My name is Amanda Monterroso I am a United States citizen born and raised in New Jersey, my husband's name is Edgar Monterroso and he came to the United States over 14 years ago. We have been married for 4 years and have three children. When he came to the United States his main goal was to reunite with his mother who is now a citizen of the United States and like so many other immigrants help his father who stayed in Guatemala.

Edgar had been working at the same company for 10 years, working hard as a welder never getting into any trouble with the law in any way. We met at work in 2012 and were literally together everyday since until our whole life's were flipped upside down in 2016. After we got married we decided to start the immigration process so Edgar could get the documents he needed to get better work and provide even more for our family, I was working but his income was our main income. After along time of collecting the right papers, coming up with the fees needed along the way for the petitions and everything was approved he was scheduled his visa interview in Guatemala at the US Embassy. He left January 29th, 2016 and we didn't realize the hell our family was about to go through.

We were unaware that during this time at the Embassy there was a particular officer who was wrongfully denying visas to Guatemalans. Unfortunately my husband got this officer for his interview and our life's have been spinning downhill ever since. Like the other 20+ Guatemalans, that our lawyer knows about my husband fell victim to this mans accusations and had his visa refused. We just couldn't believe it, everything had got approved prior to his interview all our petitions to even get to that point had been approved. My husband, our families, our children were just completely shocked when my husband called crying saying he was refused his visa, especially after telling us how he was treated by this officer. At the end of the interview this officer through my husbands passport at his face and said, "this is your punishment," and walked away. As a US citizen I was just disgusted knowing people who are supposed to be representing our country at an Embassy are treating people like this. 

I wanted to just stay in bed and cry everyday but I new if I didn't keep fighting my husband would never get to come home to the USA to our family. So that's what I did, i immediately starting fighting calling anyone I could to try to get help. After months and months of our lawyer fighting with several other lawyers around the United States and writing a very lengthy appeal to the Department of State regarding the treatment of these Guatemalans, finally the Embassy stepped up and started re-interviewing people. Edgar got his reinterview in June by this time my husbands been stuck there 4 months. It took 4 months for the Embassy to start correcting the officers mistakes and look into everyone's case again. During my husbands new interview this time with two very nice woman, they ended up clearing him of the accusations the previous officer had made because they were not true. They sent my husband out of the Embassy and said we will contact you soon. It took 8 more weeks stuck in Guatemala away from his family for them to finally reach out after continuous emails to them. By this time about 5 of the other wrongfully denied Guatemalans have been approved and issued their visas because they were also re-interviewed and found to be NOT GUILTY  of the same exact charges that were placed against my husband. YES this officer DENIED VISAS to multiple people all for the SAME reason with no evidence of the accusations at all. How this wasn't caught by the embassy sooner I have no idea but it would have saved a lot of families the pain we are all going through now.

So my husband gets this new interview. We are thinking yes, this is it finally after 6 months he will be home because there was never any other issues brought up during the multiple other interviews. I was thinking finally the financial struggles I have been facing here in the US will be over, I wont have to rely on different state assistance programs to survive each month, because with my husbands income I don't need state programs. Only to find out at this August interview, they werent sending him home they were again interigating him accusing him of something else. Now that my husband was cleared of the original accusations, they are bringing a set of lies. It's like they don't want to believe that he is truly a good person, they are on a digging expedition and they won't find anything. This time its because of my husbands tattoos he is being accused of gang involvement. Edgar is 35 years old, he has a clean criminal record both in the United States and Guatemala from his 18 years being raised there but now they are accusing him of gang activity because of a few ugly tattoos he got when he was young and dumb like so many other people around the world.

Now its been 10 months of Edgar stuck in Guatemala, his case has been in administrative processing since August 22nd. I write the embassy almost weekly begging and pleading for them to send Edgar home. But  when they do write back all they say over and over again the case is currently undergoing necessary administrative processing they cannot rush the processing. I do understand that a little but at this point they need to understand how it feels to hear your spouse crying on the other side of the phone he just wants to come home. I don't think they understand how it feels to listen to your children cry when is daddy coming home. After 10 months, 3 interviews and over 70 days in administrative processing I think it's time to realize what I have been saying all along, EDGAR IS A GOOD MAN. I won't give up until my husband is home where he belongs. All the holidays, birthdays, special moments Edgar has missed over the last 10 months with our children he wont get them moments back. I have been barely surviving month to month with bills because of his lost income for the last 10 months. Out of the 20 other Guatemalans on this original petition half of them have been sent home.

I am begging if you are reading this petition to please sign it. Pleas help get this situation noticed and help try to get my husband and my childrens dad home. The world is in such an weird spot right now. So many people are divided on immigration issues. But one thing everyone says is go back and come back to the Unted States the right way. Well that is what my husband tried to do, so he can return home the right way because he considers the United States his home.

Please help get our problem out there and get my husband home. He is truly a good man, he wouldn't hurt anybody and would give you the last penny from his pocket. We just want our family together again.