Ex-SoCal councilwoman could be deported

[MADem]

She might get deported to Canada....!

...After Meyer was elected to the council in Adelanto in 2004, someone told officials that she was born in Cuba...Eventually, "the police came to me and said, 'Zoila, you're not a citizen. You're a legal resident but you're not a citizen,'" said Meyer, who now lives in the San Bernardino County desert town of Apple Valley, near Adelanto.

She resigned after 10 weeks in office in Adelanto, a town of about 23,000.

Meyer, whose story was first reported in the Victorville Daily Press, applied to become a naturalized citizen and continued with her life: raising her children and attending two local colleges to earn degrees toward her goal of working in the justice system as a forensic nurse.

However, because she was not a citizen, Meyer faced a felony charge of illegally voting in the 2004 election.....What Meyer didn't realize is that fraudulently voting is a deportable offense...The case is unusual but immigration officials were just doing their job when they arrested Meyer, said Lori Haley, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

..."It makes me feel like we're all just numbers," she said of her case. "I see people writing 'this is my country.' It really isn't. It belongs to the government and they decide who stays and who goes .... You think you're free; you're really not."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070624/ap_on_re_us/councilwoman_deportation;_ylt=AuTPcBIFxBSrIPzK58z.GH5H2ocA

[PDJane]

1. The most pathetic part of this

is that the deportees that I've seen lately are the most productive members of the group; why the hell are you deporting the best and the brightest??

[MADem]

2. It is a strange case. Gee, they deport this woman for voting, and Ann Coulter, who also voted

illegally, still walks free?

Makes no sense....

[whistle]

4. Ann Coulter voted illegally??? I guess I missed that story, so if Coulter

...is an illegal alien, then there must be a God!

[MADem]

6. No, she's not an alien, but she did vote illegally. And I don't think she's been punished yet.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200606140006

Questions relating to possible illegal voting

Why did you try to vote in a precinct in which you are not registered? Why did you then leave when you were told that you had to file a change-of-address form?

On February 15, The Palm Beach Post reported that when voting in local town council elections in Florida, Coulter "cast her ballot in a precinct 4 miles north of the precinct where she owns a home." Two days later, the Post reported that Coulter had attempted to vote in the wrong precinct, quoting the Palm Beach poll worker who confronted Coulter on her mistake:

A Palm Beach poll worker says he tried to help GOP-loving pundit Ann Coulter vote in the right precinct last week. But, Jim Whited says, Coulter dashed out of the polling place when he told her she needed to file a change of address.

On the June 6 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Alan Colmes noted that the Palm Beach election supervisor had accused Coulter of "voting in the wrong district and not answering a registered letter that they sent" to her. Colmes then asked Coulter: "So could you address those charges and tell us what happened?" Coulter quickly denied the allegations, but refused to provide any substantive details, instead declaring that "I think the syphilis has gone to their brains," and adding that the reporters writing about the incident are "all retarded":

After you left that precinct, why did you cast a ballot in another precinct that was not your own?

According to the same Palm Beach Post article, "ater, elections records show, Coulter cast her ballot 2 miles up the road -- in the wrong precinct."

The Post also reported that Coulter's voter registration in Florida did not contain her correct address, noting that "Florida statutes make it a third-degree felony to vote knowingly in the wrong precinct. Lying on a voter's registration can cost up to $5,000 and five years behind bars."

Can you confirm that you have hired a lawyer to defend you against allegations of illegal voting?

On June 2, Palm Beach Post columnist Jose Lambiet noted that Coulter "hired a white-glove, White House-connected law firm to fight allegations she voted illegally in February's Town of Palm Beach election." He added that her lawyer is "one of the lead attorneys who fought for George W. Bush's side in the 2000 presidential election" in Florida.

Why are you registered to vote in both Florida and Connecticut, which is illegal according to a Connecticut registrar, even though you told Fox News that you live in New York and not Florida or Connecticut?

In a June 7 article on the Palm Beach County investigation into Coulter's voting, the New York Daily News reported that "Coulter is also registered to vote in New Canaan, Conn. -- though the local registrar told the Daily News yesterday it's illegal to be registered in two places at once." The article noted that Coulter told Fox News "she actually lives in New York" and owns a condominium in New York, but "has never registered to vote there."

[Progressive_In_NC]

13. In order to create the new plantation for the corporations the best and brighest have to go

besides, who needs a nurse? We import those from India on L1 visas now. She might actually want a living wage some day. They can pay L1s in rupies and just give them a stipend and have them share a house with 10 other nurses (at least that's what they do to the L1 programmers).

Good freakin grief. It's really starting to piss me off.

[whistle]

3. Sounds politically motivated

[NeedleCast]

5. Luckily for Her

We don't deport people back to Cuba. It's pretty much automatic amnesty. If you're an illegal immigrant from Cuba and make it to "feet dry" in the U.S. the immigration courts will not deport you back to Cuba.

Which leads me to believe there is something more to this story. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) may have had to arrest her, but I doubt very seriously she'll face deportation.

[MADem]

7. She came in from Canada, though--that's where they will send her, if they decide to dump her. NT

[NeedleCast]

9. Only if she can stay in Canada

Even if she came in through Canada, the only way they'll deport her is if DHS can prove she is eligable to stay in Canada. Otherwise we'd just be dumping our problem on Canada, and fortunatly the immigration court system won't do that. Hopefully she'll be able to get her citizenship in short order.

Edited to add that since is an LPR (Legal Permenant Resident) that she'd have to be charged with a crime of moral terpritude to face deportation. Any lawyer should be able to show that she thought she was a citizen and didn't willfully break the law.

However, as another poster said, it should never have gone this far to begin with.

[MADem]

10. According to that article, and this, if she is charged with a felony, she's in hot water

And voting when ineligilble is apparently a felony. And she's apparently an ILLEGAL, to boot. And a FAMILY MEMBER ratted her out. Sheesh!

More here: http://www.vvdailypress.com/onset?id=1533&template=article.html

Zoila Meyer faces deportation, fights to stay in U.S.

“I truly thought I was a citizen, all my life. I’ve been voting since I was 18. I didn’t know I was here illegally,” she said. “It was a mistake on my parents behalf. They messed up. They didn’t want to. It just happened.”

Tuesday’s arrest stems from the 2004 election. ....While it is not illegal for an illegal immigrant to register to vote — it is if they actually do vote.

Meyer has long contended that she was unaware of her illegal citizenship status.
“This whole process is not my fault. They ask, `How can you not know you’re not a citizen?’ But if you’re parents don’t tell you this, you don’t know,” she said. “It’s like kids who don’t find out until they’re adults that they were adopted. We believe what we are told.” .....If she is deported it won’t be to her homeland of Cuba. She would be sent to Canada, the last point of entry in her immigration record.

Attorney Tristan Pelayes, who is not involved in the case, said he believes her situation would fall under a lot of exceptions under the deportation law.
“She’s more of a citizen than a lot of us,” he said. “That’s an overzealous prosecutor that doesn’t have anything else to do.” .....“She isn’t a criminal. She was brought here when she was 1. She didn’t know. This person has been contributing to this country for years,” Pelayes said. “To deport someone like this is a great disservice to our country.” ....On July 18, she must surrender herself to immigration. She is unclear what will happen at that point. ....

[amandabeech]

12. I think that she is here legally, not an illegally.

She came here from Cuba with her parents after Castro took charge of Cuba. Anyone who can get to the U.S. from Cuba is granted refugee status immediately. That means that they can stay here legally. Whether she filed the proper paperwork to be a green card holder is unclear.

What she did do is vote thinking that she was a citizen. Since only citizens can vote, she unknowingly committed a crime.

It sounds like this will be worked out.

[NeedleCast]

15. Mostly Right

but it sounds like she went through Canada first, not the U.S. which could negate her asylumn if the prosecution can prove she can get into and stay in Canada.

[amandabeech]

16. Hmmm. I thought that she had only visited Canada recently,

and it was the last country from which she entered the U.S.

One of the stories states that she has visited Canada and Mexico without any trouble. All one used to need was a driver's license to enter from either of these two places, and perhaps that ease of entry applied to permanent residents as well as citizens. It seems that she was not held at the border in any event.

[MADem]

18. And Mexico. Many times, with no problem. See below, to the article downthread

There's still more to the story, and it's no wonder we can't get a handle on immigration--no one knows the fucking law, not even La Migra!!!!

[MADem]

17. Look downthread, to an article that further elucidates AND confuses the situation!!!

She came in via CANADA, not directly from Cuba...but now they're saying it depends on what the law was when her PARENTS were granted citizenship. Under certain circumstances, at a certain time, if her parents were given citizenship, it automatically accrued to her and her siblings...but that only worked at a certain time.

If there's confusion with her, you gotta figure there's confusion with others in similar straits.

We'll know come mid-July, when she has to report to La Migra.

[amandabeech]

19. That her parents went to Canada directly from Cuba with her,

then moved to the U.S. isn't clear to me from the article, still.

Well, it's a mess. I have no doubt that this will be worked out, but the arrest was ridiculous.

[NeedleCast]

14. Wow, that's crazy

In that case it's going to boil down to a legal battle. I'm not sure if any precident has been set on this issue. I agree that again, we're dealing with an over-aggressive prosecutor looking for headlines (Nifong, anyone?). If both of her parents naturalized, then she's a citizen and it doesn't matter.

This shouldn't be happening, but the good news is that most of the immigration judges I know would't deport this person. The bad publicity that would be heaped on their courts is attention most of them don't want.

I think the article is incorrect in saying that she would be sent to Canada. That would be essentially granting her what's knows as Asylum - Witholding Only (it's the you-dont-have-to-go-home-but-you-can't-stay-here-law). DHS would have to prove that she can legally get back into Canada on some sort of Visa or permit. Otherwise, if her legal citizenship is Cuba, she'll be granted full asylum and become an LPR.

[VP505]

8. Another case

that could and should be handled administratively, there is NO justification to arrest or be talking about deporting this woman. These are the kind of cases and an area of immigration law that need reforming.

[MADem]

11. There's more--even the migra don't know the law, apparently!!!!

APPLE VALLEY — Zoila Meyer, the former Adelanto City Council woman and mother of four who now faces deportation, may be a citizen after all.

Since the Daily Press reported the story Thursday, her story has gained national attention through television and radio media.

Now attorneys are beginning to step up, seeking her as a client.

The Daily Press spoke to a few Friday about her situation, and many said the same thing — if her parents were naturalized before she turned 18, she’s already an American.

“If this is indeed the case, then everything is thrown out the window,” said attorney Phil Abramowitz...According to attorneys, the law changes so often that it’s “confusing and convoluted” to the point that many lawyers and government agencies have no idea what the laws are. ...Abramowitz said he said he couldn’t speak specifics not knowing what her case fully entails, but from what he understands what she was told is incorrect.

“In her case we need to look at what the law was in place when her parents became citizens,” he said.


http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/meyer_1546___article.html/attorneys_case.html