Wife of U.S. soldier missing in Iraq faces deportation **** With 07/02/2007 Update

BOSTON — The wife of a soldier missing in Iraq could face deportation, her lawyer told a television station.

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There is a great deal of irony in the soldier husband putting his life on the line for the country while the US initiates deportation proceedings against his wife.  Interestingly, if she had entered the US as a visitor and subsequently overstayed her visa, even by several years, she would have been eligible for an adjustment of status to permanent residence (a green card) in approximately 7-9 months.  However, in this case she entered without inspection and thus is ineligible to adjust her status within the US.  She is deportable/removable under US immigration law. 

When I read this story I thought about the situation’s effect on this soldier’s loyalty to the country, this story’s/policy’s effect on morale among other similarly situated soldiers (a substantial minority are literally fighting their way towards US citizenship), existing USCIS/ICE policy not to normally prosecute such newsworthy cases, USCIS and US valuation of soldierly contributions and finally, the fundamental fairness of this act. 

– Ashwin

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