The difference ideology makes

Remember yesterday that I wrote about Elisha L. Dawkins, an Army Iraq veteran and currently a Navy Petty Officer who was arrested for checking the wrong box on a passport application? And remember how ICE said he was going to have to defend his presence here in this country? Well, apparently, that doesn’t happen to everyone who shows up on our shores and lives here contrary to our laws;

Venezuelan Henry Velandia came to the United States almost a decade ago to dance. The 27-year-old salsa dancer met American Josh Vandiver five years ago. The New Jersey couple legally married in Connecticut less than a year ago.

In 2009, with the support of a sponsor and before his marriage, Velandia applied for a green card. But instead of obtaining legal residency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) started a deportation process.

“I thought my world was crumbling,” said Velandia. His spouse, Vandiver, said “the only reason the federal government was not recognizing the marriage was the Defense of the Marriage Act.”

Well, it seems that ICE dropped the case against Henry.

“We are celebrating the future we just got now that my deportation was stopped,” said Velandia. “We had this enormous burden over us that my husband of less than a year would be taken away from me and we’d be torn apart. Now we are celebrating that we get to be together indefinitely in this country,” added Vandiver.

You didn’t have to be torn apart, Henry…you could have gone to that workers paradise in Venezuela. or maybe you wouldn’t have been accepted there, either.

Meanwhile Elisha L. Dawkins, the soldier who served his country is still facing hearings while Henry has the charges dropped. I guess ICE could drop the Dawkins case, but Henry and Elisha are separated by an ideology of service to this country. Elisha paid any debt he might have owed, while Henry just expects us to bow down to his needs.

Thanks to VTWoody for the link.

Category: Illegal Immigrants, Military issues