ZELL MILLER!
Posted on 12/10/2003 5:18:18 PM PST by FITZ
Mauricio Pineda used the wrong word.
When he handed his six-month tourist visa to the inspector at the Paso del Norte Bridge, he said he "lived" in El Paso. He should have said he "stayed" in El Paso.
One wrong word is all it took to confiscate his visa and ban him from setting foot in the United States for five years, making him one of a growing number of people having temporary visas seized at El Paso crossings.
Pineda, a Honduran national and a marketing director in the Mexican state of Queretaro, moved to East El Paso with his wife, a U.S. citizen, and their three daughters in June. The girls started school and Pineda, 34, started filing paperwork with immigration authorities. Sept. 12, he picked up his visiting in-laws from the Juárez airport and was not allowed to re-enter the United States. He spent 40 days in the immigration detention center on Montana Avenue before being deported to Honduras on Nov. 22.
Now the family is split, their savings are depleted and they have no recourse.
"The consequences of that little mistake are so out of proportion. They are hurting so many people with that decision," said Pineda's wife of eight years, Alejandra de la Torre. "Because of a word!"
This year, officials have seized an increasing number of laser visas and other tourist visas in El Paso because their owners lived or worked in the United States or intended to do so. According to records from the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, there were 2,801 such cases in 2003, compared with 2,155 last year.
Immigration advocates say the seizures are arbitrary.
"There's a presumption that everybody coming into the U.S. wants to live here," said Ouisa Davis, executive director of Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services Inc. in El Paso. "(Bridge inspectors) are lifting laser visas based on the assumption of immigration intent."
Inspectors say they rely on subtle signs to spot violators and on signed statements to make their cases.
"We develop what we call a sixth sense," said Victor Jimenez, the chief inspector at the Paso del Norte Bridge. "If we suspect something, we search people's wallets, personal belongings. They can have telephone numbers, addresses (of employers) indicating they come in to work. We do more in-depth interviews. Inspectors ask questions, develop a case. We take sworn statements. Do people actually say, 'I'm coming here to work'? Yes they do."
Isabel Mullins, the assistant port director for Customs and Border Protection in El Paso, said sworn statements are not required before seizing visas because it is an administrative process, not a criminal one. But, she said, each case is reviewed by a supervisor and the port director.
Soon, bridge inspectors will have more tools to seize visas. The Department of Homeland Security expects to launch the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, or US-VISIT -- also known as the entry-exit program -- by the end of next year. The program will register immigrants coming in and going out of the country and spot the laser visa holders who overstay the allowed 72 hours.
Pending legislation by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would extend the time limit of Mexican laser visas to six months, to match the time frame enjoyed by Canadian visitors.
Visitors whose visas are taken away are deported without seeing a judge, as per the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. They are also barred from entering the United States for five years for the first offense and 20 years for the second offense, and they can face criminal charges the third time.
The absence of an appeal process shocked Mauricio Pineda.
"I had no right to a judge. I didn't see the inside of a courtroom. I never could explain myself," Pineda, reached by phone in Queretaro, said.
The Pinedas decided to move to the United States after Mauricio Pineda lost his job and their 5-year-old daughter developed a learning disability they felt was not addressed in the Mexican school system. El Paso, where de la Torre has family, seemed like a good transition place, they said.
From El Paso, Pineda made several trips to Juárez looking for business opportunities that could sustain his family until he received a work permit in the United States. Each time, he told bridge inspectors he lived in El Paso and was allowed to come back in, he said. On Sept. 12, he said the same statement triggered his detention. Family members said he spent about five hours with inspectors before signing a statement.
"They pushed and pushed until he signed," de la Torre said.
Officials denied they pressured Pineda.
Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.
I guess sometimes the truth can get you in trouble.
He comes here unemployed so that American taxpayers can provide a free education for his child? It's sad to have a learning disability --- at 5 years old ---- but we can't afford the entire world's learning disabilities.
What I understood was he had a tourist visa that allowed him to visit and shop in the USA but when he became unemployed in Mexico and wanted freebies for his family, he moved illegally over to the USA and now has been caught and deported.
He did not pay the $95 for the advance parole and wait for the paperwork to come through.
It is very clear in the instructions you get that you MUST NOT leave the USA while getting your papers processed, or you may have to start over.
Guess what? My wife followed all the instructions to the letter. It took too d*mn long and cost well over $1000 USD in INS fees and probably 60 hours or more of research and filling out the papers. But now she is here, legally.
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