Good immigrants/bad immigrants

In the early morning hours of May 12th, about a dozen Iraqi insurgents ambushed a small Army outpost in the village of Quarghouli in the Sunni Triangle. With a volley of rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire it wasn't long before they overwhelmed the seven soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division.

By the time a relief force reached the site, four US servicemen and their Iraqi Army interpreter lay dead. The fate of the other three soldiers was unknown, but there was evidence that they had been abducted. Within hours, a group calling itself Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia announced that it was not only responsible for the ambush, but was holding the three missing Americans.

A massive search effort was initiated utilizing 4000 US soldiers, 2,000 Iraqi troops, helicopters, search dogs and FBI interrogators. In the following days the manhunt was massive, homes were searched , canals drained, hundreds interrogated, and many arrested …but still no sign of the missing soldiers. Two more servicemen lost their lives in the search effort, but to no avail

Eleven days later, the body of 20-year-old private first class, Joseph Anzack, of Torrance, California, was found about 30 miles down river floating face down in the Euphrates. He had been shot multiple times and there were signs of tortured.

The fate of the two other missing servicemen – Alex R. Jimenez, a 25-year-old specialist from Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Byron R. Fouty, of Waterford, Michigan, a 19-year-old private who had been in Iraq only a few weeks, - is still unknown.(1)

It's against this backdrop that we now learn that Jimenez's wife, Yaderlin, whom he married in 2004, is facing deportation.

Yaderlin Hiraldo, is a native of the Dominican Republican who first met her husband during his childhood visits to the island, but according to her attorney, Matthew Kolken, the 22 year old had entered the U.S. illegally prior to marrying him. It was when he requested a green card and legal residence status for her, that authorities were first alerted to her situation.

Despite Spec. Jimenez's status as a US citizen and active duty serviceman, the fact the Yaderlin had entered illegally meant that she would now have to return home and wait ten years before reapplying.

"I can't imagine a bigger injustice than that, to be deporting someone's wife who is fighting and possibly dying for our country," said Kolken in an interview with a local TV.

An immigration judge has put a temporary stop to the proceedings since Spec. Jimenez was reported missing. The soldier's wife is now living with family members in Pennsylvania.

U.S. forces continue to search for Spec.Jimenez, 25, and a comrade, Pvt. Brian Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich.

The soldiers' identification cards were found in an al-Qaeda safe house north of Baghdad, along with video production equipment, computers and weapons, the U.S. military said Saturday. An al-Qaeda front group claimed in a video posted on the Internet earlier this month that the soldiers were killed and buried, and showed images of the ID's. The video offered no proof of their fates.

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This sad case goes to highlight one of the biggest problems with the current discussions revolving around immigration reform. All too often we hear opponents of reform digging in their heels and talking tough about the "rule of law."

How often have we heard about their opposition being limited to "illegal" immigrants while claiming support for those who "do it the right way." They like to try to compartmentalize immigrants, and immigrant families into these two very black and white groups. The "good" immigrants" who wait their turn and the "bad immigrants" who enter improperly. But it's not so cut and dry.

As anyone who truly knows anything about the current immigrant experience can attest, the lines are hazy at best.

Within families, there can be all gradations of legality from citizens, to LPR's to the undocumented all living under the same roof. Husbands and wives with different status. Siblings, parents, aunts, uncles or cousins, all having differing legal status.

In a system that can leave legal permanent residents waiting ten years to bring in children or spouses and naturalized citizens up to twenty to bring in a sibling or parent, it is no wonder that even the most "law abiding" immigrant has someone close to them that is at constant risk of arrest and deportation.

This situation appears to be lost on those opposed to immigration reform.

During last years marches and rallies that brought millions into the streets to protest for reform, those from the right insisted on calling the demonstrations "illegal allien marches", or "illegal immigrant demonstrations." As if to imply that only those who are "law breakers" would be demanding reform.

But this could not be further from the truth. This issue effects the lives of many whom Lou Dobbs or Bill O'Rielly would deem "good immigrants" ….."good immigrants" like Spec. Alex Jimenez.

(1) Details of ambush-abduction courtesy of Shaun Mullen of Kiko's House...for more "Triangle of Death Search: A Final Report"

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Senate Republicans shift funds from Iraq war budget to border security.

On Wednesday in a party line vote of 59 to 39, Senate Republicans passed an amendment to trim $1.9 billion from President Bush's emergency spending request for the Iraq war and Katrina relief. According to the amendment sponsored by Judd Gray (R-NH) the funds would be used in increase border security.

The money would be used by the Border Patrol and Coast Guard for new airplanes, helicopters, patrol boats, communications equipment and vehicles as well as border checkpoints and a fence along the Mexico border crossing near San Diego. The legislation also includes money to replace the U.S. border protection agency's only unmanned surveillance aircraft, which crashed Tuesday in Arizona.


tags: immigration, Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, funding Iraq, Frist, S. 2454

"This bill is about national defense, especially relative to terrorism," said Senator Judd Gregg, the New Hampshire Republican who is the amendment's lead sponsor. "And, yes, fighting the war in Iraq is critical to this war on terrorism. Fighting the war in Afghanistan is critical to this war on terrorism. But I have to think equally important is making sure that our borders are secure."

New York Times

"The purpose of this amendment is to basically give the people who are defending us on our borders -- the border security agents, the Customs agents, the Coast Guard -- the tools they need to their job right," added Gregg, "We can bring the border under control and we're on a path to do that."

Bloomberg

The move was in sharp contrast to the Republican's usual strong support for the Presidents funding efforts for the Iraq War, which in the past they have been adamant about giving the highest priority to. Three Republicans voted against the shift in money, seven Democrats voted for it and two Democrats did not vote.


In a reversal of roles, the Democrats quickly questioned the wisdom of the cuts, claiming that the Republicans were shortchanging the war effort for quick political gain. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) called the cuts "a false, cheap choice to secure political points" and that Gregg's cuts would "take money from troop pay, body armor and even the joint improvised explosive device defeat fund. Now that is a false choice and it is a wrong choice."

``Border security is an urgent need and it should and must be addressed by this Congress,'' said Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democrat from New York. ``But our security and our values are not served by choosing between protecting our troops and protecting our homeland.''

A Democratic alternative proposal, which would have made paid for the border security equipment without cutting defense programs, was rejected on a 54-44 vote.

Bloomberg

This change in Republican tactics comes as Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) tries to unite his party behind the pending immigration reform legislation that is at present stalled in the Senate.

As the poll numbers continue to show, the vast majority of Americans now favor an immigration policy that allows for some sort of "earned citizenship" or "amnesty".

It appears that Frist is starting to have to come to grips with this fact and this border spending amendment appears to be part of an effort to garner favor with the "enforcement only" wing of the party.

With their eyes towards November, this move to add 1.9 million to the already 9 million budget for the border is an attempt to provide some political cover for the right-wingers. It appears now that it will be impossible stop comprehensive reform in the Senate, so this is a bone thrown to them to take home to their constituents and say they have implemented "tough new border security measures."

It would seem that the Republican leadership are willing to put themselves in the position where Clinton, Schumer and Harry Reid can accuse them of "shortchanging the troops, and the war effort" in order to put the immigration issue behind them. Having brought this issue to the forefront in an effort to created a distraction to take voters minds off their general disenchantment with Republican policies, it appears the "immigration issue" has now backfired and blown up in their faces.

At this point they would rather go home and defend their cutting of military spending for the mess in Iraq rather than go home empty handed from the immigration table.

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