario, Calif.
They did not know that simply getting married in the U.S. did not allow her to remain in the country legally.
We did not check with the U.S. immigration office before we got married,” Hosey said. “I lost my job at Disneyland and I also worked as a bellman at a hotel. I got hurt, and things just got too hard in California to make it financially. I was hoping to find another job in San Antonio.”
Hosey said he had enough money to stay one more day at a motel in El Paso. He said his 10-month-old son, Merit Michael Hosey, must be fed a special formula.

If Hosey’s wife is deported, it could take up to 3 years to file a I-601 hardship waiver to get her back into the United States. In the meantime, we are ripping a baby from his mother and also deporting a future U.S. citizen, who will likely be born and grow up without proper medical care and facilities.

Thank you ICE. We all feel much safer now.