 |
Donald Trump returned to the presidency in large part because of what he called an “invasion” of immigrants at the Southern border. Democrats didn’t take the problem as seriously as they should have, and as a result of that – and the debacle over President Joe Biden’s declining health, of course – they lost the White House.
After the election, large swaths of America cited the border as a key reason why they voted for Trump. Even many progressives were ready to kick out the criminals, gang members and other “bad hombres” who illegally entered our country and hurt our citizens.
What many people were not ready for is some of the heartbreaking accounts of people who had run into U.S. Immigrations & Customs Enforcement – especially among families with members who honorably served in the U.S. military. Here are three examples.
- Sae Joon Park moved to the United States from South Korea when he was 7 years old and had legal permanent residency under a green card. At age 19, he joined the U.S. Army and fought in Panama during the Noriega war in 1989. He was shot twice during combat and was awarded a Purple Heart for bravery.
Park returned home only to suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. He turned to drugs to cope, which led to serving 2½ years in prison. However, Park turned his life around – he became a loving father to his two children, and cares for his aging parents and aunts.
However, on June 23, Park again showed love for his country by not resisting and self-deporting to South Korea.
Danicole Ramos, Park’s attorney, told Gray Media, “In every sense of him, he is an American but by paper. We have a veteran who took a bullet for this country, who fought and swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States – even though he wasn’t a citizen of it.”
- Marine Corps veteran Adrian Clouatre doesn’t know how to tell his 2-year-old boy and 3-month-old girl, who was still breastfeeding, where their mother went after ICE officers detained her last month, according to The Associated Press. His wife, Paola, is a 25-year-old Mexican national whose mother brought her into the country seeking asylum more than a decade ago.
Even as Marine Corps recruiters promote enlistment as protection for families lacking legal status, directives for strict immigrant enforcement have cast away practices of deference previously afforded to military families, immigration law experts say. The federal agency tasked with helping military family members gain legal status refers them for deportation today, government memos show.
“I’m all for ‘get the criminals out of the country,’ right?” said the Marine, who qualifies as a service-disabled veteran. “But the people that are here working hard, especially the ones married to Americans – I mean, that’s always been a way to secure a green card.”
- A man born to an active-duty member of the U.S. military on an Army base in Germany in 1986 before coming to the states as a child was deported last week to Jamaica, a country he’s never been to, according to a report by The Austin Chronicle. Jermaine Thomas, whose Jamaican-born dad became a U.S. citizen during his 18-year military career, spent much of his early life moving from base to base with his father and mother.
Unfortunately, after his father passed away in 2010, Thomas spent several years homeless. He was in and out of jail, where his deportation troubles began.
“If the U.S. Army deploys you somewhere, and you’ve got to have your child over there, and your child makes a mistake after you pass away, and you put your life on the line for this country, are you going to be OK with them just kicking your child out of the country?” Thomas asked the newspaper.
Ramos said 38% of the U.S. military are noncitizens, and he believes thousands are being deported for non-violent crimes. But if putting your life on the line in the service of your country is not enough to fast-track citizenship for you and your family, then just what is?
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. Call him with comments and questions at 828-837-5122 or email dbrown@cherokeescout.com.