Tony’s lawyer Royal Berg has been a great supporter not only of Tony and the Wasilewski family, but also of the film, and has been a great ally for our efforts to screen the film, do outreach, and work toward compassionate immigration reform. We spoke with Royal today about how the film might be able to help Tony’s case, and be used to overturn 212 a(9)b, the 10 year bar that keeps Janina from returning to the US. Through Royal’s efforts, his colleague Richard Hanus is familiar with both Tony’s case, as well as the film. Attorney Hanus took it upon himself to draft letters to Sen Dick Durbin, and newly elected Sen Mark Kirk, asking them to review the 10 year bar, and overturn it, using Tony’s case as exemplified in the film as evidence that the penalty of the 10 year bar is out of scale with the ‘offense’ of being in this country and trying to obtain legal status. Please see Richard’s very powerful letters to these Senators below. Support Royal Berg, Richard Hanus, the Wasilewski family, and thousands of other families by going to the TAKE ACTION tab on our site (in the red bar across the top of our page), where you can quickly and easily send a message to President Obama demanding an end to the deportations, as well as urging that he take action to bring Janina and Brian back to the USA. Please use Attorney Hanus’ letters as an example of what each of us can do now to support a more compassionate immigration policy.
Richard Hanus' letter to Senator Durbin
Richard Hanus' letter to Senator Kirk
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I am in the same situation, married to american citizen, and waiting for the law to change,and apply for visa, since under the current situation, I have no chance to get my green card.If we can’t show extreme hardship, I could be separated from my husband for 10 years.It’s to risky and scary, so we are just waiting patiently for some miracle to happen.
My case is a little different, since I wasn’t deported, but in order to get a visa, we have to apply for a I-601 Waiver, and it’s very difficult to get,there is no standard.The person have to leave the country to get interviewed in the US consulate in their home country, but if the waiver doesn’t get approved, they can trigger the 3 to 10 year bar, meaning, she or he can’t come back to the US to reunited with their spouse for at least 3 years up to 10 years.So we are collecting evidences,consulting with lawyers for the best result, but I am just not convinced we are ready, and we have enough extreme hardship to prove.there is so many people like me, who falls in love with a US citizen, get married, apply for green card, start the legal process,to find out that she or he is not eligible, until a hardship waiver get approved.
I am in a similar situation my boyfriend went back to his home town for his residency interview just to be told he was denied residency and banned from entering the us for 10 yrs for overstaying a visa. He leaves behind a child and people that really love and support him. I think our immigration laws are horrible and instead of giving citizens as well as non citizens hope the law is constantly discouraging us at every corner….the family and I are all devastated and shocked. This law can ruin the lives and futures of a lot of great people. So what if they are not AMERICANS they are still human beings who deserve a chance of a real future and america is suppose to be the land of the free but unfortionantly everything Costs!!!