Letters to the Editor
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OK -- What can we do to help?
I had read the first article about the Kesbehs and thought about helping them in some way, with a donation if possible, sending messages to our leaders or at least sending messages of support and encouragement to the family. And of course time passed and I didn't do anything and forgot about them. So here is my fresh reminder.
If Ms. Mieszkowski has the address of a fund collecting for their needs, appropriate contacts to promote support and so on, I'd be glad to hear about it. Considering their situation that she's described, it wouldn't take a lot to help them out and encourage the whole family to stay safe and hold out for a change in our policy or for a political patron with enough clout to force through a special exception and allow them to return.
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I hate to play devil's advocate
I hate to play devil's advocate here, but...
Isn't deporting Muslims here illegally one of the most responsible things our government could do?
OK, I'm really going to duck and cover now. :)
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Same Here
I'm from a Palestinain descent. I've been in the US for about 20 years now. Everytime I go home to visit, I count the days to come back. Not so much because of the culture, but because of the political/Israeli situation. So somewhat I can relate to how they feel. Add to that the lack of money and living in a refugee camp and life would really suck. Welcome to being a Palestinian.
On the other hand, being a Palestinian is really great. We, as people, try to help each other. There is this invisible bond. The family sticks together which is great.
I want to tell the Kesbeh family in Jordan that I understand what they are going through. Once you get used to living in the US, going back home is very difficult. But not impossible. It takes a lot time and much hard work to re-integrate yourselves back. Hang in there.. it takes time. You already moved back. Going to another country like Canada, Australia etc.. is difficult since it is costly. So your best bet is to do your best in Jordan.
I'm a US citizen, however my much younger sister was also deported from the US about 2 years ago. Imagine this, all her siblings are US citizens (two brothers and another sister), parents with a green card. My sister overstayed her visa. We tried applying for a green card or a longer visa or even an extension but got denied. She never got even a ticket and was in the US for a total of about 5 years. Went through a lot of bureaucracy and red tape with no results. Two years ago INS agents kicked through our door, picked her up and deported her. We have no family outside the US. Needless to say, we jumped through hoops, got her into a hotel room overseas, and our family had to split to be with her away from home. Our home is the US.
Until this day our family is still split apart with no hope in sight...
We have paid taxes like normal citizens, and never broke the law. And like I said, all members of our family either are US citizens or have green cards except my sister. This just doesn't make any sense.
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Some thoughts
According to Golden Boy, 'Devil's Advocate' seems to be synonymous with 'Racist.'
The sad thing is that I don't even believe that he sees it. Too many in this country associate Muslims with terrorism, and getting rid of Muslims with some kind of safety. It's pretty tough on a daily basis to not think that way. I feel bad for the regular everyday Muslim who gets a bad rap for what his fundamentalist counterpart does. What a tough way to live.
That said, I'm so sick of this current government enouraging racist thought. It's disgusting that what happened to the Kesbeh family can happen here in America - land of the free. Home of the brave. Whatever. I'm disillusioned with the 'at least we're a free country' bullshit. I'm free to say and do what I want - as long as my e-mail does not have keywords that prompt someone to check up on me. Or my phone conversations are clean by government standards. And as long as I'm not some ordinary citizen mouthing off about the president. Because some crackhead could report me and then I could be arrested and I wouldn't necessarily have to be told why I'm being arrested. And then I could be held for a while and god help me if my brown skin (though Made in U.S.A.) is labelled as some kind of threat and then packed off to Guantanamo - which seems to be as good as falling off the face of the earth.
I'm waiting for 2008. I don't know if a new president is enough to get back to everything amazing that the U.S. used to be for me. I certainly hope so.
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I'm trying to put my finger on it
Is it that Jordan is a comparatively poor country and we should pity the people here illegally when they have to go back to Jordan, or, through some cruel twist of fate, to a Jordan they've never actually been to before? Or is the problem that if you manage to fly under the radar and make it to the middle class we should, as a matter of law and policy just ignore it? I know when I went to grad school at St. John's in NYC back in the '80's about 10% of the graduating class decided to never go back to Ireland and instead live here illegally. At the time unemployment in Ireland was 20%. So if they were caught, at what point should they have been deported? When unemployment in Ireland fell by half? When they could achieve the same standard of living there as here? If they managed to hide for a decade? Or is the problem that Jordanians don't easily 'blend in' in America like Mexicans or Russians so their illegal status is somewhat more precarious, moreso because of their middle class lifestyle? Is immigration only for the poor or can the middle class get on too? These are hard questions because they incorporate all sorts of things that people don't like to dwell on.