Families like Annie and Alex Conrad  are separated by arbitrary and unfair actions on the part of US Immigration.

Annie moved to the US from China last spring, and had her green card application in process. Everything was going along fine, when an emergency necessitated her return to China to bring her daughter Ella from a previous marriage to the US earlier than planned. Since Annie's green card was in process, she filed paperwork as required to depart and return to the US. 

 
Annie made arrangements to enroll Ella in school, on Orcas Island, for the start of the new year. Her future classmates and the Orcas community were eager to welcome a new 7th grader to the community. Annie then flew to China to bring her daughter home. They travelled to Guangzhou, China, where the US consulate was to issue travel documents and the visa for Ella based on Annie's status in the US.

 That was six months ago. Ella did indeed have a US visa waiting for her at the US Consulate.

Annie, on the other hand, had nothing. No travel documents, no explanation and no way to return to her home and her husband in the US. Despite multiple assurances from US immigration officers that her travel documentation would be processed, nothing happened. Immigration officers communicated dates by which this could be processed....one deadline passed, many deadlines passed and then with only three weeks until the expiration of Ella's visa on February 13, Annie received a letter of denial. The letter includes an order to depart the US within 30 days. That would be quite a feat, given that the US would not let her back into the country.

 Successful US born entrepreneurs like Alex, the CEO of a start-up company and mentor to many at Seattle University have been repeatedly misled by misguided bureaucrats and spousal re-entry to the US denied