Imagine dedicating yourself to your country’s military, risking your life beyond what most Americans would ever do, you fall in love with someone who was brought to this country as a small child, build a life with her, and then learn that deportation proceedings have commenced to have her removed from the country and the life and family you have built. This is the reality U.S. Army Spc. Jack Barrios, a 26 year old Iraq veteran, is facing as his wife Frances contends with possible deportation.
You can read about the sad ordeal that Jack Barrios, who has given so much at a young age to his country, is dealing with as he struggles to provide for and keep his family in tact. At the same time, his psychological wounds have manifested themselves with post-traumatic stress disorder.
But thank goodness for Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who heads the House immigration subcommittee. She plans to include a military provision in the upcoming immigration reform bill.
This military spouse immigration issue is something that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus needs to pay closer attention to. Actually, this would be a great issue for Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez since she is the second ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee and is the ranking woman on the Armed Services Committee. She should pick up the torch on this one.
11 responses so far ↓
1 BettyM // Oct 29, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Our military deserve better. I hope this family can stay together. Congresswoman Sanchez is probably not aware of this issue…
2 Pablo // Oct 31, 2009 at 8:38 am
Oh she’s aware. I dropped a printed copy of this post off at her office on Friday. Her staffer looked at me like Glenn Beck was about to leap naked from my pocket with a microphone and smother him with American fries when I mentioned the Latino Politics Blog. To wit: he was nervous.
…which was yet another assurance — to me, anyway — that Adrianna is doing a fine job here
3 DoctorH // Oct 31, 2009 at 11:19 am
Of course Loretta Sanchez is aware of this dilemma with Frances Barrios. But Frances Barrios is the wrong ethnicity to motivate LoRenta to lobby on her behalf. An act like this would require moral courage and we all know Low-Low doesn’t have that in her.
4 FormerStaffer // Nov 1, 2009 at 10:59 am
And that’s a correct statement. Loretta Sanchez is all about taking care of Loretta Sanchez and Loretta Sanchez’s freak, all the wrong traits for a public servant. You could easily condemn her for all the ugly and stupid things she says to high school groups who visit her office. This is obviously entertaining at the Playboy mansion, but not to impressionable children looking for leadership from elected officials.
5 joe // Nov 1, 2009 at 3:40 pm
There are more than enough single American women he could have married…boohoo.
6 IE // Nov 1, 2009 at 9:29 pm
As a Veteran, I have to say it’s appalling that we can ask soldiers to die for this country and not take care of their families. Citizen or not, military wives who’s husbands pay the ultimate sacrifice should be exempt to immigration laws.
Joe, c’mon, that’s the best you got. A boohoo?
Pablo, nice work on dropping off the post to Congress Woman Sanchez’s office. I would have loved to seen the staffers face…
7 theKaiser // Nov 2, 2009 at 6:18 pm
All for intensive purposes this would require work influenced by moral courage, and we all know Loretta Sanchez isn’t interested serving the public and she has the moral courage of a slug. So unless some other Congressional representative picks up this banner, this poor widow and her child are doomed.
8 A happy ending on the Jack Barrios situation // Nov 6, 2009 at 10:06 pm
[...] a week ago, I blogged about the plight of soldiers who have immigrant spouses, specifically referencing an article about [...]
9 Red Baron // Nov 12, 2009 at 3:31 am
Loretta loves military spouses–so much, in fact, that she stole one for herself! When Colonel Jack Einwechter was assigned by the Pentagon to be her military escort on official junkets, he was married with 6 kids. That was no obstacle to Loretta, “champion of military spouses.” She liked him, so she pursued him through many official junkets, until finally he left his wife and family to become her own pet soldier. Way to go, Loretta. That’s how Congress and the Armed Services Committee stands up (or lies down) for military families.
10 susanna // Dec 21, 2009 at 9:04 am
I was a foreign national (US citizen since 2007) and I am a military spouse. I feel terrible for Spc Jack Barrios. I sure hope this family can stay together.
11 DE // Apr 5, 2010 at 10:11 am
I’m a military wife and also an immigrant who, much like this soldiers wife, was brought to this country as a child and have bee trying to legalize myself for many years. It is frustrating that I can’t receive immigration benefits through my husband, yet I can watch him leave for months at a time while I am left to wait for his return and hope he doesn’t come back in a casket like my brother-in-law did. I truly hope that this bill passes as a gesture of kindness to our servicemen who like my family have given up their lives for our freedom and opportunity to prosper in this country.
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