Posted on 02/01/2012 10:44:47 AM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
In a hospital bed hundreds of miles from her home, 15-year-old Lidiane Carmo learned Tuesday that she was the only member of her immediate family to survive a horrific crash she doesn't remember.
And in the midst of tragedy, her church congregation is suddenly faced with an issue with possibly serious ramifications: Lidiane is not in the country legally, a church official confirmed.
On Sunday, Lidiane was traveling in a van with her parents, older sister, uncle and uncle's girlfriend when they were involved in a multi-vehicle crash on northbound I-75 near Gainesville.
The Carmo family was among 15 members of a small Marietta church who were heading home following a three-day religious conference.
Lidiane, a high school freshman, was the only person in the van to survive the wreck, shocking the close-knit Church of the Restoration on South Marietta Parkway in Marietta, a congregation of mostly Brazilian nationals that had been co-founded by her father, Pastor Jose Carmo.
While grieving the loss of lives, the church was faced with the financial burden of transporting the bodies of loved ones back to Georgia, and then, it is hoped, on to their native country for burial.
Bobby Curtis, another Restoration Church pastor, told the AJC that Lidiane is not a legal immigrant, and some church members fear she could be sent back to Brazil, a country she doesn't remember.
Jose Carmo and his wife Adriana, who both died in the crash, came on legal visas to the U.S. from Brazil 12 years ago, Curtis said. Lidiane was a toddler at the time. Since then, those visas have expired.
The church is prepared to fight to help Lidiane gain citizenship.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...
So the sins of the parents should be paid for by the daughter?
I am sick of the illegal issue as anyone else, but you really thing deporting a girl who just lost her entire family, to a country she doesn’t know and knows no one in is somehow in the best interest of anyone?
I don’t think deporting this gal under these circumstances is going to deter or prevent anything, I really don’t think a rash of mexicans are going to flood across the border with their kids and commit suicide so their children can stay if this gal isn’t deported.
Now had they caught the parents, and deported them and the daughter together back to Brazil, I’d be okay with that, but in this situation, I don’t see deporting this girl as any sort of justice or anything else for that matter.
Don’t point out facts, don’t you recognize irrational mob mentality when you see it? Run with the herd no matter how utterly insane it is being.
It would be easier to have compassion if the church members were seeking donations to help with her medical costs vs. sending the bodies of her family members back to Brazil. That part rather sticks in the craw.
The FL hospital and taxpayers are going to take a major hit while the church members’ concern is focused on getting bodies back to Brazil, a country her parent left 12 years ago, and refused to return to while alive. Why can’t they be buried in Marietta, GA, where they lived, founded a church, and raised their daughter?
The cost of shipping a body overseas is prohibitive. Back in the early 70s a friend’s brother died while in Europe. The cost then, in 1970s dollars, was nearly $2K. By way of comparison, airfare then for a live passenger flying the same route was closer to $200-300 round trip.
Agreed. There is no reason to send the deceased back to Brazil.
“This is a horrible situation for her, made worse by her parent’s disregard for the law. They were here legally... until they failed to renew their visas. They didn’t sneak across the border or engage in criminal behavior... but they broke the law by not being attentive to their ethical requirements.”
Failed to renew their visas? Listen, I know for a fact that a very large percentage of the illegals here didn’t pay coyotes to sneak them into the country. They flew here on legally issued temporary visas and just stayed. If you have the price of a plane or bus ticket, it’s very simple to come here and not risk dying in the Arizona desert. Most temporary visas are not renewable. these people knew exactly what they were doing. I am sorry for the child. She is in innocent byproduct of her parents unlawful behavior. Maybe she will be adopted by a citizen family or some such thing. She would not likely survive back in Brazil. You can’t turn a “domesticated” animal back into the wild because it doesn’t know what to do to survive. Same is true for children in situations like this.
I don't really understand this argument. Let's try a different situation entirely where the parents are living criminals instead of dead ones.
Let's say the parents ran a clinic that defrauded the taxpayers out of millions of dollars per year in phony billing invoices. The daughter grows up in a life of luxury, is enrolled in the Sidwell Friends school and has every advantage one could wish for.
Suddenly her parents are arrested, thrown in jail, their assets siezed. Now penniless, she is thrown out of her fancy school and forced to live in a run-down part of town with relatives. Is that girl not now paying for the sins of the parents? Do you think we should pay to keep her in Sidwell Friends because, after all, she is just an innocent victim?
They didn’t sneak across the border or engage in criminal behavior... but they broke the law ....
...ahhhh, YES they did, and she did break the law and snuck across the border by knowingly overstaying a visa, that’s sneaking in! Probably stealing IDs to stay as well, also illegal. Send her back to heal and be comforted by her relatives and extended family... in Brazil...
ymmv
>>>It would be easier to have compassion if the church members were seeking donations to help with her medical costs vs. sending the bodies of her family members back to Brazil. That part rather sticks in the craw.
The FL hospital and taxpayers are going to take a major hit while the church members’ concern is focused on getting bodies back to Brazil, a country her parent left 12 years ago, and refused to return to while alive. Why can’t they be buried in Marietta, GA, where they lived, founded a church, and raised their daughter?<<<
That is a great point. If the girl is so Americanized and has no family in Brazil who could care for her, why are they trying to send parents’ bodies back there? The stick the hospital and taxpayers with the medical bills ethic is also troubling.
Of course, much like the reason for her being here illegally in the first place, it is others, not the girl whose priorities are out of whack, so perhaps we shouldn’t hold that against her.
Tough call.
Cremate them.
Might cost $50 to send them back in a tupperware container.
Were her parents here on tourism visas, student visas, work visas, or religious worker visas?
Should Ruth and Andrew Madoff be able to keep what Bernie stole?
You don’t understand the argument, and then attempt a complete apples to oranges non sequitor as an equivalency to prove a point that isn’t valid in the least? Tells me all I need to know.
No sane reasonable human being is or should be screaming throw this girl to the wolves. The lack of your simple understanding of “The Golden Rule” speaks far more loudly of the “point” you are trying to make than the convoluted nonsense in your silly equivalency.
Attempting to argue living in a lower end part of town with family in the same country, as deporting to a country she’s never known as an orphan with no family.. yes, those two are completely equivalent (rolling eyes).
What justice do you argue is served if this girl is deported? Do you think it would remotely deter someone else given the circumstances of this situation? Do you honestly think mexicans by the old toyota truck full will spill over the border with their children and commit suicide so their children can live here, because if this one girl in this one off situation doesn’t wind up deported? Do you think justice is served? Do you think the United States is a better nation if they were to deport this Girl? Do you think this Girl would be better off? Do you think Society would be better off?
There is nothing served by even threatening this girl with deportation, and honestly, the likelihood of it happening is next to nil, thanks to a judicial process that has far mroe common sense and than certain folks are espousing on this thread.
I’m all for enforcing US Immigration laws, and frankly believe this nation needs to repeal the LBJ liberalization of immigration immediately and return to the laws we had prior. However, with that said, deporting orphans to places they left before they could talk, with no family or anything there for them, is not remotely justice, its vengence... and last I checked Vengence was not the tenant of our legal process or systems.
>>>So the sins of the parents should be paid for by the daughter?<<<
I think it is the first line of your response that is an invalid argument. The answer to your rhetorical question is “YES, sometimes children do suffer for the sins of their parents, and the should generally not be allowed to retain benefits that their parents stole for them.”
It is the same argument used to support citizenship and instate tuition rates for illegal immigrant young people, and label those who oppose it “heartless”.
The rest of your comment makes a better argument for allowing the girl to stay. In this case, the general principles of the rule of law, and not allowing children to be enriched by the crimes of their parents, go against the girl, but the paticulars of her case (the hardship she has already suffered and would suffer if deported, the fact that this probably won’t set a precedent, etc.) make the idea of showing mercy and giving her a break tempting.
How isn't it valid? You're saying that the child is a victim of the parent's mistakes, which is true enough. However you are using that as an excuse for her to get away with a crime (remember, this girl isn't an anchor baby). Saying "tells me all I need to know" and spewing moral equivalency claptrap isn't an answer, it's a dodge. How about saving a bit of your compassion for the taxpayers (those people you call "the wolves") next time? Either that or offer to pay her medical bills and adopt her, neither of which her fellow parishoners offer as a solution.
I'm a native and resident of Cobb county...where these folks were living...where their church is.
A church that like all the other churches around here, was there during the biblical flood of 2009, helping people out. Help they really couldn't afford to give, but did anyway.
Her family wants her parents buried back home in Brazil beside family....like we all would.
There is a time and place. You couldn't even wait for the family to be buried before piling up on this little girl. Her parents were trying to get her legal. They were a family that contributed way more than they took from the community.
Your comments just reek...period. Have a nice day.
Boo-hoo, you really hurt my feelings. But, there's good news. ICE, which is slow as their name when it comes to making decisions, has already said the girl has no worries. Enjoy supporting her.
Does anyone know where one can send a donation to the Church so they can have a service for the family? Or to help the girl? Is there a fund set up?
I believe you can call any Bank of America branch in Cobb County, Georgia and make a donation.
People who “overstay their visas” do it deliberately. They never had any intention of going back at least not till they were good and ready.
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