Jaramillo Update
Back in March of 2004, I made two posts concerning Rafael Jaramillo. You can read the posts here and here.
In essence, Rafael came to this country illegally at the age of two with his family. Rafael's siblings went through the system and became citizens, but he never did. Then, he made a very stupid mistake. He made a phone call as part of a drug deal and got caught. Rafael was going to be deported, when I saw the story (no longer up in the newspaper).
I initially gave a "buh-bye" post, as he got himself in his own position. I then became a little sorry for him, as he got himself into a real pickle. He was facing deportation to a country where he didn't speak the language, and had no family to support him.
Then, last night, I got this as a feedback:
Not sure if you remember me, but I thought I would come back to the Zone and explain to people what has occurred in the past year and 1 half since this article- well, it so happens that I am still in the USA- Wow, can you believe that and it also so happens that I derived citizenship through my father, basically I am and have been an American since the age of 14- I went through their jails, process, spent a lot of money for nothing- I am happy because its made me a better person but I have actually been through HELL- SO I wanted to update you guys, if you have any questions about the law or what happened please let me know, its pretty interesting actually
It's nice to know that he remembered us, and would bring an update as to how well he is doing. I made this post to update everybody on what is going on, since he responded to a very old post.
If you want, Rafael, you can put your story in the feedback for this post.
Comments
Well, Its amazing how everything turned out for me- I was suppose to be deported March 10th 2004- I went in the beginning days of March to ask for a continuation on my case due to school- I went on my own with newspaper articles, letters of recommendation from teachers and friends- I was pretty prepared, I brought my son and wife- I spoke to my deportation officer and explained the situation- I was later surrounded by 10 guards and forced into detention- It was very traumatic but I didn’t fight them although I was very eager to run after possibly seeing my son for the very last time- after 45 days in their INS jail- I was getting a lot of support from congress, Immigration, and attorneys, because despite my drug possession, I didn’t deserve to be torn away from my family and my country and everyone knew it- \
I later found out that there was a possibility that I could have derived citizenship through my father when he became a citizen since I was under age- I just needed to prove that he had physical custody and legal custody, since he passed not to long ago, this was a difficult task. I was able to get a court document that proved legal custody but not physical custody but because my mom went to prison when I was 13, the only person that could have had physical custody was my father- this helped my case- I was later let out on a $1500 bond- even though no inmate had been let out on bond since 9/11. I was the first…Because there was a possibility that I could be an American- I got out and went back to my family and back to work like everyone else, I am now living in Miami waiting for the INS to determine my eligibility for American Citizenship, I have not been in trouble with the law in almost 10 years. I am very happy and grateful to be here in the only country I know and love- Thanks for hearing me out and God Bless.
Posted by: Rafael Jaramillo | December 7, 2005 1:10 PM