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Salute to troops
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Defending the Defenders
This story begins in 1996 with an act of legislation by a repbulican controlled congress so haneous and irresponsible; that it stripped immigration judges of considering anything in a deportation hearing about an individual; except wether they are deportable or not. It also made essentially every legal incident a deportable offense; this includes trespassing, stealing and other more serious offenses. An individual that tresspasses is equally viewed the same as a murderer. This legislation also know as the IIRA immediatley became dubbed the (Irresponsible Immigration Reform Act)! This legislation was an attempt by congress to deport as many criminal offenders as possible; what it failed to do was make any exceptions for anyone regardless of how insignificant or serious their offense may have been; what their contributions to society have been or how many american spouses or children they are responsible for. In the case of many war heroes and veterans, it left no room for consideration thier either; stories of honorable service men and women finding themselves being removed from the country in which they fought and stood for in battle with no consideration for thier service. The last words of most immigration judges to a vietnam veteran or service member usually goes along the lines of "thank you for your service; unfortunatley my hands are tied". Today we are almost two decades and thousands of veterans have been deported and not one person or congressman has stepped forward to stop this injustice! It would only come about and in a very slow and grinding pace that the U.S. Government was set to deport two honorable vietnam veterans a few years back and they did not go quietly into the night; you see; they had documents proving their mother was an american citizen and although they where born to her while visiting mexico; they are automatically american citizens under law. So while they are still technically under order of deportation; they have provided enough documents to the federal courts that the government cannot prove they are not; all the while they can prove their mother was american, but do not have american birth certificates; essentially they are both unable to fully prove their case as the story goes. As the brothers fought through thier cases; they found out about other vets that the government had deported and this really made them upset; they could not believe that thier comrades where being deported by the very country they served and this is what has kicked of a nation wide media interest and the begining of various movements to stop deporting honorable veterans. The brothers are now in their fifth or so year of fighting strong and on January 17th 2013; they will embark on a mission that will take them through various states and ultimately visit with deported veterans in mexico and will continue on to meet with families of deported veterans, for a full 18 days! They will be followed by several documentary makers from various outlets who will be filming all the way to get the story out about the only country in the known world to deport its military veterans. There is currently no legislation pending to stop this sensless act to our military veterans. You can find out more by visiting www.banishedveterans.com or just google banished veterans and you will find many stories on the subject of deporting veterans. There is also a great piece called "deporting private ryan" by an outspoken advocate and defender of veterans; atty: Craig Shagin with Shagin Law in PA.
- TAGS:
- marines,
- navy,
- military,
- deport,
- banished,
- veteran,
- airforce,
- valenzuela,
- immigration,
- army
- GROUPS:
- Morning Express,
- HLNtv,
- Military
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