Custody & Immigration & Divorce

Hello everyone,


I wanted to share an unfortunate situation that a friend of mine is going through.  Her name is Andrea Pinto and she is originally from Brazil.  I met her on the very first day of both of our eldest kids first day of school.  She seemed very nice and a bit overwhelmed, as she had just weeks in the United States.  My son would help hers son with homework as her son, Pedro, was just learning English.  I must say, it was fun and fascinating observing them both trying to make this work.  You see, my son Santiago speaks both English and Spanish.  Pedro on the other hand, at the time, only spoke Portuguese.  Watching Santiago take what he learned from school in English, process it to Spanish and then sharing to Pedro for him to make sense of it in Portuguese was quite the skill set for these 10 year old-5th graders.  I got to know Andrea better and learned that she is a lovely person, a wonderful wife, an a dedicated mother.  While her husband, who she moved with from Brazil, was unemployed, she assisted him by selling custom home baked cakes; they were delicious and I helped her as much as I could with trying to get people to buy from her.


A few months later, after their other son's 5th birthday, while they were having dinner as a family, she was served with divorce papers.  He told her, he didn't love her anymore.  Andrea was distraught and came to see me to share her this painful experience and together we cried.  As I comforted Andrea through this difficult period, I learned that Andrea was married to him for 5 years and put up with a toxic and abusive relationship hoping that things would improve over time.  He is from the US and was in assignment in Brazil, where they both met and got married.  After 3 years of marriage, he lost his job in Brazil and convinced her to move to the US.  He promised that he would change his ways and that by moving, our children would have better opportunities for a brighter future.  Andrea wanted to support him and even though, it was a very difficult decision, she agreed to move the entire family to a new world, she knew nothing of.  She figured that with him by her side, what could go wrong.  


Andrea and her oldest son, Pedro, are citizens of Brazil.  Pedro is Andrea's husband step son.  Andrea's husband as a US citizen head of household could petition immigration documents for both Andrea and Pedro, but with the divorce papers basically eliminates this option for both Andrea and her oldest son, Pedro.  Andrea's husband is also petitioning full custody of their youngest son, Joaquin.  His claim is that Andrea does not speak English, does not have proper documentation and therefore cannot care for their son; in other words, she was set up.  Navigating this ordeal for Andrea has been physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting.  She does not speak English and does not know much about the laws regarding divorce and immigration.  


I have and continue to help Andrea with as much as I can and also with the limited knowledge I have regarding both matters, divorce and immigration.  She is currently working towards coming to a resolution regarding her immigration papers, as her husband is withdrawing his petition on her behalf.  He is using that as a tactic to take away her youngest son.  At this point, she just wants her life back, but feels trapped.  Throughout this experience, Andrea has found great people who are helping her with prayers and emotional support.  Her only means of transportation is her bike.  She currently is cleaning houses, babysits, watches after dogs, and will jump in on any opportunity to make money to pay her attorneys to help her.


I am humbly asking that if you have found this story compelling and feel for Andrea, Pedro, and Joaquin to please help out.  All she wants is to be together with her kids.  Her husband tricked her into moving here, as he is a US citizen, knowing that he could do this to take her youngest son away from her.  He knew he couldn't do this in Brazil as he has charges for domestic battery.  This situation has been a nightmare for Andrea, Pedro, and Joaquin away from friends and family from Brazil and all by themselves.