It’s a favorite American fantasy that when you follow the rules, pursue the American Dream, do everything right according to the law, you’re duly rewarded. If you want to come to this country, you do the same: Follow the law, take all the necessary steps, and it all works out. You get to be a citizen and everything is good, right?
Well, not always. Take the case of Janina and Tony, whose remarkable story is told in the video above, from Dreams Across America. If their saga does not break your heart, then check your pulse. You may not have one.
We all know, often from wholly differing perspectives, that America’s immigration system is profoundly broken and in desperate need of fixing. But for most of us, it’s something of an abstraction. Most Americans have only a tangential relationship with the problems — we tend to think of immigration as a Latino thing. And, sadly, that means most white Americans just don’t really relate to what’s wrong. Latinos, for too many of us, are the Other.
So to make that easy, we like to talk in statistical and abstract terms about immigration. We especially like to have our bright lines that make it simple to understand: Legal immigration we’re cool with. Illegal immigration, nuh-uh.
One of the reasons that nativists often tout for opposing what they call “amnesty” for “illegal aliens” is that, as they claim, it’s unfair to the people who play by the rules and immigrate legally. The system, they say, is supposed to reward the latter, and “amnesty” undermines the legitimacy of their hard efforts.
But as you’ll learn from watching this video, Janina did play by the rules. She emigrated from Poland with all the proper paperwork, set up life in America with her husband, had a child who is an American citizen.
And despite all that, she has been deported back to Poland, forced to take her young son with her, and leave her soon-to-be-citizen husband behind. The family is torn apart — and as you’ll see, it was all because of a broken system that simply fails to live up to what we Americans like to think is our dream, our way of life. And as the system breaks families and lives apart, that dream breaks apart too.
Related posts:
- Minuteman Killer Co-Hosted Anti-Immigration Event in 2007 Featuring Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson
- Marco Rubio Strongly Opposed to Amnesty for Immigrants Who Are Not His Parents
- Losing the Debate, One Misleading Front Page at a Time
- Unauthorized Youth Rise against Oppression Nationwide
- Some change to believe in
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
zed!
hay un problema grafica
Hmm, video link not working…
Third?
David, Keep fighting the good fight… Thanks
YouTube embed is wonky using Safari/Mac.
Firefox seems to be working ok.
This is extremely moving. The only ironic thing I find about it is that the man you all love to hate here–George W. Bush–is trying to help the Janinas of America against much of his own party and many Dems as well. Will Someone here stand up and say at least President Bush is doing something right in the immigration battle?
Hey gang — sorry about the bad initial post — WordPress plays with my head, man. Also, I’m not really used to it.
I’m hoping to hang out here more soon, but my connectivity has been a problem, especially while we cross the hinterlands. I’m hoping to be here a lot more after we get to Chicago, which will be tomorrow sometime.
LibertyLee @ 7
I’m sorry, but I just have to say that from my own point-of-view, there is nothing pleasant about disapproving of the policies of this president. I really wish he had made smart choices, I wanted to like him, but his record has left the world in a trainwreck. Many people have perished because of the agenda of this president. Please don’t say we “love to hate” him. We love our country as I’m sure you do too.
Thank you LS. Well said.
Oh, geez, please don’t feed these creatures.
james @ 11
I’m FOR immigrants having a shot at the American Dream. It is my opinion that George W. Bush shares the Reagan vision of America as a “shining City on a Hill”. You may disagree with him. You may disagree with me. Does that make me a “creature”?
james @ 11
I think Liberty Lee has a right to express opinion. If the Mods decide it is inappropriate, so be it, but Liberty Lee has posted many times. Many people have agreements on certain common issues and disagreements with other issues. My comment is directed at the off-the-cuff “love to hate” phrase, that’s all. We are all Americans.
Correction to myself at LS, 12
We are not all Americans, but we all want to live a free life.
james @ 11
Yeah, but…
Let’s have a conversation about this instead of banning rather interesting and differing views.
LibertyLee @ 7
The centerpiece of his immigration program and how it works in practice
newtonusr @ 15
I really thank you. I only wrote what I did to point out that if President Bush has been consistent about ANYTHING–since the time he has been a Texas Governor–it has been to fix the broken immigration system this country has been saddled with since the LBJ years. Reagan granted amnesty in 1986. Since then, one of the less desirable aspects of the GOP is that it has become less welcoming to immigrants (e.g., Pete Wilson, CA). President Bush HAS tried each year to get an immigration bill through Congress despite resistance in his own party and amongst a large number of Dems. He stands on the precipice of getting a bill through the Senate–not a perfect bill, but a compromise, which is all you CAN get through the Senate. I’m just saying I think HE “gets” the idea of helping the Janinas of America, despite the abuse thrown his way by HIS OWN party as well as by the opposition.
james-
liberty lee isn’t a ‘take down’ troll
he/she comes here for discourse…….not bait and debate.
is usually genuine in the meaning of questions. and wanting genuine answers. i’ve learned a few things from libertylee’s questions and the responses from people genuinely answering them.
usually on best behavior simply wanting to compare ideas…..
I find sham “debate” on immigration as distasteful and dishonest as anything else the 1600 Crew has engaged in over the last seven years.
It’s all about their playing one half of their base against the other to keep both in line by their use of dog-whistle politics of hatin’-on- the-brown-people-racism to accomplish the goal of the moment, Keeping Racism Alive in America.
I am an immigrant, came here when I was 16 months old from the brown part of Asia in fact. I wonder if in today’s environment I would even get a half a chance to become a citizen, or if Lou Dobbs would be howling and throwing his monkey-poo at the camera because I might aspire to citizenship. I guess maybe not, because if now (as then) I joined the military maybe that would make me a “good one”, instead of just another brown immigrant looking for a Cadillac and a handout.
They’ve never been able to move past St. Ronnie of Alzheimer’s speech in Philadelphia, Mississippi as a reason to love and adore him; look where it’s led us as a nation. They validate his racism every time they speak about the “immigration problem”.
Geez, you’d think they were all descendants of the indigenous residents of this continent or something.
john in sacramento @ 16: The new immigration bill coming out of the Senate is complicated; it is my understanding that those here under the H2 program will be covered by the ‘Y’ visa with more rights than the original proposal contained. The ‘Z’ visa will legalize–with harsher fines and more bureaucracy than I would propose, but less than that would not move the bill–will legalize everyone willing to submit to a criminal background check and receive a biometric ID. That’s not perfect, but it’s an improvement over the treatment of the Janinas and certainly an improvement over the Laura Ingraham and Bill O’Reilly approach.
dmac @ 19
I second that!
spudboy!!
LibertyLee @ 7
LOL! I don’t love to hate George Bush, rattlesnakes or black widow spiders. I do hate their policies in general, though. And even a broken clock is right twice a day.
I also don’t love Bill Clinton–you probably heard that I did from the right–just as someone on the right claimed I hate Bush.
That’s the real irony.
OK, here’s the $64K question: If she followed all the rules, was here legally, her husband is up for his citizenship, and her son was born here, why was she deported?
For the record. I don’t believe that all immigrants (legal or illegal) are mistreated.
Name me 3 countries in Europe that I could move to and just overstay my visa, have a family, and not have to face legal consequences, unless I had some kind of specific refugee status?
Why are the “slave traders” and “traffickers” of cheap labor not being held accountable for their abuse? Why aren’t they being held indefinitely in detention centers?
Why are Muslims treated differently than Hispanics or non-Muslim Eastern European immigrants?
How does a company like Delmonte get away with having large amounts of illegal immigrants as employees without heavy, heavy fines?
Why is the tragedy of the Marianas Islands not up front and center knowing what we know about the involvement of Abramoff and Delay, and all of their corrupt cronies?
Who benefits from sending thousands of people into detention centers?
Just a few questions floating around in my mind.
dakine01 @ 24
Thank you. That’s exactly what I was wondering.
Curious,
Heather
dakine01 @ 24
Most often, it’s a glitch in the paper work. The process is so cumbersome, it’s really difficult to be here legally. (Remember the Seinfeld episode? Yeah, like that.)
dakine01 @ 24
I know personally that many are deported on simple visa overstay issues. Or from persoonal experience, she came on a fiancee visa, her husband abused her, and she married someone else. If you don’t tell BICE, you become immediately subject to deportation. Unfair because you are now legally married but to the wrong man.
OT from HuffPost Headline: Pace says “I was forced out.”
First news dump for the Friday?
dakine01 @ 27
Good! Now maybe he’ll dish out some real dirt (truth) for a change!!
Hello LibertyLee -
I agree that when there is an element in a person that seems opposite to everything they do and believe, it is wise to listen to that part of the person. It can be an opening to a discussion where there are points of agreement. I originally felt that way with Bush’s AIDS program. I was hopeful. I felt that way about conflict in Africa.
I want to look more deeply into the details of his intent so it isn’t more a support for cheap/slave labor and another way to weaken labor unions. I really know that this is not a primary purpose. Perhaps you can shed some light here.
and libertylee, just to let you know, cuz i like you and all-
getting anyone here to say anything positive about bush is like asking a cop to say “but he’s a nice guy” cuz the sociopathic murderer they just got a confession from called the female cop who arrested him’maaam’…..what nice manners…..it’s not gonna happen.
does anyone have a link of hugh’s bush list for liberty? it’s a looooong list of how bush has hurt our country.
brzezinski was on charlie rose last night with his new book second chances, about foreign policy of last three presidents…….said iraq is so overwhelmingly harmful to us that to even speak of anything else-his other failures-or possible immigration reform-is pointless.
iraq and how it has affected our country and how it has affected our standing in the world overshadows everything, and will for as long as people mention president #43.
All you really need to do is look at the lines outside any immigration office to see that the offices are understaffed, probably underfunded as well, and not nearly as many as needed. (It used to be that you could go to any nearly any courthouse to file the necessary papers. Maybe we need to look at that again.)
Of course this is sad, but I would like to know what glitch happened that led to Janina’s deportation order. Without that, this story is does not work as an effective argument in the emmigration debate.
I have no wish to impune Tony and Janina’s reputation, and having negotiated my wife’s way path from immigrant to citizen I have little fondness for the agency. Still, without the full story here nativists will just charge that this clip exploits emotions, a little our reaction to those letters of support submitted on Libby’s behalf that we have found so repugnant.
LS@25
Thanks for your questions.
Its my understanding that if enforcement officials catch you and you’re undocumented, you’re deported. I don’t think that’s the same as what you list in item one. Enforcement of undocumented and past-visa laws isn’t done right or well. I would conjecture this *could* be by design.
Opponents of the guest worker program (myself included) think that a guest worker program creates an underclass with limited rights. I think the current situation does the same thing. The undocumented cannot safely avail themselves to the protection we offer our citizens, and they are forced to live an underground lifestyle.
I do believe companies should have the ability to quickly (24 hour turnaround) determine if a proposed employee is documented. I also think not using such a system, they should get the daylights fined out of them.
The Marianas Islands…I wish that was brought up more. Its a national shame we support the practices there, and is a clear indicator of what kind of hypocrites our Republican ‘friends’ truly are. I’m surprised the Democrats don’t go after it more aggressively. Why is that?
We know who benefits from these detention centers. The doners to the Big Daddy Party, who’s only solution to *anything* is ‘buy our services’.
Chris Matthews doesn’t care how Janina smells.
End of story.
Mapa 33, Thanks for your answers. The thing is the laws are already on the books. The government does not enforce them unless they have to or it benefits someone in power.
Politics – all of it.
All this crowing about global economy and how the world is flat and sh#t – I want that to stop and I want to hear some ECONOMISTS come forward and address the negative impacts of globalization which, to my mind, is a huge contributor to outsourcing, illegal immigration and the exploitation of immigrant workers here at home and of native workers abroad.
No more platitudes. Get some progressive economists up on the platform and let’s get down to cases on this one. Get them on the news. (Not gonna happen, I know) but it sure would be refreshing to hear a candidate (god forbid) address this AS a global economic issue and in economic terms because that is exactly what it is. Until there is a collective mindshift in the US, you can argue about enforcement or non-enforcement all you want. Pressure must be brought to bear on the entities which PROFIT from the tragedy of the displaced and dispossessed, their fear and their sweat.
I want to see the masses get a frikkin ECONOMIC EDUCATION on this one and I DON’T mean from Thomas Friedman.
If the world is flat, I’d like to shove . . . ummm, never mind.
Here’s what I wonder:
If we need immigrants to do all those jobs Americans won’t do (dubious – http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07017/754517-28.stm) why doesn’t Congress up the ante? They have the legal power to do so.
Could it be congress critters know such an action would be unpopular amongst their constituents? At our Democratic District Convention last year, every African-American delegate called on our congressman to oppose amnesty, and to get after every employer hiring undocumented workers.
As a result, politicians turn a blind eye to law enforcement to appease their major donors, the employers hell-bent on obtaining a cheap and docile work force.
When gas prices tripled, everybody said “that’s the market at work, allocating prices for supply and demand.”
So why can’t we let those market forces work in the labor supply? Why should we break the law to lower labor costs?
What we’ve wound up with is the costs of cheap labor socialized, with the profits privatized. There’s nothing progressive about that.
npr just had a report on how many people are against the border wall in south texas. business, environmental, ranchers and public organizations…….didn’t get the town name, was on rio grande. 70 mile long wall. only people who want it are homeland security. lots of people with good points really not happy about it. we’ll see.
((((hug))))
LibertyLee @ 12
Seeing America this way, IMO, is a form of denial. The United States has become place that rewards wealth not hard work. It pretends to be a democracy but is bought by the top 1% who represent the corporate stucture. It has a mentality of win at all costs and if you win you can abuse through neglect and fear. America is a country that doesn’t have the emotional development to get out of its SUVs and build a responsible tranportation system. It lets poor and middle class people die from lack of healthcare. It allows imported food stuffs to poison our pet and citizens. It invades and destroys at will and calls it liberation. It no longer provides a strong educational system. The last well educated generation was born in the fifties. Our children no longer get civics leasons and do not understand the value of habeas corpus. Our jobs have been sold overseas and we have bought into hatred of brown people who come for menial work. The people whose economies have been screwed by NAFTA. I am ashamed of my country. But I will not stop working to bring it back to a moral center.
Here! Here!
Nothing wrong with a “Shining City on a Hill”, but I can’t go along with people who think war, torture, detention, ignoring science, and outing a COVERT CIA AGENT as retaliation for being a patriot, will get us there anytime soon. This administration is not the administration to achieve that. Nothing personal.
sorry so long, this is what i posted about this yesterday…..
dmac says:
June 14th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
“This supporter claims her landscaping business will fail without amnesty.CATHY GURNEY, DREAMS ACROSS AMERICA: Without fair and comprehensive immigration reform in our country we soon won’t have access to legal workforce, which will result in having to close down our business, and I will leave 60 families without an income.”
i would like to know what she is paying these hard-working employees……..any way to find that out?
my hometown in ohio has an immigration problem…i have watched the area change over the last 10 years, and it is not good…….in too many ways to describe here..
so huge that they were on national news because of how the sheriff is handling it, and signs posted saying if you don’t speak english you are not welcome……..
i most heartedly don’t agree with this, i ‘m just saying it does exist.
the mainstay job market for the area-construction jobs, that used to pay well, and have insurance, no longer do, and are taken by immigrants. at a lesser wage.
packing/warehouse jobs in every market-from produce to regular warehousing jobs, are now taken by immigrants, at a lesser wage…..
non-union by the way.
i don’t know the solution, but there is definitely a problem. and people don’t want to see that.
and no, i am not an isolated white girl, i am blessed to have been around many cultures, personally…..so it’s not the aspect of ‘they’re not american’ it’s the aspect of what it’s doing to our economy in a very direct way……it is an impact, and is changing the dynamics of what is available for employment to REAL PEOPLE who are no longer able to work in their respective skilled fields.
people hanging out at the “seven eleven” waiting to be picked up and employed…….dangerous to me. what happens to them, and what they will do for work, and the people who use them…why are they put in this position in the first place? if they were legal, would be different….it sickens me.
complicated issue, and i’m not sure i articulated it very well, oh well.
i am torn on this issue.
dmac says:
June 14th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
and i want to add that a whole lot of people have opinions on this that are based in nothing to my eyes=(the media and congress mostly)
it won’t affect them one way or another,
that know noone personally who is an immigrant,
and they jump right in there
i know immigrants
i know people being affected by non-documented immigrants
it’s not so black and white, or white and brown, so to speak.
dmac says:
June 14th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
and the new ‘points’ system was disgusting….bill gates was behind that…….said lack of tech workers would lead to companies (his) having to leave u.s. talk about a threat. he’s on my list now.
so, if you’re from a higher class, able to afford to be educated, you win the magic green card.
makes me sick.
and if you win the magic green card, and not a highly paid tech individual, or doctor, you hafta pay money you don’t have. can you imagine how many people would be sitting $5,000 away from citizenship and don’t have the money?
hafta choose between giving the money to sponsor a , mother, father, brother, sister, grandma or grandkid?
how many famiilies have that kind of money? and multiply it by person…….family of four, $20,000……..
on what an undocumented worker makes,,,,,,,gimme a break……
disgusting.
And as for NAFTA let’s not forget that this came in under Reagan in 1981. It became an official economic foreigh policy term under Clinton but it was well entreanched as a common business practice by the 1990s.
Liberty Lee. Would you do your country a big favor and tell the people at Free Republic when you blog over there that Valerie Plame was indeed COVERT as proven during the Libby trial, and when they throw Sandy Berger in your face, tell them he plead guilty and showed remorse. People are truly being played by misinformation, so if you could get the word out, it would really be great! :)
David Niewert, “America’s immagration system is profoundly broken and in desperate need of fixing.” No, America has an immigration system in place that profundly needs to be enforced. Our terratorial borders and ports need to be secured for our security and to help guard against new floods of people trying to enter our country illegally. Otherwise, any new comprehensive immigration law everyone is determined to have will be ineffective. If employer enforcement/penalties were a priority, the jobs would not be as readily available and the “problem” would be greatly diminished. Everyone knows there will be only a half-hearted attempt to enforce any new immigration restrictions so why bother with another unenforceable bill.
Your hometown landscape business is paying their employees DIRT!
dmac @ 40
Yup. The attitude in Texas is not quite the same other states, IMO. We recognize our economic dependence on those who “wade the river”. Lots of good and bad in that, but there it is.
Hope this works as I just noticed no “preview” option. Hmmm…time to reboot.
And the immigration bill as currently formatted is basically an invitation to indentured servitude — without the possibility of ever paying off the debt, i.e., attain citizenship.
As usual, Bushwacko is selling everyone a load of B***S**T in this bill.
dakine01 @ 24
Because the immigration system is broken from the ground up? Because the bureaucracy is underfunded, demoralised, and saddled with rules and regulations dumped on the system by legislators with inadquate understanding, meaning that if you ask two USCIS officers to interpret a particular rule, you’ll get three answers? Because processing delays make it almost inevitable that legal immigrants will technically violate the terms of their visas while waiting to adjust status?
If born-in-the-USAers had the same contact with the immigration bureaucracy that they have with, say, the INS, they’d be in the streets demanding change. But because the people who vote on this issue are not the people directly affected by it, the politics are skewed.
Brisingamen @ 51
Bingo. If I were illegal, I would be scared to go register myself according to this bill. It would be just like them to fill up buses and ship you somewhere with no right to inform those you leave behind, under the guise of “we have to hold you until we can determine your situation” or something like that. Meanwhile, the private prison system is going chaching, chaching, chaching. I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them. I am against this bill.
new thread upstairs
ls at 47
Liberty Lee. Would you do your country a big favor and tell the people at Free Republic when you blog over there that Valerie Plame was indeed COVERT as proven during the Libby trial, and when they throw Sandy Berger in your face, tell them he plead guilty and showed remorse. People are truly being played by misinformation, so if you could get the word out, it would really be great! :)
============
more importantly, when she testified before congress, there was a letter from the cia written for the occasion, saying just that……it was worded very clearly…….that she was covert, plain english.
dmac @ 40
Tony Bourdain did a show looking at the border in Texas, and travelled by boat up-river with locals and watched cows swim from Mexico to the USA for grazing. (Lou Dobbs will surely be on the case, talking about illegal Mexican cattle.)
The locals didn’t want a fence either.
Ugh. Too late to edit upthread. If Americans faced the same bureaucratic dysfunction from the IRS, they’d be up in arms.
LibertyLee @ 12
Anyone who agrees with the views of the lizard people currently running this government is, in my opinion, a creature…and not quite a fully sentient one either.
james @ 58
But aren’t we all God’s creatures?
According to the Republican Party, the brown creatures are not as equal as others.
Now people that don’t follow the party line around here are creatures, good to know.
I think I’ve found those “limousine liberals” the neoclowns are so excited about referencing every chance they get.
I want the current immigration laws enforced, let the name calling begin.
OBTW I’m a working stiff who has lost a job due to illegal immigration.
Just imagine if those Native Americans watching the Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock had been members of the GOP…Pilgrims sail back to England and further religious intolerance, or perhaps Pilgrims find new home includes sweatshops and fourteen hour shifts.
After almost seven years of George I find it very difficult to understand the sympathies of those like Liberty Lee who believe Bush is anything more than a shallow and clueless person using immigration to assist his large campaign donors union busting efforts.
OK its a bit more complicated than that….but essentially????
Actually, many of us who aren’t nativists or as you seem to think, bigots, believe that. I personally know someone from India who’s been trying to get here to rejoin her sister, aunt and uncle and can’t.
I’m glad you brought up that not all illegal immigrants are from Mexico. That may be what motivates some racists, but having lived in a neighborhood run over with illegal EAST European immigrants who turned every single-family home and apartment on my block into illegal boarding houses, I’m well aware that plenty of illegals are white.
Immigrants who break the immmigration laws are illegal immigrants. period. it’s more complicated than white vs. “brown”. Not everyone who’s “progressive” is in favor of illegal immigration.
My understanding from someone on the train is that Janina accidentally checked the wrong box when she filed some visa paperwork around a dozen years ago. This is what led to her deportation.
Remember, there was no such thing as *legal* immigration until 1924. All that existed prior to that time was various constrictions of the Naturalization Act of 1795 which stated that only free white people could become citizens. We had wide open borders for 130 years as a nation and for 150 years before that and somehow managed to avoid being crushed under the hordes of white people coming over (although Native Americans might beg to differ).
Most Americans are descended from undocumented immigrants. The only documentation my original immigrant ancestors had was notations on a ship’s manifest. The fact is that every immigration control law ever passed in this country has been fueled by fear of the “other,” and usually based on race (the main exception would be the red scare immigration laws in the 1950s).
It wasn’t until 1965 that we fully de-racialized the immigration law, and every tightening of the law ever since has once again been fueled by hysteria over race and ethnicity.
The Asian community as well as the Catholic Church have long institutional memories about the motives behind US immigration law throughout our country’s history, and that’s why they are backing this effort.
But as you’ll learn from watching this video, Janina did play by the rules. She emigrated from Poland with all the proper paperwork, set up life in America with her husband, had a child who is an American citizen.
And despite all that, she has been deported back to Poland, forced to take her young son with her, and leave her soon-to-be-citizen husband behind. The family is torn apart — and as you’ll see, it was all because of a broken system that simply fails to live up to what we Americans like to think is our dream, our way of life.
I didn’t learn that; there was nothing in that video that gave me any indication that Janina “played by the rules” at all. And neither did I find anything substantial on the linked website to support that statement either. And being both a decade-long immigration professional and being married to a green-card holder, I find it difficult to believe that Janina was deported for “checking off the wrong box on a form”, as another commenter alleged previously.
Is there anyone who can substantiate any of this? Because as much as I’d like to commisserate with this story, I strongly feel like I’m being taken for a ride.