Citizenship is NOT a Technicality

[Diva]

All of her life, Zoila Meyer believed she was an American. She even won election to the City Council of Adelanto.

But now she is facing a threat of deportation for illegally voting, because she never became a citizen after being brought to this country from Cuba when she was 1 year old.

"To be honest with you, I'm scared. How can they just pluck me out of my family, my kids?" the 40-year-old mother of four said in a telephone interview Friday.

"If they can do this to me, they can do it to anybody," she said.


This story just rubs me raw. You would think that someone who was born in another country would at least check to see if it was okay to vote. Or what she needed to do to become a citizen. I don't care if she was one year old. She wasn't born here and is NOT a citizen. This is grade school stuff. It's almost as bad as people who seem to think that living in a country illegally for a certain amount of time makes it automatically okay to stay legally. I have friends who had to go through the process of becoming a citizen. One was deported when her work visa ran out and had to get another to come back. They paid the money, took the courses and can proudly call themselves a citizen. They did it the right way.

People expect too much for what they are willing to give. You don't want to be here legally, spend the money to become a resident, go through the process to become a citizen... but you are appalled that the Government will deport your ass if they find out? Give me a fucking break. You'll march the streets in protest but won't lift a finger to find out what YOU need to do in order to make things right. If you break the law you are a criminal and should be punished. If that punishment means deportation then maybe you'll get off of your ass and do what's expected of every single person who comes here from another country. This isn't about race. It isn't about bigotry. It's about abiding by the laws of the country YOU CHOSE to live in. The same should be expected by me if I chose to live somewhere else.

News
º Man bathes in historical fountain (http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=29&art_id=nw20070624220146138C204772&set_id=1). Idiot
º Store robber arrested at bar (http://my.earthlink.net/track?id=1018002&add=1&url=/article/str?guid=20070625/467f3dc0_3ca6_1552620070625-158810267). Moron
º Getaway plan spoiled by stick shift (http://www.local6.com/news/13563197/detail.html). HA HA
º Vasectomy "gift" not refundable (http://my.earthlink.net/track?id=1018002&add=1&url=/article/str?guid=20070625/467f3dc0_3ca6_1552620070625-91574693). No shit
º Body found in garbage can after crash (http://www.10news.com/news/13563028/detail.html?rss=sand&psp=news). Swift move
º Mom finds son handcuffed at playground (http://cbs2.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_176174024.html). WTF!?!
º Driver swallows fake teeth (http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=29&art_id=iol1182794621325T000&set_id=1). Hungry?
º Fish breaks woman's leg (http://www.local6.com/news/13566283/detail.html). Bad Nemo!
º Foot fetish copycat hits Philly (http://cbs2.com/watercooler/watercooler_story_176173215.html). Dipshit
º Man survives two-story plunge (http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=nw20070625221346991C900082). Dude...
º Man found with rod impaled in head (http://www.local6.com/news/13564115/detail.html). GAH!
º Barber stabs client with scissors (http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL238985120070625). Testy much?
º Dry cleaner wins missing pants case (http://my.earthlink.net/track?id=1018002&add=1&url=/article/str?guid=20070625/467f3dc0_3421_1334520070625-21098649). Yay!
º Stab victim continues masturbating (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/stab-victim-continued-masturbating/2007/06/20/1182019174853.html). *blink*

Levity
º Video: Montana police car chase and shoot out (http://www.shoutfile.com/v/eQPZxjSg/The_Montana_Police_Is_In_For_A_Big_Surpice)
º Photos: People and their avatars (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/06/15/magazine/20070617_AVATAR_SLIDESHOW_1.html)
º How the real world looks to a World Of Warcraft fanatic (http://www.yankeepotroast.org/archives/2007/06/a_glimpse_into_1.html)
º YouTube: Doll Face (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl6hNj1uOkY)
º Strange games (http://strange-games.blogspot.com/)
º Babe in seethru pink shirt (http://www.shapcash.com/gallhit/120056/239/1/2/0)

[Poseidon]

To be fair.. she was one year old. It was her parent's responsibility to take care of it. I can certainly understand her expectation of it. My brother was 3 when we came over, and mom took care of his paperwork.

[Bones]

How in the hell did she get elected to a city council without being a citizen? I thought citizenship was a requirement to hold an elected office.

[Amaurote]

I have to agree with Pos here; as much as I deplore mass illegal immigration to my own country (slight difference: you could lose about a billion people in Kansas alone and still have room to swing a supernova), you don't see many babies infiltrating over the border on their own. Someone carried her, and then theyapparently brought her up without telling her - why else would she expose herself like that?

[caufield]

I really wouldn't blame her for not knowing that she wasn't a citizen. There are a number of systems that failed for her to be able to live, vote, run for a government post, have a job...etc. I don't blame the individual, I blame the system. I'm pretty sure that if she had been told that she wasn't a citizen when she tried to use her social security number (which she shouldn't have if she's not a citizen) to get a job, she would've taken care of the situation right away.

[Bones]

El bebé se arrastró lentamente a través de la frontera. El pronto viviría en América.

(The baby slowly crawled across the border. He soon would live in America)

[James]

And how would any of you feel if it turned out your parents had entered the country illegaly when you were one but told you that you were an American/whatever country you live in. This isnt some lady who thought it was ok that she was an illegal because she had been in the country for so long, this is someone who as far as she knew, WAS an American citizen. (Since it was since she was one, personally I'd accept them as my countryman, and I'm very anti migration.)

[Bones]

And how would any of you feel if it turned out your parents had entered the country illegaly when you were one but told you that you were an American/whatever country you live in. This isnt some lady who thought it was ok that she was an illegal because she had been in the country for so long, this is someone who as far as she knew, WAS an American citizen. (Since it was since she was one, personally I'd accept them as my countryman, and I'm very anti migration.)

I have to agree. She thought she was an American. She didn't know she wasn't.

[Unforgiven]

If she legitimately didn't know, then I say we give her a break. It was a reasonable assumption, even if it does sound questionable.

If it can be shown that she did in fact know, well, that's entirely different.

[Diva]

To be fair.. she was one year old. It was her parent's responsibility to take care of it. I can certainly understand her expectation of it. My brother was 3 when we came over, and mom took care of his paperwork.

I can't believe someone who KNOWS she was born in another country never even checked. I dunno... It would be something I would assume was important, ESPECIALLY when running for public office. But you are right, it was her mother's error.


I really wouldn't blame her for not knowing that she wasn't a citizen. There are a number of systems that failed for her to be able to live, vote, run for a government post, have a job...etc. I don't blame the individual, I blame the system. I'm pretty sure that if she had been told that she wasn't a citizen when she tried to use her social security number (which she shouldn't have if she's not a citizen) to get a job, she would've taken care of the situation right away.

I agree that I blame the system. I just wonder how they would go about checking children without taking away even more rights.


If she legitimately didn't know, then I say we give her a break. It was a reasonable assumption, even if it does sound questionable.

If it can be shown that she did in fact know, well, that's entirely different.

The real problem that I have with this woman is her reaction to this situation. Whether she knew or not, the government isn't being unfair in how it reacts. She is not a legal citizen. Why is she throwing that big brother statement out there like she's being herded up for being a woman? It's an unfortunate situation but her reaction is ridiculous.

[Amaurote]

The real problem that I have with this woman is her reaction to this situation. Whether she knew or not, the government isn't being unfair in how it reacts. She is not a legal citizen. Why is she throwing that big brother statement out there like she's being herded up for being a woman? It's an unfortunate situation but her reaction is ridiculous.

Hmmm, very harsh. If I'd slaved all my life to build myself an education, a career and served the general public by standing for public office in the country I thought of as my own, then found myself deported to an alien nation because my mother never told me I was an illegal immigrant, I'd see it as unfair, too. We all support the cruelty of state power to defend borders and law and order, but however legally accurate it is to define a Central American baby moved over the border as an illegal immigrant, it makes very little moral sense to punish the adult it becomes - and make no sense, tearing someone apart like this is certainly a punishment.

I'm all for hunting illegal immigrants down to the earth, but I'm completely against treating them like criminals - if you thought your own country was bad, come over here some time and see the way we treat them.

[Unforgiven]

I'm all for hunting illegal immigrants down to the earth, but I'm completely against treating them like criminals - if you thought your own country was bad, come over here some time and see the way we treat them.

We already have, don't worry. Children of Men was a documentary, right?

[Bones]

They are criminals. The first step they took in this country was a crime. But in this womans case I say cut her some slack. She never knew she was here illegally. In this case it wasn't her fault. And she grew up here. She qualifies as an American. It's all she has ever known what to be.

/me can't believe he is defending an illegal alien!!!

I surprise myself sometimes.

/me kicks self in ass.

[Diva]

Hmmm, very harsh. If I'd slaved all my life to build myself an education, a career and served the general public by standing for public office in the country I thought of as my own, then found myself deported to an alien nation because my mother never told me I was an illegal immigrant, I'd see it as unfair, too. We all support the cruelty of state power to defend borders and law and order, but however legally accurate it is to define a Central American baby moved over the border as an illegal immigrant, it makes very little moral sense to punish the adult it becomes - and make no sense, tearing someone apart like this is certainly a punishment.

I'm all for hunting illegal immigrants down to the earth, but I'm completely against treating them like criminals - if you thought your own country was bad, come over here some time and see the way we treat them.

*blink* How am I being harsh? She wasn't locked away. Let me throw in some quotes to clarify a few things.


Eventually, "the police came to me and said, 'Zoila, you're not a citizen. You're a legal resident but you're not a citizen,"

She resigned after 10 weeks in office in Adelanto, a town of about 23,000. Meyer, whose story was first reported in the Victorville Daily Press, applied to become a naturalized citizen and continued with her life: raising her children and attending two local colleges to earn degrees toward her goal of working in the justice system as a forensic nurse.


However, because she was not a citizen, Meyer faced a felony charge of illegally voting in the 2004 election.
In April 2006, she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent voting and was placed on probation, fined and ordered to pay restitution.


What Meyer didn't realize is that fraudulently voting is a deportable offense. On June 18, Meyer said, immigration officials showed up at her home and told her to appear at their San Bernardino office. Her husband drove her to the office on Tuesday, "and they handcuffed me," Meyer said. "They put me in jail and they frisked me and processed me. I said 'You're doing this because I voted?"'


The case is unusual but immigration officials were just doing their job when they arrested Meyer, said Lori Haley, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"People are arrested on immigration charges from all walks of life," she said. "She can plead her case before an immigration judge, if she feels that she has reason to seek release for removal. ... Everybody has due process when they're arrested."She was told to come down to the office, not thrown in a police car. They processed her like they do EVEYRONE and told her of her court date. She was released to go home. It's a frightening experience, but it's not like she's already being deported. Most likely they'll fine her ass and send her on her way. My pity for her ends when she threw out that 'You're doing this because I voted' comment. 'Misunderstanding' or not, it is illegal to vote unless you are a citizen. She makes it sound as if she's being treated horribly but all I see is due process. Hell, how many people get a knock at the door about committing a crime and aren't thrown in cuffs right there and then?

[Amaurote]

It's harsh because you're defending something which is harsh on pretty legalistic grounds - if this happened to you and you reacted emotionally to being treated as a foreigner in your own country, would you regard your emotional reaction as unjustified because something as abstract as due process was being adhered to? Like it or not, deportation is a very real possibility here for someone who has lived her entire life believing herself to be an American citizen.

[Bones]

I agree with Am. As far as this woman knew she was an American. Now she could possibly be deported to a country she knows nothing about. It would be the same thing as sending her off to die. she wouldn't be able to survive there. Deporting her would be cruel.

[trekbugging]

i find it hard to believe she didn't know she wasn't a citizen--did she have a drivers license?-don't you need to prove your a citizen to get one--or did she attend school?--don't you need a birth cirtificate to get into school--and if you are born in a different country, don't you need some other papers and such

[Amaurote]

i find it hard to believe she didn't know she wasn't a citizen--did she have a drivers license?-don't you need to prove your a citizen to get one--or did she attend school?--don't you need a birth cirtificate to get into school--and if you are born in a different country, don't you need some other papers and such

Yes, but I don't have a driving license, and I don't remember going to my prospective Headmaster at the age of four and presenting my birth certificate - other people did it for me. Come to think of it, I have two prints of Zapata in my house, which seems a little odd to be pure coincidence - maybe I'm Mexican, too...