Man with bloody chainsaw let in, but not my grandmother

[Ravenseye]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/07/border.crossing.ap/index.html

They let this psycho in the country, but my grandmother is going to have to go back to Iraq. She got out by car a few months ago and stayed in a hotel in Jordan while my Uncle and Aunt in Australia pulled some strings to get her a 6 month visa down under. She's been staying with them since. But that 6 month visa is expiring and we've been trying to get her a U.S. one to no avail. They've been giving her a run around. Fill this form out and send it in. Fill this form out. Did you pay this fee? Pay the fee again. Fill out this form. We never got that form from you, can you fill it out again. Sorry we can't give you a visa you didn't pay the fee.

Two of her children, four of her grandchildren, and her only two great grandchildren are americans living in america, but she comes from Iraq. It doesn't matter that she's lived in the states on two separate occasions, has had a green card in the past, and has most of her decendants living here. She's an iraqi and she's dangerous.

She's also 80 years old and can't move all that fast.

She's petrified of returning to Baghdad. I could hear it in her voice when I talked to her last weekend on the phone. She's scared out of her mind, but she doesn't know what else she can do.

This story makes me so angry on a personal level.

Does anyone have any connections with the immigration department?

[formercia]

1. But your Grandmother is too old to join the Military

on the other hand, a guy with a sword, brass knuckles and a bloody chainsaw is already trained to go to Iraq.

[Ravenseye]

4. Yeah but she's iraqi

They probably think she's going to waddle into an old folks home with dynamite strapped to her chest.

Seriously though, it sounds like they won't let her in the country because she comes from such a hellish place they doubt she'll leave when her visa is up.

Ie, they have no problem letting her in per se, but just don't think she'll leave becuase where her home is (ie Iraq) is a nightmare. Nice to see that while our leaders are trumpeting how wonderfull everyhthing is there, our immigration department still considers it one of the worst places on earth.

[CottonBear]

2. Write, call and e-mail your senators and congressmen.

Sometimes, they can help.

My student intern couldn't get travel papers to LEAVE the USA. She and her family escaped Bosnia (Mom is Christian and Dad is Muslim) and now live here and have green cards. They are applying for citizenship. She had planned to got to Sweden, Croatia and Germany to visit her grandmom and other realtives last summer. She couldn't go because they told her it would be over 500 days until the travel papers (sort of a temporary passport for non-citizens.) The family refuses to apply for Bosnian passports for moral reasons.) She wrote the GA senators but neither Zell Miller nor Saxby Chambliss could/would help her.

BTW, the girl is brilliant and has a scholarship to Georgia Tech where she is an engineering student. She was an almost straight A student in high school who took all of the advanced, honors and AP classes offered. She also speaks three languages fluently (English. Serbo-Croatian and German).

edit: She was fianlly able to travel this summer.

Good luck to you and your grandmother.

[Ravenseye]

3. I have

no reponses yet from any of them...Every member of my family has contacted their representatives to no avail.

Makes me question the democratic party. I mean, I didn't expect Santorum to give a shit about my grandmother, but I have family in places with some prominent Dems..ah well..

I'll send new letters, but it's almost too late now. She's got a month left and has to go back. The only way they even got her into Austrailia is by pulling strings.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. Try a local reporter

Assuming you're not in the Santorum-loving part of the state. If there are enough of your relatives concentrated in say the Philly area, you might be able to land one of the human interest spots, and casually mentioning that you contacted Santorum's office can't hurt since he's lagging in the polls and may suddenly be interested.

Your poor grandmother. With so much family here, can you collectively hire an immigration attorney? You don't have time for amateur approaches.