Sen. Webb Saves Scout

It is a measure of the absurdity of our immigration system that a Boy Scout whose family is in America legally was saved from being deported, potentially alone, by the intervention of Virginia's Sen. Webb.

Less than a week before his court-ordered deadline to pack up and leave the country, 13-year-old Boy Scout Jose Andrade got a reprieve.

Thanks to a half-dozen or so letters of concern sent to U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) about the teen's deportation and separation from his family, Jose can still call Virginia home. - Loudoun Times-Mirror

Would that we wouldn't need a U.S. Senator to intervene to prevent cases of gross injustice from being inflicted on children.

Credit is due to the Loudoun Times for being on top of this and providing reporting on it in a timely manner. It is likely that without their original article Jose would have been lost in the system, and sent to a place that is not his home.

“We received the initial communication from the Scout leader on May 14,” said Jessica Smith, Webb's communication director. “More letters followed from concerned community members after [a Times-Mirror] story [on Jose] ran in mid-June.”

She said Webb's office in late May sent a standard letter of inquiry to ICE. The merits of Jose's case and not the senator's inquiry played the lead role in ICE's decision, Smith said. - The Loudoun Times-Mirror

Although this, single case of injustice has been averted, Leesburg Tomorrow's commentary on this case from June remains true, and relevant for thousands of other families in the Commonwealth.

Jose's mother is here legally, and her other two children are U.S. Citizens. It is unconscionable to insist that two citizens and a legal resident leave the country to remain united with their son and sibling. It is an impossible choice, and yet one that current policy forces parents to make.

Our immigration laws and policies are not just broken, they are fundamentally unjust and harmful to those who are most vulnerable. In a nation that is supposed to provide "equal justice for all" there are people who have a very difficult time with the definition of "all." Justice for all means everyone, not just people who look like you. Tearing a family apart for the sake of bureaucracy is not justice, it is a crime. - Leesburg Tomorrow, June 12, 2008