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Debra Hahn
Garden Ridge, TX
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Debra signed the petition | -
Debra signed the petition | -
Debra commented on the article |Thank you Dave for allowing me to tell Anya's story. I hope that it has helped some see the urgent need for changes to our unjust immigration laws. I will be unable to respond to future posts because I am going to go stay with Anya for a while. Brian must return to the States to complete the erasure of evidence of his existence in the country he once loved so dearly and never thought he would have to leave. While he is here, we don't want to leave his lovely, pregnant wife alone in a strange country in unsafe surroundings. So I will go and keep her company and try to sound convincing when I assure her that everything will be OK.
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Debra commented on the article |
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) broadly defines an immigrant as any alien in the United States, except one legally admitted under specific nonimmigrant categories (INA section 101(a)(15)). An illegal alien who entered the United States without inspection, for example, would be strictly defined as an immigrant under the INA but is not a permanent resident alien.
Whether these immigrants are "legal" or "illegal", they are all human beings and deserve to be treated in a humane manner. Many being held are asylum seekers, awaiting hearings that will determine their legal status.
Not all of the websites claiming abuse are "pro-advocate sympathizers". Reports by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the American Bar Association, and reviews by DHS, show that there are substandard conditions and inhumane treatment in the detention facilities.
http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/arrestdet/UNspecialrapporteur_presentation_2007-05-03.pdf
I have yet to find a single report that backs up your inference that there is no mistreatment of immigrants being held in detention centers.
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Debra commented on the article |
A Google search of "ICE mistreat immigrants" will pull up 14,700 results. Read some of these articles. Do you think that they are all lying? What do you base your statement on?
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Debra commented on the article |
Thank you Analisa for your willingness to try to help us. Unfortunately, I believe it is too late to help Anya. I doubt if any number of letters to the judge or Assistant Chief Counsel would change their minds concerning the deportation date. Even if we could, since she has already left the country, by the time we could convince him and get the necessary paperwork to get her back into the country, she would no longer be able to fly.
We did consider going to the press about their case. We had read and seen on the news a few cases where this had been beneficial in getting a stay of deportation. This wouldn't have given her a chance of being able to stay here permanently, but might have given her a chance to have the baby here. Further research found that ICE was well known for retaliating against immigrants who speak out against them.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/18/tam-tran/
With Anya being pregnant, we did not want to take the risk of her being arrested and held in a deportation center under deplorable conditions.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/06/24/us-immigration-policy-harms-women-families
They are also concerned that publicly speaking out may hurt their chances of getting the 10 year ban dropped in the future. The way that the immigration laws are set up, we are in a no win situation. It's best just to do what they say and keep your mouth shut. I speak out now, not on Anya's behalf. It's too late for her. But I feel the need to express the urgency for immigration law reform and hope that Anya's story may help to demonstrate how unjust these laws are.
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Debra commented on the article |
Update- Anya's court hearing to petition the court to allow voluntary departure was yesterday. The judge granted the voluntary deportation and gave her until August 2nd to leave, which would only be 19 days. With a due date of Sept. 13th, I can only assume he realized the airlines probably wouldn't allow her to fly much longer past that date and any more time might mean that the baby could possibly be born in the U.S. and they can't allow that!
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Debra commented on the article |
Thank you very much Emily. Your kind words and prayers, and those that we have received from others have been a comfort in the midst of this horrible nightmare.
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Debra commented on the article |
Sarah, I'm not a lawyer and don't understand the workings of the immigration courts, but I do know that to get the judge to reopen the case after the final order of deportation for the purpose of considering voluntary deportation, the assistant chief counsel and Anya's lawyer had to petition the judge jointly. It was one petition that they both had to agree on. The petition that was filed at the beginning of April requested 60 days for voluntary deportation. The chief counsel must have thought that the judge would schedule a quick hearing. After the hearing was scheduled for the middle of July the lawyer spoke to her and she said that she would no longer agree to the 60 days, but only 30. I do not know if the judge normally goes along with the recommendation of the chief counsel or not, but Anya and Brian were not willing to take the risk. If she was only given 30 days, that would not have given her enough time to get to Ukraine, apply for a domestic passport, then apply for an international passport, so that she could travel to a country with better medical care before the baby was due. If she had been granted the 60 days, that would have put her final departure date around the same time the baby was due and an airline flight would have been impossible. She would have been able to get a stay of deportation until after the birth of the baby. Another possibility, given the attitude of the assistant chief counsel, was that she could change her mind about the voluntary deportation or said that the 60 days was from the date the petition was filed and if the judge agreed, Anya could have been carried off to a deportation center from the courthouse. So they really had no choice but for Anya to go ahead and leave the country as quickly as possible. Their baby's health was their primary concern in their decisions.
The animosity that you note towards officials of the law has nothing to do with them applying the law as it is written. Brian and Anya fully understood that the law said she must be deported, but the court did have some discretion as to when this would take place. Brian and Anya begged the assistant chief counsel to have mercy and allow her to stay until after the birth of the baby. They offered to put up any amount of bond that she requested and pre-purchase airline tickets to the Ukraine for after the birth. Anya has no criminal history and has always done everything the courts asked of her. There was no reason not to grant this. They had a genuine concern for the health and well being of their unborn child. Would you not feel some animosity if you were in this situation? What reason could she possibly have not to grant this? Why would her response be that not only would she not agree to it, she would see to it that the baby was not born in the U.S.
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Debra commented on the article |
Mark, until this situation happened to my family, I was like most Americans in my naive belief that our government would never deport a hard working, law-abiding person, married to a U.S. citizen and expecting his baby, and who was trying to become a permanent legal resident and following all of the orders of the court during that process. I didn't believe that my government could be so cruel and uncaring. When it became clear that they indeed planned on deporting her, I began researching on-line to see if I could find similar stories that possibly had a good outcome. I was shocked by the magnitude of this problem. This wasn't just happening to Anya, it was happening to thousands of other young, hard working people in our country. People who, through no fault of their own, were being torn from their families and sent to countries they didn't know. From the stories I read, as tragic as Anya's situation was, I began to feel like she was one of the lucky ones. At least she didn't get handcuffed and dragged off to a detention center to sit as long as they wanted to hold her, in horrible conditions while awaiting her deportation. Anya's case was heard on a case by case basis. The judge and chief counsel did have some discretionary power. I listened in disbelief when I was told that the chief counsel stated she would see to it that the baby wasn't born here. They could have postponed the deportation. That's the problem with relying on discretionary power. Your future may depend entirely on whether or not the person making decisions has had a bad day or not. There needs to be written immigration laws that take common sense and human compassion into account. People should not be severely and cruelly punished for things that as minors they had no control over. The Dream Act is the only proposal that I have seen that would prevent this insane injustice being inflicted upon thousands of our country's youth. Until something is done, thousands of families will continue to be torn apart. Something needs to be done quickly. Unless this happens to you or someone you love, you can not begin to imagine the heart ache and suffering that it causes to many, many people (U.S. citizen people, if that makes a difference to you).
Go to YouTube and search Brian and Anya Hahn. Watch highlights of their wedding. See Anya playing with their puppy, which they got before they were aware that our government would deport Anya. See her in the house that they planned on buying in August and decorating and furnishing one room as a nursery. Look at her innocent face and explain to me how my government, my son's government, could do this.
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