IMMIGRATION: Local woman to be sent home after living legally in the United States - Her family says theyve been fighting the immigration system for years This is one of the last conversations Ali Gray and her daughter Lauren will have before saying goodbye -- Lauren is being forced to leave the place that she calls home due to current immigration laws. The family has owned and operated The Lakeview Lodge and Restaurant in Trenton, Mo. since 1995 -- when they legally came to the United States from the United Kingdom. They employ 30 Americans. Yet, after nearly two decades of trying, none of the family members actually are American. If Id know it was going to take this long, I wouldnt have come because I wouldnt have put our family in a situation where we were forced to be apart. Gray says her daughter has been here since she was 4-years-old. Now, at the age of 23, she doesnt have a work permit or a green card. Now that shes done with school, and after fighting the system for years, Lauren says shes giving in and going back to the U.K. The system is totally broken and I think that it needs to be fixed, says Lauren. Lauren Gray considers the U.S. government as her government. But she says thats not a feeling the government shares with her citizenship. When I went to Capitol Hill two years ago, I saw a side of the government that I didnt really know existed. She says legislative aids seemed hopeless, exhausted, and no longer invested in reforms for legal immigrants. So, when President Obama announced last week that illegal immigrants will soon have what she hasnt received after years of obeying the law -- it was a slap in the face. Instead of helping people that came to America legally, they are just going to give amnesty and make hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants legal instead of us. For Ali, as a mother, the hardest thing is not knowing when she will next be able to see her daughter again. Not being there to help her if she needs me. Thats going to be hard. Ive always been there to be her support system. My parents and my younger sister are a big part of my life, says Lauren. Thats going to suck not being able to be around them for the holidays. Lauren leaves the Saturday after Thanksgiving to go back to a country where she hasnt lived since she was 4-years-old...with no plans of when shell be able to come back. The family hopes to receive their green cards as soon as May. If they dont their younger daughter may also be forced to leave the country. kmbc/news/immigration-local-woman-to-be-sent-home-after-living-legally-in-the-united-states/29968600
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 16:53:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015