The Great {IN}Justice System

Today is January 3rd.  The last day available to appeal the judge's last decision to remove Carlos from the great USofA.  And, of course, we won't, that was already decided, but now that it's here, they are free to come pick up Carlos and put him on a very long bus ride "home."

"Home" seems a strange word to relate to a place I barely am even acquainted with, but I'm sure I will come to love it.  I do love Mexico already.  I always wanted to live 100 years ago, and well, in some ways, this grants that request.  Of course Mexico isn't all antiquated, they have cars and cell phones, internet and TV, but the style of living from 100 years ago continues, only it coexists with modern technology.  It's a strange relationship to me, but one that I will come to know well.  I look forward to learning my new environment, new customs, new "norms" although I usually go against them anyway.

I am a little frustrated (to say the least) with the way this whole thing has gone, though.  And to think that "justice was served" is quite maddening.  How is it just?  What defines justice?  A hard-working man, taken away from his family indefinitely, sent back to his "country of origin" without the least regard toward his wife and children, who by the way are US Citizens, is thrown away, and we call this justice because he was never supposed to have been here in the first place.  So what then?  Is it better to throw away one man who didn't belong, and sacrifice three of it's own citizens?  Is it just for my own country to have betrayed me and my children?  This "Land of Opportunity"?

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame is the imprisoned lightning,
And her name, Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;
Her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor
That twin cities frame.
"Keep, Ancient Lands, your storied pomp!"
Cries she with silent lips.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

This country, which was once a beacon of freedom from oppression, giving hope to the average man, offering a place of solitude, an escape from the other corrupted and unjust countries around the globe, has exiled me and my family, turned us away and shut the door.  Of course, this is my choice you might say.  I can come and go as I please, the children as well, but then you are telling me that I must choose between my country and my spouse!  What absurdity!  A warm and loving heart in exchange for a country that is cold and unfeeling?  Why yes, that does seem like quite the bargain!

I only wish that things were laid out differently.  I am not naive, and I do not expect a man-made entity to show warmth and compassion when it is not in it's nature.  I fully expect it to be exactly what it is, and do not wish to improve it.  I do, however, wish it was more forthcoming about it's level of carelessness.  All the information we have obtained in the last two weeks has been from asking questions, and getting wrong answers, lots of wrong answers, before getting to the reality.  

It seems this entire process that began when I was 5 months pregnant with Giancarlo in 2009 has been trial and error, hide and seek, back and forth, up and down, and no one knows what the heck is going on!  We've found that in immigration, you can ask 5 different people the same question, and get 5 totally different answers.  Is that by design?  Does it benefit them that you are in the dark?  Is it a form of torture to deter people from attempting?  Or is it by lack of design, lack of planning, disinterest in the "tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free"?

The reality is, I have to send my husband to Mexico empty handed because I will not be allowed to send him even a change of clothes, identification, or a coat. He will have no protection.  Just simply spewed from the belly of this country to a foreign land.  Not so foreign to Carlos, but he hasn't been there since he was 17, 22 years ago.  They will take him to the border and drop him off Stateside, then made to walk the bride into Mexico and figure it out from there.  Oh, and he won't even know where he is until he gets there.  This, according to the ICE agent I spoke with at the Dallas Office, is due to security issues.  There has recently been a rise in crime against the deportees, so they no longer give advance notice of the drop-off location.  Of course there has been!  Look at the way this is handled!  At the very least, I think there should be an option to the family of the detainee as to whether or not they want to purchase an airplane ticket, at their own expense, "for security reasons".  But no, things are done the way we are told they are done because they are the ones who can determine how things are done.  No sense, no reason, it's all a power struggle, and a way to give a show of strength and oppress the insignificant.  

Oh and no luggage?  Why yes, yes I can send him a suitcase as long as it is less than 40 lbs.  Oh, but wait, I can't bring it to the Dallas office when he is here being processed out of the system as I was originally advised.  No, I will have to mail it to the detention center in Haskell.  Oh but wait, it has to be clothes only, no toothbrush, hairbrush, toiletries of any kind, identification, or money.  Oh, but wait, it can only be one change of clothes, that he will be allowed to change into as he is leaving the facility and then carry the empty backpack or suitcase to his destination. Oh, but wait, the detainee or "customer" as they call them because they are not actually being held for a crime, has to put in a request for permission to receive a package, the request must then be granted before shipping the luggage, or else it will be returned to sender.  Oh, but wait, it takes 2 weeks to approve a request of that sort.  Oh, you don't say, eh?  Well considering we were give a "full" 30 days to appeal the judge's decision, made on December 3rd, and not confirmed to us until nearly three weeks later, that means he goes "home" empty-handed don't it?  Yup, yup that's exactly what it means.  It means, "these things are in place to make it look like we are the good guy, but we make you jump through so many hoops it will be impossible for you to get anything done before we ship you out to god-knows-where.  Do you think I couldv'e been made aware of all these stipulations in one phone call?  Could you as a human being on the other end of the phone have cared enough to know that I am a person and we are a family and not just a number you see on a computer screen that pays your bills instead of acting like a brainless lab rat just being used to fill a seat?  Oh, no?  Sorry, I thought doing your job meant helping your "customers" and unfortunately I was under the impression that as a citizen of the United States I was entitled to information as to what I needed to do to make sure that, although you don't give a rat's-ass, I do what I can.  

Yes, this really makes my blood boil and I get too worked up about it, but you know what?  "My" country is not my benefactor.  She is incapable of doing anything "for" me.  God is our home, he is our protector even when they provide no recourse against them who desire to lay in wait for those being spewed from this country's belly.  God is our provider and knows the things that we have need of even before we ask, despite the fact that the system wants to make it as much of a hardship as possible.  God is warm and caring and it is in his nature to love us.  And yes, God-does-know-where, and he is already there.  So try as you might to make this hard, God always and only blesses us, so thank you, because God actually used what you meant for harm, for good.  So let's get on with it already!  Haha!