Bring Moises Home

My husband, Moises, is currently unable to return to our home in the U.S. after his U.S. permanent resident visa case was put into administrative processing during his interview in Mexico. I am sharing our story in the hopes that our family can be reunited soon and that it could help someone else who may be or already is in a similar situation.

At the age of 7, Moises was unlawfully brought across the border into America through no fault of his own. His mother was left a widow after his father died in a bus accident when he was 6 months old. So they left Mexico in search of the American Dream. I met him in elementary school and we went to the same middle and high school over the next 10 years. Once he graduated and wanted to begin his college career, he couldn't get in-state tuition due to his legal status. Despite this he has managed to pay as he went and has completed up to his Junior year of an Electrical Engineering Degree.

At the age of 18 the government considers you an adult. There is a law that if an immigrant is 18 or older and remains in the U.S. illegally for more than 1 year, they will incur a 10-year-bar when attempting to apply for a permanent resident visa. This means that they are required to return to their country of origin and remain there for 10 years before they can apply for any type of visa to return to America. Pretty scary, right? Moises never thought about leaving the only country he can remember calling home, as he had very little communication with his remaining family in Mexico growing up.

In 2012, an executive order was passed for the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, that states that "certain people who came to the United States as children and meet several guidelines may request consideration of deferred action for a period of 2 years, subject to renewal and a 500 dollar fee. They are also eligible to request work authorization." In layman's terms, the risk of deportation is minimized and the immigrant can apply for a social security number, a driver's license, and work authorization requiring them to pay federal taxes and contribute to social security. This was the first time Moises could come out of the shadows of being here unlawfully and begin some sort of rapport with immigration. Moises was approved for DACA the first year it was introduced, and for over 10 years has participated in background checks every two years and reapplied for work authorization to continue his career and live without constant fear of deportation.

Once we were married, we looked deeper into the immigration process and decided to take the jump due to the change in political affiliations of the government and the previous president's declaration of ending DACA. Immigrants can receive a permanent resident visa (or green card) if they have a U.S. citizen spouse who sponsors them.

Here is a timeline of our permanent resident visa process:

All of these steps required multiple high fees and long waiting periods.

We traveled to Mexico on April 25 as a family for the official interview. At the interview, Moises was required to show his hardship waiver approval, and then at the end of the interview was told he was "flagged." He was told that it was necessary to complete another form to continue with the visa. USCIS provides a thorough checklist of items to prepare before traveling for a visa interview, however nowhere on their website nor from immigration lawyers that we consulted with before attending the interview was there a mention of this form, so, as you can imagine, this came as a total shock. The consulate emailed a form called DS 5535 and through doing some Google research of our own we found out this form was first used as part of “Extreme Vetting.” Once submitted, we received an email saying that our case was now in administrative processing, which could average 90 days or longer.

Our family lived together in Mexico from the end of April to the end of May. While we were able to spend some time as a family exploring the culture and visiting family, there was constant worry and confusion about when this process would end. The financial burden of living in two places at once, as we still had our mortgage and car payments at home, became too heavy so we decided as a family that at the end of May I would return to the U.S. with our daughter, Evelyn.

Moises is still in Mexico 4 months after his interview. We have reached out to senators and lawyers to see if they could inquire about or try and expedite our case, and all who have communicated with the embassy have received the same answer: our case is still in administrative processing and there is no timeline for when this process will be completed. Moises has made multiple online inquiries through the USCIS portal and has received the same response. Moises has no legal way to re-enter the U.S. until he is approved for an permanent resident visa.

The next logical step per lawyer recommendation is filing a writ of mandamus which "creates a lawsuit against an officer or employee of the United States government with the purpose of compelling that person to take action in an administrative matter." The lawyers assure us that this process will get the embassy to move forward in most cases, instead of the case just sitting. It is not guaranteed that the embassy will move faster than they have been moving, nor guarantee that they won’t push back, however, with the lack of communication from the embassy, we could be waiting more than a year without filing. This process averages about five months from start to completion which could mean that Moises won’t be home for our daughter's next Christmas either way.

We went into this immigration process nervous, yet hopeful, and when we got our interview date, we were really excited. Finally, the finish line. We knew that there would be risks in leaving the country, however, we followed the appropriate process of the U.S. government from start to finish and felt secure our case would be approved. Moises has spent his adult life contributing to this country and now he’s been separated from his family for months. He’s currently living with an aunt he hasn’t seen since he was seven. Her family is practically strangers to him, but they have taken him in during this time which we are incredibly grateful for. One silver lining of this situation is that Moises has been able to build relationships with his father's family that he has missed these past 27 years. His employer has been very supportive of us thus far, however, they cannot guarantee his position indefinitely. Moises has built a career, family, and life in America. His background is clean and the U.S. government has records to prove this fact, since, for DACA, he has been fingerprinted and had a background check run every two years for the last 10 years.

It has been a very difficult transition for me coming home as a single working mother and trying to keep it all together. It's even more confusing and upsetting for a 4-year-old girl wondering when her daddy's coming home and why he isn't here to read her stories and tuck her in at night. Our daughter started VPK last week which is an event Moises and I have talked and dreamed about for years and he wasn't able to be a part of it. We just want him home. We want this process over. So we’re hoping that this next step will help us get there a little faster.

Due to all of these factors, we are asking if anyone is willing to help contribute to the fee that the writ of mandamus will cost us. We understand if this is not doable, but if nothing else, please share our story.

Since I’ve been home, there have been so many people asking me, "Why?" and "How could this be happening to Moises?" Expressing that it’s not fair and it’s frustrating. I agree. Something needs to change in this process. There are good people who are doing all they can to become legal residents of this country and may be battling the same situation as we are. You may know one of these people, so please share our story so that it may help or inform others, and help us bring Moises home.