A son died for our country; now his mother is in limbo

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He was 25 years old when he died in Baghdad, in process of sponsoring his mother, who is from Peru, in becoming a permanent resident of this country. As far as I am concerned, she should be granted such status, and encouraged to be a citizen. Her son is buried here, having paid an awful price. Deporting her would be an insult to his memory. Most likely she will be granted permanent residency under a humanitarian provision. Still, the fact that she is now in limbo is a terrible thing. Our immigration system should allow immigrants whose immediate relatives have sacrificed themselves for our freedom to become legal residents.

On a related note, I checked on a story I'd blogged about before, of a Japanese woman who became pregnant by her Marine boyfriend right before he was deployed to Iraq, married him by proxy (a practice the military recognises as valid), only to lose him within a month as he was conducting a house-to-house search. Her son is an American citizen. She wants to raise him with her husband's family, to surround him with things related to his father. The family has been fighting to allow her to stay in Tennessee. A 1950s immigration law has been impeding their efforts. It does not recognise proxy marriages, and requires all marriages to be consummated. The immigration service is not considering it consummated despite their having a child together because they were not together after the actual marriage date. Now, although I think they continue to try to get her legal status here, she as of the beginning of this year she was returning to Okinawa. It's a very sad state when an American citizen must be sent to another country to be raised because his mother--who married his father in a ceremony recognised by both the US military and Japan--cannot stay. Our immigration system really needs to be reworked. Lots of illegal immigrants circumvent the system every day, but those who try to follow the rules come across roadblocks that are unnecessary and in some cases cruel.

Marine's wife, son will return to Japan despite legal efforts to stay

My best wishes to these two women, who have lost their loved ones, in their aim to reside in the US.