Our Immigration Laws at Work

Plain Dealer (Cleveland) January 4, 2006 Wednesday Pg. B1 Let him out, let him stay REGINA BRETT The teen did nothing wrong. He’s not a terrorist, a Nazi or a drug smuggler. He’s a high school senior whose only mistake was trusting immigration officials. Manuel Bartsch, 18, needed to take the ACT so he could go to college after he graduates this spring. He needed his Social Security number to take the
test. He asked his guardian, his stepgrandfather, for it. That’s when Manuel found out he might not be a U.S. citizen. Manuel wanted proof he was a citizen, so he filed form N-600, an application for a certificate of citizenship. Immigration officials wrote him to come in and discuss the matter. When he showed up five days before Christmas, they threw him in jail. He has been in the Bedford Heights jail ever since. Manuel has a hearing at 1:30 p.m. today in the Federal Building. His attorney, David Leopold, an expert in immigration law, saw Manuel on
Monday night. Manuel told him, “I can’t understand why I’m here. I can’t understand what I’ve done.” Neither can I. Manuel was 10 years old when his stepgrandfather brought him here on a 90-day tourist visa. The rule on that is clear: If you overstay a tourist visa by even one day, the government can ship you back. But his guardian made the mistake. He has gone back to Germany. Manuel could be deported at any moment. Manuel doesn’t speak German, so it would be tough to go back without so much as a high school diploma. Leopold told me that legal remedies are “sparse.” He hopes officials will listen to his technical legal argument: The stepgrandpa took the boy to Canada with him once to buy duty-free liquor. You can’t readmit someone on a tourist pass, so immigration officials should examine that trip, not the overstay of the tourist visa. Since Manuel’s last entry was a legal admission into the United States, his case should go to an immigration judge for deportation hearings. Then Manuel might get out on bond to finish school. Manuel isn’t asking for special treatment. And if he were, so what? The United States just granted it to people who ice skate well. The same week immigration officials jailed Manuel, Congress approved a bill allowing people of extraordinary ability to have speedy immigration. What a coincidence – just in time for Canadian ice dancer Tanith Belbin and
Russian-born Maxim Zavozin to represent the United States in the February Olmpics. Figure skaters get to skate through immigration. nd how is it immigration officials have yet to resolve the deportation of John Demjanjuk? A guy accused of guarding Nazi concentration camps gets to say and fight deportation from his home in Seven Hills. Last week, a judge ordered Demjanjuk deported. Demjanjuk, who is 85, will probably die before he gets the boot for lying about his wartime past. Demjanjuk has had almost 30 years to fight. Manuel might not even get 30 days. Manuel never lied about his past. All he wants is to graduate with his friends in Gilboa, Ohio. The immigration system defies common sense. Officials would never have known about Manuel if he hadn’t sought their help. “He thought he was doing the right thing,” Leopold said. The officials need to do the right thing: Let Manuel finish school here. He only needs two credits. English and citizenship class.
8