Not so appealing

If you really want to get angry with government, just read a few immigration appeals. Maybe I’ll compile a book of rulings from the Board of Immigration Appeals. You will not believe what passes for justice here in America.

I give you Agustin Ortiz-Cornejo a “citizen of Mexico” who snuck into the United States in February 1987. There is a law on the books that if you can prove “ten years’ continuous physical presence in the United States” you can be granted amnesty.

(Which makes Bush, Reid, Durbin…liars in the first degree. Illegals already have a path to legalization – several of them, actually - because we’ve made all sorts of accommodations to allow them to stay. The 10 year rule is only one of them.)

In April of 1996 (not quite 10 years) Agustin returned to Mexico to visit his family. Now if you get a committee of 20 sixth graders in a room and ask them if this man had 10 years of physical presence in the United States, would that be a hard question for them?

OK, so he spent a month in Mexico and then tried to get back in. Twice he was stopped at the border. It is SOP to ask the foolish question, “Do you want to be prosecuted for illegal entry or do you want to just self-deport, as in turn around and pretend nothing happened?”

Unless you are Cuban or otherwise entitled to refugee status, you choose to self-deport. But they don’t keep records of those who voluntarily self-deport.

The third times a charm and he finally was successful in getting back in by June of 1996.

Well, they finally caught up with Agustin and in July 2001 he was ordered deported. But he appealed saying he had 10 years continuous presence. And his appeal was appealed until he received the answer he wanted. He could stay.

Now, because there is no evidence that he was properly offered self-deportation the judge ruled that the 10 year rule still applied to Agustin according to the 8th Circuit Appeals Court.

And you will like this footnote to the 10 year rule: “Continuous physical presence ends if an alien departs from the United States for any period in excess of 90 days or for any periods in the aggregate exceeding 180 days.” If I read that right, the US government allows illegals to take vacations from the American Dream and still qualify for amnesty!

It amazes me that anyone can keep a straight face in one of these immigration hearings. Perhaps we should change our name to the United Schmucks of America.