My rights have been violated. I am a U.S. citizen. My family has been in the U.S. since before it became a country. I am married to a Honduran citizen. We have been together 8 years and have 3 beautiful children. The immigration law INA §212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II) is unconstitutional in concerns to the spouses of U.S. citizens. While enforcing this law, the government is infringing on the rights of the U.S. citizen. While illegal immigrants do not enjoy all the rights that citizens do, when married to a citizen, and an immigration law, as pertains to the spouse of a citizen, takes away the guaranteed rights as written in the Bill of Rights, said law is unconstitutional as written. Here is my argument.
The bill of rights, 1st amendment:
 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the FREE EXERCISE THEREOF. The bible says the following on marriage:
      Genesis 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.
     Proverbs 18:22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.
    Malachi 2:15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the reside of spirit. And wherefore one? That he    might seek a godly seed. There take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife  of his youth
    Romans 7:1-3 Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
     I Corinthians 7:1-5 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not the power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, the ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
      I Corinthians 7:10-11 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife
    I Corinthians 7:27 Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosened. Art thou loosened from a wife? Seek not a wife.

     I Corinthians 11:11-12 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman: but all things of God.
     Matthew 19:3-6   The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And He answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be on flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

 The 3/10 year ban goes against my and many people’s religious beliefs. The bible clearly states that a man and woman shall live together as husband and wife for their entire lives. It states that the purpose for marriage is offspring and to keep sexual desire from corrupting our faith. A 10 year bar from the U.S. would lead to temptation on both sides, and deny our conjugal rights as a married couple. It also terminates the husband’s role as head of household. The bible says that a man shall leave his parents and cleave to his wife. His parents (in Honduras), his wife here in the U.S. The legal definition for marriage is: The legal status, condition, or relationship that results from a contract by which one man and one woman, who have the capacity to enter into such an agreement, mutually promise to live together in the relationship of Husband and Wife in law for life, or until the legal termination of the relationship. Even our state laws say that a marriage is a man and woman LIVING TOGETHER as husband and wife. So how can there be a law interfering in a spiritual and legal marriage? How can the government, of the people, and by the people, enforce a law that forces me to go against my religious beliefs, thus putting my very soul in jeopardy?

The bill of rights, 8th amendment:
 
 Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

 Excessive is the operative word here. The penalty in Texas for criminal trespass is a Class B Misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine of up to $2000 and/or up to 6 months in jail. First time offenders usually get probation. So 10 years is extremely excessive. As to cruel and unusual punishment, it fits completely. To be separated from my husband, my children from their father, is cruel. My children growing up without their father, missing their school events, and not seeing their father every day. There are millions of people in therapy because one or both parents weren’t around. This can cause unnecessary psychological damage to them. I would have to raise my children alone. I would have to support them mentally and financially. Losing his income will be a great blow. Not to mention my psychological welfare. Being separated from my husband can send me into a deep depression. It will cause irreparable damage to me and my family. Juries in the U.S. often find in favor of the person who suffered such losses.

So how to they answer? Well why can’t you go and live with him in his country? This is why……..

The 14th amendment, section 1:

 All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

 No State shall make or enforce any law that DEPORTS AMERICANS. So your answer is that I should go and live in a 3rd world country. That my citizen children should be taught in schools that are 50 years behind this country, and were most children only go until the 6th grade. I should go to a country where things like running water and electricity is for the rich. I should go live in a hut with a dirt floor. I should give up my studies, leave my family that needs me, a mother that is in a wheelchair, a father that has blackouts and high blood pressure, and a brother that is mentally handicapped. I should leave my home, let it get foreclosed on. As an American citizen, you can’t ask me to leave the country or enforce any law that does.

Well, why can’t you wait for a waiver?

First of all, the waiver is not guaranteed. He has to leave the country to need the waiver, and once he leaves the country he is barred for 10 years. 9 months is the estimated time in Honduras, and is enough time that I will be in financial ruin. I will lose my house, I will have to live off public assistance, and my standard of living will drop. 9 months is the estimated time, but I know people who have been waiting years. Which goes right back to excessive.

This law was created to keep people from coming into the U.S. and keep people from staying in the U.S. illegally. This has had the opposite affect. People are staying longer because they know that when they leave they can’t come back. It has dropped the amount of people applying for papers because they know that they will be barred for long periods of time. I personally didn’t file until this year for that same reason. What’s the point if he’s just going to get barred? I would rather have him with me illegally then not with me legally. Immigration is purposing that the rates be increased again for filing because they can’t support their own costs. Of the 11 million illegal immigrates in this country, how many millions would file if that bar where lifted? How many millions of dollars would that mean for the Department of Immigration? How much of that could go to securing our borders?