Can anyone help? Arbitrary treatment of Polish immigrant
Below are two comments left on my IMMIGRATION WATCH blog that point to very poor treatment of a legal immigrant by the notoriously arbitrary U.S. immigration bureaucracy. I have a special feeling for the heroic people of Poland (How would YOU like to be the ham in the sandwich between Germany and Russia?) so I find this story quite upsetting. The comments can be found on this post
Debra Antoniak said on November 14, 2008
My husband, Robert Antoniak, came to the US legally. He made application for green card with his then wife, Christina. The marriage did not last and Rober and I were married Jan 2007. He has been a wonderful husband and father to my two children, one of which is severely disabled. His application for a permenant green card was denied in July 2008 based upon the opinion of a woman who appeared to be an immigrant herself. She told my husband off, took his green card and stamped “NO” on his folder. She would not allow him to speak (and he speaks perfect english) or to show her any of the documentation we had brought with us. In fact, she told me to sit “like a dog” and stay – I’m a US Citizen – I was born here…and I was shocked at how he and I were being treated. Now that she took his green card – he is unable to work. She told us we were to wait for a letter in the mail and that we could go before the Judge. It is now November and the letter has yet to arrive. My husband has been forced to leave the US and go back to Poland in an effort to find work to at least provide support to us. He left yesterday and I’ve been in tears. We love him so much. I’m trying to figure out why Poland is subject to obtaining a visa to enter? Perhaps I’m missing something? I sure hope that someone out there takes the time to fix this problem so I can have my husband back.
Debra Antoniak said on January 21, 2009
It is now January 20, 2009. My phone rings off the hook from bill collectors, they came and took Robert’s truck and my car is next. I’ve had to make application for food stamps and any other welfare program I can find. Robert supported our family. Caring for my disabled daughter makes it impossible for me to find and keep a job. I’m trying to keep the mortgage payments up to date, but my money has run out. Robert is not fairing well in Poland either, so he can not send money back to us. It is middle of winter there and not much construction work going on. So, I mailed letters to every politition I could think of last week. No response yet, but I’m hopeful – I have nothing left but hope. I pray that someone with importance/influence will find and read our story. We love and miss you Robert.
(For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, DISSECTING LEFTISM, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, EYE ON BRITAIN and Paralipomena . List of backup or “mirror” sites here or here — for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is “down” or failing to update. My Home Pages are here or here or here. Email me (John Ray) here.)
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Posted by JonJayRay on January 21, 2009 3:20 am
» Filed Under Fed Immigration Law, News
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3 Responses to “Can anyone help? Arbitrary treatment of Polish immigrant”
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Syndicate Me
The United States has a terrible attitude toward the Polish who love us, and need visa just to visit, but when it comes to the French, who hate us, we’ll bend over backwards to have them.
Why? Polish women are the some of the worlds hottest, and the men work. And they love the United States. This story makes me sick.
It looks like a simple case of ” Married for a Green Card” in the case of the 1st wife. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book and the immigration official saw right through it.
He came here legally? On what type of Visa? A K1 (to marry within 90 days), or a K3 (already married)? Married less than 2 years to the initial wife? Then it’s a conditional green card. Conditional in that he has to stay married for two years from entry or adjustment, plus show that they are a “bonafide” married couple. Sounds like a bad divorce where the initial wife didn’t attend the 2 year interview, thus he couldn’t meet the criteria to remove the conditions. The Immig. officer denied him and put him into immigration proceedings. He miraculously re-married and another wife petitioned for him. Because he was in deportation proceedings the second marriage to a US Citizen can’t save him from immigration court. That’s a common scenario.
OTOH if he came as a B1 or B2 visitor (the most common alien visa), then he isn’t really legal. Typically they get to stay 6 months, although how many people can go anywhere and visit for 6 months unless they are retired. When you apply for those visas you have to convince the US consular officer that you are just going to visit or lie to them about your intentions. Fraud is the legal term. Either way the split with wife #1 worked against him.
Who knows what really happened? CIS is a gov’t institution and we know that the Gov’t hires a mixed bag of people, some good and bad.
Maybe this guy is a good guy but he definitely fit a pattern of people from all over the world who wll do anything to come and stay in the US using the marry an American scam.
Believe it or not the system is setup to approve applications. Denials take a lot of research and work, whereas an approval takes very little time and makes the officer look more efficient.
The fact that this guy actually left shows that he’s probably a decent guy. A lot of them just hang around, get a lawyer and file endless motions or pay some American to have a kid. But that’s another story.