New York Times
A Fatal Ending for a Family Forced Apart by Immigration Law
Ángel Franco/The New York Times
Elizabeth Encalada, a widow on Long Island with her children, from left, Griffin, Alanna, Selena and Hailey.
By NINA BERNSTEIN
Published: February 11, 2010
WEST BABYLON, N.Y. — Elizabeth Drummond was a single mother from a hardscrabble family whose roots go back to the Mayflower and an American Indian tribe. The man she married, Segundo Encalada, was a relative newcomer to the United States, sent illegally by his parents from Ecuador when he was 17.
Ángel Franco/The New York Times
Many if not most visa ineligibilities do not attach to minors under the age of 18. Once Mr. Encalada reached age 18 the clock started and after age 18 and 6 months he would have acquired a three-year bar to re-entry. By the time he reached age 19 he would have earned a ten-year bar to re-entering the U.S.
Read the whole article here.
Snippet(s):
"(I)n July 2006, when Mrs. Encalada was pregnant with their third daughter and immigration crackdowns were sweeping the country, her husband was ordered by immigration authorities to take “voluntary departure” back to Ecuador."
"Under laws affecting those who married after April 2001, foreign spouses who entered without a visa must leave and seek one from a United States Consulate in their native land."
"(A)fter she flew to Ecuador for a joint interview at the United States Consulate in Guayaquil, officials there rejected the couple’s application with a form letter saying they had “a marriage of convenience.” "
"(F)acing another Christmas far from his family, he drank poison."
"Adriana Gallegos, a spokeswoman for the State Department, would not comment on the case. “It’s against the law to talk about visa records,” she said. “We can’t explain why it was denied or what was the process.”"
continued
"Mrs. Encalada and her parents said the family’s troubles started with a gathering at her mother’s house one Friday night in July 2004, when a drunken guest meddled in a family dispute, then summoned the police, claiming Mr. Encalada had threatened her. Mr. Encalada eventually pleaded guilty to harassment in the case, a misdemeanor, and served 30 days in jail in 2006."
&
"Only after the consulate denied the validity of their marriage, when Mrs. Encalada consulted a new lawyer, did the couple learn about a separate hurdle. The law imposes a 10-year ban on re-entry for having stayed a year or more in the United States without permission; it can be waived only through a show of extreme hardship.
The second lawyer had started that process when Mr. Encalada gave up."A good immigration attorney would have told him this before he ever left the U.S. Also, a good immigration attorney would have told him that waivers for extreme hardship are quite often granted by DHS for spouses of U.S. citizens, although the process can take six months or more.
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This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 15, 2010
An article on Friday about a family forced apart by immigration law misspelled the name of the city in Ecuador where the United States consulate denied the man a visa, saying the couple, Elizabeth and Segundo Encalada, had “a marriage of convenience.” It is Guayaquil, not Guyaquil.
