Posted on 04/08/2002 1:13:59 PM PDT by Fred Mertz
E'town family battles impending deportation
(AP) - An illegal immigrant who's been living in Kentucky for seven years says that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks led to his family's impending deportation.
William Manalastas, 45, a native of the Phillipines, was one of 210 people across the nation tracked down and jailed following the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigrants that followed the attacks.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service specifically targeted men like Manalastas, who come from Middle Eastern and South Asian countries where terrorist activities have been linked to Osama bin Laden.
Manalastas, his wife and their four daughters, have been ordered to return to the Philippines, and the parents probably will be barred from returning to this country for 10 years under a 1996 law.
The daughters are affected even though they've attended public schools in Kentucky and thought that they were here legally.
"It all has to do with Sept. 11; I know that for a fact," Manalastas said. "I cannot blame the INS. They are following orders from Washington, but I'm not one of them.
"I'm not a terrorist, as God is my witness."
Manalastas is now being held at the Grayson County Detention Center in Leitchfield.
An immigration judge originally ordered Manalastas to leave the country when he lived in New Jersey in 1995. But Manalastas said the family was broke at the time and he felt that he had a better chance of finding work here than in the Phillipines.
"I thought I might see a chance to legalize my status later," he said.
The family came to the United States with tourist visas in the early 1990s, hoping to become legal residents. Manalastas said he paid a Filipino thousands of dollars to file paperwork with the INS he believed would allow him to stay in the country, but in fact the man ruined his chance to get a green card.
David Funke, a Crestwood lawyer and former INS employee who is representing Manalastas, thinks that his client probably would have qualified for a visa as a skilled laborer, because he had three years of engineering training. That, in turn, could have led to permanent status as a resident alien.
After the New Jersey judge's order Manalastas moved to Kentucky, thinking that he and his wife could safely and quietly pursue their dream of educating and rearing their four daughters in the United States.
It might have worked, but for the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Rev. Richard Sullivan of St. James Catholic Church in Elizabethtown, where Manalastas is a member, said he and others have a hard time understanding why Manalastas was arrested.
"Why is the INS clamping down and going after good people while sending (terrorist) pilots that are already dead their credentials? It just doesn't make sense," Sullivan said.
Manalastas has been jailed without bail for a month. He was first taken to the Floyd County Jail in New Albany, Ind., March 6 and was transferred to Grayson County Jail on March 26.
His oldest daughter Myleen, 23, said that as of that date, there were seven Kentuckians being held in Grayson County jail under the same charge.
As he sits waiting for travel documents from the Philippines and eventual deportation, his wife, Myrna, 43, and daughters, ages 17 to 23, have been permitted to stay in Elizabethtown to prepare for their departure.
They have made sworn statements to the INS and signed papers agreeing to leave the country soon. They must report to the INS office in Louisville each month until they leave.
None of the family has been permitted to work for the past 33 days. Friends have been bringing them food. The family has had to sell possessions to pay bills and raise money for airfare, about $575 per person.
The family members said they don't want to accept government assistance.
"We've never used food stamps or any kind of financial aid. We're not going to now," said Myleen, ,the leader of a campaign to tell the family's story through letters, e-mail and a Web site, www.deemangeez.com.
Myleen said she refuses to be angry with her father, because she thinks that he wanted what was best for his children. She said he realized that if he took the family back to the Phillippines, then the family would face serious financial hardship and perhaps never make it back to the United States.
"(My father) wasn't left with very many options," she said. "There's a long line to get in this country.
"Our family is stronger than ever. This is a time when we all need to stick together."
Myleen also has no anger toward the U.S. government, saying that she understands the need for better security.
"(The INS) knows we are not terrorists," she said. "They are just following orders."
The family has become a part of a community that includes about 250 Filipino-Americans who live in Elizabethtown, Radcliff or nearby.
"It's a tragic situation; it's sad," said U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis, R-Elizabethtown, whose office has been inundated with calls from people concerned about the Manalastas family. "Here's a family that from all indications from their neighbors, church, schools and everything is really a great family. They've come up against a law that doesn't have any ability to be flexible.
"You can't come into the United States on a tourist visa, stay, get employment and not apply for citizenship or a green card. Basically, he (William Manalastas) has been a good non-citizen - but still, this is the law."
Myleen said the family still has hope that it can remain here. Several days ago Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell's office contacted the family about trying to help.
Though acknowledging that her father broke an immigration law when he brought the family from New Jersey to Kentucky seven years ago, Myleen said his immigration problems beforehand forced him into having to make that decision.
"Anyone can be taken advantage of," she said. "What would you have done if you had been in that situation?"
Staff writer Greg Bartlett contributed to this story.
This fellow has put his roots down here. I think they should leave him alone and go look for the REAL threats. Government agencies like to harrass easy targets.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon American Citizens to protect this asset not simply through writing laws, but by enforcing those laws.
There are easily a billion people in other countries who have heartwarming, compelling stories as to why, perhaps, they are entitled to a better life. However, for the most part, our ancestors did the heavy lifting. We should reap the benefits. We have mechanisms in place to support immigration in a controlled responsible manner (although, I would argue, not a discerning enough manner.) These laws must be enforced.
Owl _ Eagle
“Guns before butter.”
I for one am maddened not by the notion that this guy is being unjustly deported, but that it would seem there are more important cases on which the INS should be working.
If he's here illegally, I have a problem with that - but we need to deal with this problem on a case-by-case basis. "One size fits all" laws are not the way to go on this or any other issue. If he's leading a productive family-oriented life and not taking any Uncle Sam handouts, he should be helped to apply for citizenship through the proper legal channels.
If he were a student studying here on a "legal" student visa, I would be more leary of him. I think 9-11 should teach us all a lesson - just because an immigrant is "documented" doesn't make him safe.
Come now. Congress would never pass a bill that would give allow illegal aliens to get amnesty!
Exactly. See my last sentence in #24. The INS worries more about deporting Cuban orphans back to Papa Fidel than tracking suicide bombers. The whole parameter of this discussion is skewed as long as we are suggesting what we expect a government agency to do. Do we REALLY think they'll get it right this time? I don't.
TRULY!
And should take effect in the applicant's country of residence and citizenship.
BEFORE he elects to come to America and voluntarily become a CRIMINAL-alien!
And/or, as in this case, CRIMINAL-alien/fugitive-deportee!
The Law's a bitch, it's True -- but only if you're a CRIMINAL!
That's true. But being UN"documented" -- AND a fugitive from deportation -- makes him A CRIMINAL!
There are people waiting in line that are nice also. We have an obligation to the future generations of our children to make sure that people are in this country legally.
No way would I go to his country and set up house without permission, and we have the right to expect the same courtesy.
Filipinos are good citizens, my sister in law is a Filipino as is my nephew (half). However, the idea that we should allow individuals the right to determine whether or not they should be in this country will produce very unacceptable results.
This must be thought out logically, and not based on emotion and anecdotal evidence.
Owl _ Eagle
“Guns before butter.”
Stayed in my own country and worked to improve things. Which is exactly what you and I are doing now...
Wanting better for your family is noble.
Umm...this sounds like an "end justifies the means" argument. Lots of people in Mexico are doing precisely this.
He was simply doing the best for them he knew how.
And if the best he knew (while trying to help his family) involved robbing a bank?
I can't condemn him for that.
I can. And do.
It sounds like he was one of the good guys. Better than many who have citizenship.
Then ask yourself this. If he'll break one law that he finds inconvenient, what will he do with the next one he doesn't care for?
Having said that, I will be sorry to see them go but we can't pick and choose. If the law is to have any meaning it must be applied to all equally. It sounds like they understand that.
On this point, we agree.
"I can. And do. "
You are a hard man, but sometimes people do what they think they have to. As long as the punishment doesn't out weigh the rewards people will still risk coming to America any way they can.
It reminds me of the story of the beggar in the Afghani prison. He had been caught stealing before and had one foot and one hand amputated. He was due to have his other limbs amputated as well. He said that it did not matter, they could cut all off and he would still steal because his children were starving. To a man as desperate as that even poor options must be considered.
He chose to break the law. He's a criminal. We don't "think" he's a criminal - he is one.
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