Posted on 11/04/2007 3:19:13 PM PST by lizol
Stratford woman fights deportation to Poland
RICHARD WEIZEL
Article Last Updated: 11/03/2007 11:16:52 PM EDT
STRATFORD — Three years ago Polish citizens Adam and Renata Laszczak believed they were about to realize the American Dream.
Then, suddenly, it became more like an American tragedy.
After emigrating in 1998 from Miechow, a town just outside Crocow, the young couple were married in the United States and by 2004 were the proud parents of twin seven-month old girls.
Adam worked for a construction company in Fairfield, while Renata took care of the twins, Angelica and Jessica.
Adam, who was legally in the U.S. via sponsorship by his employer, was in the final phase of obtaining a green card and Renata was part of the application.
But on Nov. 9, 2004 Adam Laszczak was crushed to death under the wheels of a friend's car in what Stratford police described as an accident. Police said Laszczak was killed while preparing to make repairs to the car, which suddenly went out of control.
He died a short time later at Bridgeport Hospital.
Now, Renata Laszczak, is fighting deportation.
"All I want to do is stay in this country with my two girls, it is the only place they know as home and we all want to be close to where my husband is buried," Renata Laszczak, 29, said last week during an interview at her Success Avenue home.
Breaking down in sobs and burying her head in her hands, the petite blonde woman said she and her 3 year old daughters often visit Adam's gravesite at St Michael's Cemetery.
"Of course they don't remember their father, but it is Advertisement comforting to all of us to be near him," she said. "I have been in this country nine years and it is my home. In Poland there are no jobs and things are not good economically. I wish to stay and be able to give my daughters a good future."
She also wants to stay because of her elderly father, a U.S. citizen from Bridgeport, who with serious kidney disease relies on Renata to take him to a clinic for dialysis treatment three times a week.
"There are so many reasons I need to stay and want to stay," Laszczak said.
But that may not be possible.
In December 2005, Laszczak was informed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Office that her application for a green card had been denied because her husband was the primary applicant. The letter states that because he had died, the Immigration and Nationality Act did not provide for her to be considered.
"If you fail to depart from the United States, proceedings will be instituted to enforce your departure," a March 9, 2006 follow-up letter states. "You entered the United States on Oct. 3, 1998 as a visitor. You overstayed your period of lawful admission." A deportation hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 6 in Hartford.
Attorney Anthony Collins of Wethersfield, who specializes in immigration law and is representing Laszczak, said immigration laws were tightened up by Congress in 1996 and are "extremely complex and cumbersome.
But he said there is still hope his client can remain in the United States.
"People don't realize that these kinds of things happen all the time because of the tough laws Congress has given us," Collins said. "The laws pertaining to Renata's case are very complicated, but there are legal avenues we hope can still allow her to remain in this country." Collins said he did not want to publicly speak about those avenues or his planned legal arguments prior to the hearing. "If people want to keep these things from happening they should contact their congressmen and women and urge them to change the laws," he said.
Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security which makes the legal determination if a person is eligible for immigration benefits, said privacy laws prevent his agency from publicly commenting in detail about any specific case.
However, Saucier said an immigration judge does have the authority, depending on evidence presented, to make a favorable ruling.
"We would like to help," Saucier said. "But the final decision will be up to a judge."
Marek Drelichowski, a friend of Renata who has been a U.S. citizen for more than 40 years after emigrating from Poland with his family in 1962, said it would be "a great hardship for Renata and her daughters to be forced out of this country.
"If her husband had not died they would not have had a problem staying here and eventually becoming citizens," said Drelichowski, a Shelton resident who tutors and teaches Polish immigrant to speak English.
"It was devastating to lose her husband, but forcing her to leave and perhaps never have the chance to visit his grave again would be unbearable," he said.
Laszczak said because her daughters were born in the United States they are automatically considered citizens, and could stay even if she were deported.
"But that would be impossible," she said. "They already lost their father. It would ruin their lives to lose their mother too.
>>Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security which makes the legal determination if a person is eligible for immigration benefits...<<
These are the people who can help Renata and her daughters.
Here is the website. Find a number and call. Let’s all do something to help this woman.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
>>Shawn Saucier, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security which makes the legal determination if a person is eligible for immigration benefits...<<
These are the people who can help Renata and her daughters.
Here is the website. Find a number and call. Let’s all do something to help this woman.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
Unfortunately, the President and the traitors in Congress only favor Mexican criminals.
BTTT! Isn't that the truth!
The dumb kid in the back of the rooms wants to know something. Since when has it been necessary to use an illegal to work in construction. The truth is that they were both here illegally and without papers, but adam found someone that would sponsor him for papers. Send her home she and her husband both broke the law. And I'm sure she will be well off in her native country, with his insurance. She wants to stay because she can collect SSI and survivorship money.
They did not follow the rules, you are suppose to apply for your papers in your home country and then move to America after you are approved.
Adam, who was legally in the U.S. via sponsorship by his employer, was in the final phase of obtaining a green card and Renata was part of the application.
The article may not give all the details, but I see nothing in it that indicates they were her illegally.
I agree. The Poles have been great and true friends. They’re courage and steadfastness has been inspirational at times.
These are the kind of immigrants we WANT in America.
If you had read the article before posting you would not be quite the dumb kid you proved yourself to be.
This case has been going on since 2004, her attorney has lost every appeal, now he is tying to go around the legal process. And parts of this story have been posted here befor, he was here illegally also.
This story has been posted here before fur brain.
There is no such place!
If she was Cuban she would be granted legal residency the minute her foot touched the ground.
Then she would receive a card for two years free medical as well as other types of government freebies and financial support.
Unfortunately, I have had to deal with the INS, now ICE, and the bias or downright racism against white europeans in the system is rampant. In fact, every year, they reduce the green card lottery for european countries. And the “diversity in hiring” process insures that your file will be mishandled, delayed or lost outright with no explanation. If you do happen to make your deadlines and they haven’t lost your file, they may just skip over your name if they can’t pronounce it. If you’re wondering why we have no one to fill the high tech and skilled jobs, look no further than the “bar scene at Star Wars” environment our State Dept. and ICE has created.
Let a gazillion illegal Mexicans in, but the good Polish woman must leave...
Really how do you explain this
She also wants to stay because of her elderly father, a U.S. citizen from Bridgeport, who with serious kidney disease relies on Renata to take him to a clinic for dialysis treatment three times a week.
Please provide links, I searched under many key words back to 2002 and cannot find a single story about her.
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