An immigration judge in Cleveland gave the good and bad news today.
The good news: the 18 year old senior from Gilboa will not be deported to Germany on the plane that was waiting for him.
The bad news: Another week in jail while he waits for another hearing next week despite backing from his community, sheriff’s office and high school.
Backing from the community is strong for this teenager whose step-grandfather (U.S. citizen) apparently never finished the paper work years ago. The grandfather went to Germany and prompted the need to seek help on documentation. Immigration officials didn’t help but rather arrested the young man who was looking for help. The school is also supportive and has requested that Bartsch finish school and graduate in the spring.
School officials have asked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow Bartsch to stay at least until he graduates this spring.
A legal technicality has at least given his lawyer time. One that granted an emergency motion which enabled a video conference to permit Bartsch more time. If they manage to deport him he will not be able to return for 3 years.
In his motion, Mr. Leopold argued that Mr. Bartsch could not have been here under a visa waiver because twice in 1998 he and his grandfather traveled to Canada and were permitted to leave and re-enter the United States.
“If you leave the country and come back in, it’s a different status,” he said. “They couldn’t have given him another visa waiver. The law says if you violate a visa waiver, then you’ll never get another one, so technically he couldn’t have been on a visa waiver.”
The drama isn’t over and it appears that officials are more worried about deporting someone trying to abide by the rules than those who seem to freely stream across the border. Go figure.
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[...] Bartsch learned he was illegal after living here with his Grandfather who was an American citizen. When his grandfather went to Germany he left the boy here to graduate. That was when the trouble began. Backing from the community is strong for this teenager whose step-grandfather (U.S. citizen) apparently never finished the paper work years ago. The grandfather went to Germany and prompted the need to seek help on documentation. Immigration officials didn???t help but rather arrested the young man who was looking for help. The school is also supportive and has requested that Bartsch finish school and graduate in the spring. [...]
Posted on May 17th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
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