Hello Lactnetters,
I am an LLL Leader in the Madison, WI area. It is most enjoyable to read
what so many knowledgeable women have to say about lactation and related
topics in the past couple of months since I joined Lactnet. This request
combines both. My mentor assured me this was an appropriate topic for this
list. I received a direct phone call (she found me on the LLL website) from
a Brooklyn, NY woman (who happens to be my jeweler of 20 years,
daughter...we had no idea when the call began) with this request for help.
A very sad situation regarding a breastfeeding mother of a just turned 1
year old, with another child as well, who will most likely be deported on
May 4th due to mishandled paperwork. Anything you can do to help is greatly
appreciated! If Asmeret has to be deported, there is a slim chance she can
get emergency passports for the children (this usually takes 8 weeks). Her
attorney is, at a minimum, trying to get a stay, so she can at least get
passports for her children....immigration tells her they are US citizens,
they don't need to be deported. They are trying to find a country that will
take her. She has no idea where she will be going or for how long, hence,
knows not where she might stay upon arrival. If she gets deported to her
native country of Eritrea (next to Ethiopia), she is concerned for her
safety. The press release below was written by the woman who contacted me
from NY. Asmeret lives just north of Madison, in Sun Prairie, WI. She is
beside herself with worry. Thank you in advance for your support of Asmeret.
Jeannie Manthe
LLL Leader
Cottage Grove, WI
Mother To Be Deported by Mistaken Policy (Madison, WI)
On May 4th, 2006 Asmeret Yosef, wife to Eyobad Zerezghi and mother to two
young daughters (all U.S. citizens), has been instructed by the Homeland
Security Agency to report to Chicago O'Hare Airport to be deported to an
unknown destination. Her crime? A mistake in her paperwork.?
When she reported to the Milwaukee office for her green card interview last
week, she was shocked to hear that they intended to deport her that day.
When they arrested her, it was only the cries of her two daughters, one
still nursing, that allowed her the mercy of a short delay. But, legal
efforts to date have not been successful and Asmeret Yoself is afraid that
her family will be torn apart next week if someone does not intervene.
Asmeret has been living in the U.S. since she entered legally in 2000. She
had been working for the U.S. Navy in Bahrain for 6 years prior to her entry
and since coming to this country she has been working in the medical field
and caring for her daughters.
Asmeret has a work permit, she pays taxes, she and her husband own a home,
and Asmeret has been regularly corresponding with HSA hoping for her green
card. Yet, the HSA says that they sent her letters informing her that her
paperwork that had not been correctly completed. She, unfortunately, never
received these papers because the HSA in Washington DC mailed them to an old
address, never asking the Milwaukee office for her updated information.
Homeland Security's inflexible policies now dictate the deportation of this
law-abiding young mother of two. Is this what we created the Homeland
Security Agency for? To protect us from the 'threat' of a young nursing
mother whose only crime was a paperwork error? Don't they have anything
better to do than to pull this family apart?
There is no doubt that Asmeret will be allowed to re-enter this country, her
husband and children are citizens. Yet, this forced deportation will, quite
literally, pull her nursing baby from her breast and rip this family apart
for an unknown amount of time.
Further, Asmeret cannot return to her native country of Eritrea, having fled
there years ago in fear of her safety, and she currently has nowhere else to
go. If this deportation is allowed to happen, she will be forced into a
foreign country, where she may not speak the language and she will not know
anyone, and will made to wait for the U.S. Government to finish her
paperwork to their satisfaction.
Hundreds of people from around the country have been calling and emailing
Senator Russ Feingold [log in to unmask] in hopes that he
might be able to stop this needless deportation. For more information,
please contact Asmeret and her family at 608.347.6818.
Thank you!
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