Deporting Soldier's Wife-No Problem-She's Illegal

This case shows how out of whack the immigration system is.

While Petty Officer Eduardo Gonzalez is being shipped everseas for the third time, his wife Mildred is in danger of being shipped back to Guatemala. He told CNN "I like being in uniform and serving my country, but if she goes back I'm going to have to give it all up and just get out and take care of my son and get a job," and  "Defending the country that's trying to kick my family out is a thought that always runs through my mind."

In September United States Citizen Gonzalez testified before Congress that he is proud to serve, plans to reenlist but claims that he is unable to give 100% while he's worried about his wife and son being deported back to a country where she is not familiar with the culture, language or society.

According to the testimony, Mildred came to the U.S. with her family when she was 5 years old. The couple got married in 2001. She had been on her mothers application for legalization, and if she had waited to marry for 6 more weeks she would have had her green card in 2004, along with her mother's application. Ironically, because she married her soldier husband, she is now in deportation proceedings. Because of ignorance of our complicated immigration laws or because of bad advice, the rest of her life is in jeopardy. In June 2007 a judge gave Mildred a 1 year extension to remain in the U.S. Then she will have 60 days to voluntarily leave the country or face deportation.

This created a situation where Eduardo Gonzalez felt compelled to ask,
"If I can die for my country, then why am I not allowed to just be with my family?" Good question.

He also testified that there are many soldiers with the same situation, but that they are afraid to come forward because they fear the consequences. Imagine that. In kind of a surreal way, this reminds me of the Japanese internment during WWII (as portrayed in Ken Burns' documentary "The War").

Gonzalez also testified that he and Mildred are also worried that his testifying might have a negative impact on them, but they felt that by him telling their story it might help others in same situation. Talk about military Heroes.

Lt. Col. Margaret Stock, an immigration law teacher at West Point thinks there should a policy for dealing with the potential deportation of family members of active duty military members. Is she asking that our immigration laws make sense?

"You got to understand. When you're in a combat zone, you need to be focusing all of your energies on fighting the enemy. You can't be worried that your loved ones back home could be shipped off to a foreign country where you're never going to see them again," Stock said.

According to Stock, the government is supposed to be providing military families with assistance, housing and other benefits while their spouses are overseas, not deporting them.

"What's happening right now is, because of the dysfunction and complexity of our immigration laws, we've got people fighting overseas who are facing the impossible situation of having family members facing deportation back home," she said. Talk about another military Hero.

That's just fine with the anti immigrant Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which lobbies for tougher laws on illegal immigration. He thinks this would be "amnesty for illegal immigrants who have a relative in the armed forces, and that's just outrageous," and it would be "letting lawbreakers get away with their actions just because they have a relative in the military. ... There's no justification for that kind of policy". Sounds like a few of the loud anti immigrant Dkos members. Doesn't it? " Is there such a word as Unhero?

U.S. Rep. Charles Gonzalez TX-20 put it perfectly when he explained "The immigration debate in our country has inaccurately portrayed and unfairly targeted the immigrant population in America.  This community has become a scapegoat for anti-immigrant sentiments and as a result, we've lost sight of the real problems with our broken policy.  As we move forward, we must set aside the hateful and polarizing political rhetoric that has dominated this debate and instead, focus on developing sensible, comprehensive solution to our immigration crisis". Couldn't have said it better myself.

Go Eduardo Gonzalez, go Lt. Col. Margaret Stock.  Fight the good fight. You're already heroes in my eyes.