Former U.S. Soldier Told He Has No Country (New American Media)

Former U.S. Soldier Told He Has No Country
New America Media, News Report, Viji Sundaram
Posted: Mar 03, 2011

Editor’s Note: After spending nine years in the U.S. Army and being honorably discharged, Ramdeo Chankar Singh thought citizenship was in his grasp. Now, though, he faces deportation.

Forty-four-year-old Ramdeo Chankar Singh is at his wits’ end.

The former U.S. soldier, honorably discharged from the Army nine years ago, believes he is fully qualified to become a U.S. citizen, and has been trying to become one for almost a decade. But immigration officials are telling him he doesn’t meet the eligibility requirements.

Not only that, Singh, married to a Trinidadian native like himself, and with two U.S.-born children ages 10 and 5, is now facing deportation. A hearing has been set for March 22.

“They are, in effect, saying I am a man without a country,” Singh said in a telephone interview from his home in Queens, N.Y. “I don’t understand this.

“I’ve been paying my taxes for years, have never got into trouble with the law and served in the military for nine years. I don’t need to buy my citizenship; I believe I have earned it.”

What is making him more confused and frustrated is that after passing his naturalization test back in September 2004, he was initially told by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that his citizenship application “has been recommended for approval.”

DOJ informed him, “At this time it appears you have established your eligibility for naturalization. If final approval is granted, you will be notified when and where to report for the Oath Ceremony.”

That notification never came, and on Dec. 1, 2004, Singh was told that his petition was denied because he did not “meet the requirements” of the provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, under which he had filed.

Since then, Singh and his wife, Savitri, have spent countless hours researching U.S. immigration laws and presidential executive orders relating to citizenship eligibility for immigrants who served in the military around the time Singh did.

So far Singh has spent nearly $60,000 in lawyers’ fees in his citizenship fight. He has written pleas for help to lawmakers, especially congressional representatives from New York, such as Rep. Gregory Meeks and Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, who is now Secretary of State.

Singh said some responded, saying they would contact immigration officials, but nothing has come of those promises to date.

His case reflects the complex relationship between the federal government and immigrants in the armed forces. Undocumented immigrants aren’t allowed to join, but if they find a way to get in, immigration laws sometimes provide them a path to citizenship.

Through its proposed DREAM Act, the Obama administration hopes to bolster enlistment partly by legalizing some undocumented immigrants willing to join the military. The Senate rejected the DREAM Act last December, but administration officials are trying to get it reintroduced.

Singh knows that the one crucial thing he needs for securing U.S. citizenship is a green card, or permanent residency. But he is convinced that his years of service in the military overrides that requirement--a conviction reinforced by Edward M. Daniels II, a New York-based Veterans Affairs advocate, who has joined forces with Singh in his fight for U.S. citizenship.

“The Immigration and Nationality Act [INA] is all that’s needed to prove that he is entitled to becoming a citizen,” Daniels asserted.

In 1981, at age 15, Singh came to the United States from his native Trinidad via Canada without legal documents. He soon began earning a living.

Ten years later, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, soon after obtaining a work permit through a class action lawsuit filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) on behalf of immigrants of any nationality, who were wrongfully told they were ineligible for amnesty under a special federal program. At the time of getting the work permit, Singh said he was led to believe that it would automatically lead to permanent residency.

But as it turned out, “the LULAC lawsuit kept dragging on and on, ” said Crystal Williams, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Eventually, some who had applied for amnesty got it. But not Singh.

In 1993, the Army sent Singh to Germany for a few months, before he returned to New York and served in the Army Reserves for about six years before he pulled a tour in war-torn Kosovo. In both overseas postings, he worked as a licensed practical nurse with the rank of sergeant. In March 2001, he was honorably discharged. Two years later, he filed for naturalization.

In his 2007 lawsuit against the district director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), seeking another review of his naturalization application, Singh invoked Section 329 of the INA, , as well as a Persian Gulf War executive order issued by President Clinton allowing immigrants, documented or otherwise, who have served in a combat zone to receive expedited citizenship.

“I was in Kosovo in 1999,” a combat zone, Singh asserted. “That automatically makes me eligible.”

But it is here that Singh fell through cracks both in the INA and the executive order, according to Margaret Stock, an expert on military citizenship, who served in the U.S. military for 28 years. Stock, an attorney, said she has worked on military-related immigration issues for the Pentagon.

There is no executive order that covers the time when Singh served in the Army, she said. In fact, there is no executive order relating to military citizenship covering the period between April 12, 1991 and Sept. 11, 2001, Stock said.

Clinton did sign an executive order to exempt soldiers who were on active duty in Kosovo from filing their income tax returns, Stock said. But that order did not allow for expedited citizenship of military personnel. Clinton issued a different executive order regarding military citizenship only covering veterans who served from Aug. 2, 1990 and April 11, 1991. In his lawsuit, Singh maintained there was no closing date to that order, and therefore was still in effect when he joined the Army.

“I sympathize with Singh, but he is wrong” on all counts, said Stock, who said she was familiar with Singh’s case and is writing a paper on it.

She said that had Singh stayed in the Army until September 11, 2001, instead of being discharged in March 2001, he might have qualified for citizenship under President George W. Bush’s executive order, issued soon after the World Trade Center towers came down.

That order, still in effect, expedites citizenship for anyone serving in the military, or receiving an honorable discharge, on or after 9/11.

When there is no executive order in effect, another law allows immigrants--but only those with green cards--to have their citizenship expedited through military service.

For this reason, Stock said, when Singh joined the military, he was supposed to have a green card. But Singh joined at a time when neither recruiters nor the military “really knew what a green card was.”

She explained, “Recruiters were not trained in immigration law. Some of them put out wrong information.” And she added: “Now Homeland Security carefully checks your documents. A guy like Singh wouldn’t be allowed to join the military today.”

Stock said she thinks Singh’s best bet now would be to plead with the judge at the upcoming hearing to cancel the deportation orders against him on compassionate grounds. He should convince the judge that his two U.S.-born children would face “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” if he were deported.

The other option Singh has, she said, is to petition President Obama to issue an executive order that covers the period Singh served in the Army.

“Many times presidents forget to issue an executive order to cover foreign armed conflicts,” she said. “But a president can do this retroactively. There’s nothing to stop President Obama from doing this.”

Neither suggestion appeals to Singh. He believes he has a “straightforward case” that should win him citizenship.

He is now planning to convince the judge at his upcoming hearing that there is yet another provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act that states that a soldier who has served in a combat zone “even for a day” is entitled to U.S. citizenship.

“But that law applies only if an executive order is in effect,” pointed out Stock, noting: “In fact, you don’t even have to spend time in a combat zone. You can serve anywhere. But there was no such order in effect when Singh was in the Army.”

Veterans Affairs advocate Daniels asserted that Singh should get his citizenship purely because of his long service in the military.

“I don’t know why they are persecuting him like this,” Daniels said. “I’m puzzled by [the DOJ’s] reaction.

“Talk about injustice,” he went on. “This is the epitome of it. It’s a black eye on the U.S. military.”

Local business owner will do federal time for hiring illegal workers (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

Local business owner will do federal time for hiring illegal workers
Staff and Wire Reports
Created: 03/12/2011 07:06:18 AM PST

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - The owner of a furniture manufacturing company in this city has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for hiring illegal immigrants.

Brownwood Furniture owner Rick Vartanian had been warned earlier that 61 of his 73 workers at the Rancho Cucamonga company were illegal immigrants, prosecutors said.

In November 2009, Vartanian told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that the illegal immigrants no longer worked for Brownwood Furniture, but investigators discovered 18 illegal immigrants were still working for him.

Vartanian, 57, who was convicted of obstruction of justice and employing illegal immigrants, was sentenced last week by a Los Angeles federal judge, according to a news release from the Department of Homeland Security.

Brownwood Furniture vice president Michael Patrick Eberly, 48, of Alta Loma, pleaded guilty to employing illegal immigrants and he was placed on a years' probation and fined $10,000.

Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of Homeland Security, said certain types of industries are more prone to hiring illegal immigrants than others. Businesses such as furniture manufacturing, janitorial and food services can be particularly problematic.

Foreign nationals can work in the country under certain circumstances, he said. Just like a U.S. citizen, they must provide documentation that proves they are authorized to work in this country.

In addition, employers are required by federal law to verify that all employees, foreign or domestic, can work in the U.S. using the I-9 form, Arnold said.

The Brownwood Furniture owner had been warned, but chose to continue employing illegal immigrants, he said.

"If you're breaking the law and knowingly employing an unauthorized work force, you run the risk of being locked up," Arnold said.

Man faces domestic violence charges, kept as illegal alien (Morning Journal)

Man faces domestic violence charges, kept as illegal alien

Published: Saturday, March 12, 2011

LORAIN — A Lorain man faces domestic violence charges and is being held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after he and his girlfriend got into a drunken scuffle in a 29th Street apartment, according to a Lorain police report.

The girlfriend of Ignacio Castro, 28, called police at 2:10 p.m. Thursday because Castro allegedly smacked her in the face and scratched both her arms, the report stated. Police officers noted both Castro and the woman had been drinking prior to the call.

The woman also told police Castro pushed her to the ground, the report stated. The woman filed domestic violence charges against Castro and asked for a temporary protection order.

At the city jail, police officers learned ICE placed a hold on Castro because he is in the country illegally, the report stated.

IIMPACT rescues 15 kidnapping victims being held for ransom and arrests six suspects from two Phoenix drop houses (White Mountain Independent)

IIMPACT rescues 15 kidnapping victims being held for ransom and arrests six suspects from two Phoenix drop houses

Posted: Monday, March 14, 2011 5:00 am

Law enforcement investigators assigned to the multi-agency Illegal Immigration Apprehension Co-op Team (IIMPACT) served a search warrant at 2407 W. Adams in Phoenix on Sunday, March 6, 2011 with the assistance of the Phoenix Police Department's SWAT Team. Once inside the house, investigators discovered a total of ten people, three later identified as suspects and seven who were being held for ransom against their will.

Further investigation led IIMPACT investigators to serve a search warrant at 4821 N. 53 Ave. in Phoenix on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. That search warrant was served with the assistance of the Arizona Department of Public Safety's SWAT Team. Once inside the house, investigators discovered a total of 11 men and have identified three men as suspects, and eight men as victims. One man was transported by the Phoenix Fire Department to an area hospital for treatment of facial injuries that detectives believe was the result of an attempted extortion. The victims and suspects are believed to be in the country illegally.

The investigation began after one of the victim's relatives called their area law enforcement agency, stating their family member was being held for ransom for several thousand U.S. dollars and being threatened with serious physical injury if the ransom was not paid. IIMPACT Investigators located this original victim, along with six other kidnapping victims at the 2407 W. Adams residence.

Virginia Beach appeals return to Scotland, among immigrants deported for criminal convictions (Washington Post)

Virginia Beach appeals return to Scotland, among immigrants deported for criminal convictions

By KRISTIN DAVIS, Wednesday, March 9, 7:24 PM

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — With a trace of a burr, Michelle Cathon says her native Scotland is a place she barely remembers. It’s also a place she doesn’t want to return to.

She was 12 when she moved to Virginia Beach to live with her Scottish mother, who’d married a U.S. serviceman. She became a permanent resident, but she never sought citizenship.

Virginia Beach became home. Cathon, now 39, married and had three children, two of whom are mothers themselves.

Soon, though, she might be forced back to her native country for good.

Convicted of drug and credit card fraud charges, she is among an ever-growing number of immigrants being deported from the United States based on criminal convictions.

After launching a criminal alien program in 2007 that targets legal and illegal immigrants convicted of certain crimes, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stepped up deportations.

The agency removed 128,345 immigrants in 2009, according to an annual report released in August. An overwhelming majority were from Mexico; nearly 30 percent of the deportations were for drug-related offenses.

Six years ago, Cathon pleaded guilty to a felony drug possession charge in Virginia Beach. She was given a three-year suspended sentence and supervised probation.

Cathon was back in court in 2007, on a charge of cocaine possession with the intent to distribute in Norfolk, according to online court records. She pleaded guilty for a second time, and a judge sentenced her to a year in jail.

Behind bars, she earned a GED, took parenting and career-readiness classes and completed a host of other programs.

She also wrote a letter to a judge describing the changes she saw in herself. She called her past behavior inexcusable.

“However, I do have a drug problem,” Cathon wrote. “I am ready to face my problems in our society, in everyday living. I want to become a responsible and productive member of society again.”

A report from the sheriff’s office, filed among her court records, praised her attitude and work ethic while in jail and described her as cooperative and courteous to the staff and fellow inmates.

But there would be more charges. In 2008, she pleaded guilty in Virginia Beach to credit card fraud, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance, court records show. A judge sentenced her to nine years, but suspended all of it.

ICE caught up with her in November, taking her into custody at a probation office. Cathon spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth.

“You just want to stay in bed with the covers over your head,” she said during a recent interview there.

In a civil suit filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, Cathon claims her attorneys never advised her that the guilty pleas could land her in detention or get her deported.

Her new attorney, William McKee, says they should have. The Sixth Amendment, which guarantees a fair and speedy trial, requires it, according to the lawsuit. They want the convictions set aside.

“I pleaded guilty to take a plea bargain,” Cathon said.

“Most people are completely unaware that long time residents are removed and deported as a result of some kind of criminal action years ago,” McKee said.

Federal law lists a host of crimes that can lead to deportation for legal immigrants, from murder and rape to drug and firearm trafficking and certain cases of theft and forgery.

Cathon will remain in jail until the courts sort out her claims.

She learned of the birth of her grandson over the phone. Sh e’d planned to be in the delivery room. In January, her middle child turned 19. Her oldest daughter turns 21 this month. Cathon suspects she’ll miss that, too.

Her options are dwindling, McKee said.

An immigration judge already has ordered her out the country, a decision Cathon is appealing. The Virginia Supreme Court recently took up a case in which two immigrants sought to have their sentences modified to avoid deportation. Both claimed their lawyers never told them what could happen.

The court ruled against them.

“It’s very stressful not knowing what your future is,” Cathon said.

If forced to return to Scotland, she added, “I don’t even know where I’m going from the airport.”