How we got the facts

After much prayer, many phone calls and office visits with different lawyers we finally found Katie. Katie is a lawyer in St. Louis,and works for Interfaith Legal Services, she was a Godsend. I have their website listed under helpful Immigration sites. I suggest you visit them if you have legal questions regarding your case. Katie explained to us the ins-and-outs of the immigration laws. We explained our situation and she gave us our options. We knew at this point that even if we got married, Issac would have to go back to Mexico for a time. Here Im going to paste a portion of Issacs letter to give you more information about this time.

It was so hard to find a lawyer that really wanted to help us. The lord was gracious once again, and blessed us with Katie, our lawyer and friend. When she started reviewing our case, she noticed that I had been charged with what is called a “false claim” which means that I was accused of claiming to be a us citizen. We appealed this charge. The judge removed this particular charge on the basis that the accusations against me were assumptions and there was no evidence to support it. Because this charge was dropped, I was no longer in removal procedures, but i was still to leave the country on a “voluntary departure” basis. This means that i was to go back to México on my own; something that would make my return to the states much easier. Also, this was able to buy us some time to be together by pushing my court date back.

The phone call about Immigration

I was working nights at the hospital and on my way home at 8am I recieved a call from our pastors wife. She informed me that Issac had been taken to Hazelwood police department and that they had called INS. I was mortified and cried the intire way home. I obviously didnt sleep that day and had to call off work that next night. Issac was in Hazelwood’s custody for three days. He was then turned over to the INS. I was not allowed to see him the entire time while he was in their custody. After some time, we were informed that his bond would be $3,000 and that because it was an immigration case we were not allowed to use a bondsman. Because of the love of our church family, we were able to raise the money.
I then scheduled with the Immigration office downtown, to pick Issac up. When I got to the office I was treated like dirt. Everyone was sharp with me and acted like I was doing something horrible. My gosh I was bailing a 22yr old guy our of federal prison where he was sitting next to real criminals. All he had done was walk across a border that was not being taken care of the way it should have been. Twice I was “forgotten about," during my wait to bail him out. Issac was waiting, and ready for me when I got there, but the process took over three hours.

Journal entry from 11/18/2004: In a few days I will have been dating Issac for only three months. So weird, because I’m ready to spend my life with him. Other guys I have dated in the last year I would periodically look at them and get this weird feeling of, “what am I doing with this person.” or “who are they?” Not once have I looked at Issac and felt that way. That’s strange especially after what we’ve been through (Him getting picked up by INS.)

The call to Immigration (Issacs experience)

This is in Issacs words. He is the one who experienced the treatment so I will put his words on this one also.

November 04.

Amanda used to work night shifts at Barnes & Jewish hospital on the weekends, so on Friday November 12^th 04, some friends and I decided to meet at church to go to a coffee shop that night. On our way there, a police officer pulled us over because the car was missing the license plates. The officer began to ask each of us for ID’s. I forgot my wallet at home that day, so i couldn’t identify myself. Since i wasn’t in the system, they arrested me. I was brought to the local police station in Hazelwood, by Officer Nick Lawrence. (I can’t believe that i still remember his name) he then called immigration. They told him to keep me in custody until they could pick me up the following Monday. I would have gone mad if god wouldn’t help me through that time. I spoke to Amanda once or twice a day. The officers brought me McDonalds 3 times a day. I was in a holding cell that was meant for 24 hour holds. The lights were always on and it was the weekend, so nobody was at the station. I was on my own, most of Saturday and all Sunday. By Monday morning, the officers arrived to take me to the immigration building downtown. They chained my ankles and wrists. I felt incredibly numb and as though i was in a state of mental shock.

Once downtown, they put me in a holding cell. I was then interviewed by a local immigration officer who took my information and my fingerprints.

I was officially on a removal procedure; I was to be deported.

At this point, I had two options. I could’ve sit in jail until my deportation or pay a 3,000 us dollar bond. Amanda gathered her funds and still did not have enough money to get me bonded out. She then turned to our church community and they pulled the money to help pay for my release. This process took a couple of days, so I spent two nights in federal prison, about an hour from St Louis.

I have never been in prison before, so being there was incredibly frightening.

God looked over me and protected me. I was next to real criminals who were doing time for bigger crimes.

Finally, the process came through and Amanda was able to bail me out.

I felt like I was born again. When we got into the car, we just sat and stared at each other for a while and held each other. Thank god for his mercy.

She gave me a picture album she had made with pictures of our friends and us. It was beautiful.