To: Manhattan President Gale Brewer, President Donald Trump, The New York State House, The New York State Senate, Governor Andrew Cuomo, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
"At the MERCY of US Consulate General in Guayaquil, Ecuador: I Buried My Niece Without Her Father!
My niece, Christine Cynthia Reyna, passed away suddenly on December 11, 2014. She is the proud daughter of an immigrant father from Ecuador. My brother, Peter, was born in Ecuador but was raised in New York City. His petition to come to bury his daughter, and be a support to his other daughter, Aileen, was denied on 12/23/14. We awaited the embassy's reply, and therefore held up plans to bury Christine. We knew that Christine's deepest wish was to have her father by her side. However, on 12/27/14, our family had to face the agonizing reality and bury Christine without her father!
Why is this important?
The wrenching pain immigrant families feel every single day becomes an agonizing reality during the Holiday Season! As many families around the world are celebrating Christmas and the start of a New Year, immigrant families continue to face the UNJUST, CRUEL, INHUMANE LAWS that simply amount to a LIFE SENTENCE FOR IMMIGRANT FAMILIES!
US Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez has supported our family's plea since the onset of the news of my niece's passing. We have asked for another interview and hope that the Embassy in Guayaquil, Ecuador upholds our family's request - and grants my brother's right to see his daughter and visit his youngest daughter's grave. I have requested Senator Schumer and President Obama's help to finally grant this emergency visa.
Growing up in New York City's Lower East Side during the 1970's and 1980's was not easy. Our family, like many other immigrant families, faced many hardships. The drug infestation in our streets was rampant. My brother Peter at his young age fell with the wrong crowd. He served two years for selling $10.00 worth of drugs. But as we prepared to welcome him home, he was picked up by US immigration officers. The lawyer immigration supplied him with told him to sign a voluntary deportation to Ecuador. He was told that if he signed "voluntarily" he would be able to ask for a pardon to come back to the United States. I was only 18 years old then, and remember telling Peter not to sign. I also remember Peter's words to me, "Isabel, if you were to see this place where they have me, you would sign just to get out." He was talking about the inhumane facility and treatment of immigrants in the detention centers where they were being held in New York City. Over the years - 25 years to be exact - this lawyer's advise was not true and my brother's petition to return has not been granted. He has endured so much at the hands of a system that continues to punish him - a system that told him that he would be given another opportunity to return - but has not! When my brother signed under intense duress and false legal advise, he was really signing A LIFE SENTENCE WITHOUT A CHANCE FOR PAROLE.
We want the emergency visa to be granted. However, we also continue to plead with this same system to help right the wrong that was done and finally grant my brother a pardon. Every year my mother asks me about bringing Peter home. I tell her it's not as easy because of the Immigration Laws. Over the years she watches the news and tells me that she believes someday the laws will change, "Just you wait and see, Isabel, the laws will change and then we can bring Peter home." I'm still waiting for this day, and I hope my parents Pedro and Rosa Reyna, US citizens (now 82 and 78 years old) are still alive to see their prayers answered!
On December 15th, we asked for the support of Senator Schumer and President Obama to join US Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and help our family bring my brother Peter home. By signing this petition, you join and give VOICE to millions of families: mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters and brothers, that go to sleep every night with one plea; we can call it a mother's plea: "A change in Immigration Laws. "
The time has come for Real Immigration Reform that puts an end to families being torn apart. The tears of children devastated by these laws are real; our children's tears. This Holiday season should be one of joy and happiness, not tears of families being torn apart due to cruel laws.
This is a chance for families like mine that deserve a second chance - and to right the wrongs caused by inhumane immigration laws that place everyone under one category; laws that deny so many in our country the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!
THANK YOU FOR JOINING US AND STANDING WITH OUR FAMILY DURING THIS TIME!
US Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez has supported our family's plea since the onset of the news of my niece's passing. We have asked for another interview and hope that the Embassy in Guayaquil, Ecuador upholds our family's request - and grants my brother's right to see his daughter and visit his youngest daughter's grave. I have requested Senator Schumer and President Obama's help to finally grant this emergency visa.
Growing up in New York City's Lower East Side during the 1970's and 1980's was not easy. Our family, like many other immigrant families, faced many hardships. The drug infestation in our streets was rampant. My brother Peter at his young age fell with the wrong crowd. He served two years for selling $10.00 worth of drugs. But as we prepared to welcome him home, he was picked up by US immigration officers. The lawyer immigration supplied him with told him to sign a voluntary deportation to Ecuador. He was told that if he signed "voluntarily" he would be able to ask for a pardon to come back to the United States. I was only 18 years old then, and remember telling Peter not to sign. I also remember Peter's words to me, "Isabel, if you were to see this place where they have me, you would sign just to get out." He was talking about the inhumane facility and treatment of immigrants in the detention centers where they were being held in New York City. Over the years - 25 years to be exact - this lawyer's advise was not true and my brother's petition to return has not been granted. He has endured so much at the hands of a system that continues to punish him - a system that told him that he would be given another opportunity to return - but has not! When my brother signed under intense duress and false legal advise, he was really signing A LIFE SENTENCE WITHOUT A CHANCE FOR PAROLE.
We want the emergency visa to be granted. However, we also continue to plead with this same system to help right the wrong that was done and finally grant my brother a pardon. Every year my mother asks me about bringing Peter home. I tell her it's not as easy because of the Immigration Laws. Over the years she watches the news and tells me that she believes someday the laws will change, "Just you wait and see, Isabel, the laws will change and then we can bring Peter home." I'm still waiting for this day, and I hope my parents Pedro and Rosa Reyna, US citizens (now 82 and 78 years old) are still alive to see their prayers answered!
On December 15th, we asked for the support of Senator Schumer and President Obama to join US Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and help our family bring my brother Peter home. By signing this petition, you join and give VOICE to millions of families: mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters and brothers, that go to sleep every night with one plea; we can call it a mother's plea: "A change in Immigration Laws. "
The time has come for Real Immigration Reform that puts an end to families being torn apart. The tears of children devastated by these laws are real; our children's tears. This Holiday season should be one of joy and happiness, not tears of families being torn apart due to cruel laws.
This is a chance for families like mine that deserve a second chance - and to right the wrongs caused by inhumane immigration laws that place everyone under one category; laws that deny so many in our country the right to LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!
THANK YOU FOR JOINING US AND STANDING WITH OUR FAMILY DURING THIS TIME!