Immigration Laws Affect Local Family

Today’s Salt Lake Tribune has published an article on a local Ogden family whose father was deported and is not permitted to return for 20 years.

Humberto “Bert” Fernandez-Vargas came to the U.S. in 1969, ultimately started a trucking business, married and raised a son, and paid his taxes. He was deported in 2004 due to a the retroactive (April 1, 1997) Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, a provision which “drastically reduced the possibility for undocumented immigrants to stop their deportation if they had re-entered the country illegally after having been previously deported.”

Fernandez-Vargas applied to become a permanent legal resident and got authorization to work while the application was pending. Then came his arrest at the immigration interview.

Fernandez-Vargas can apply for a waiver from the U.S. government, but that could take years.

No regard has been considered of Fernandez-Vargas’ longstanding residence in the U.S., his community and family commitments, and the responsibilities he displayed as a business-owner and tax-payer.

This is another example of dividing and conquering on the part of the U.S. which continues to build walls and barriers along the cultural and community divides.