If he came from central or south america, nobody would care. Because he attempted to follow the rules, he is paying the price.
limerickleader.ie
Please let me see my pregnant wife - By MARTIN BYRNES
A DREAM marriage has turned into a nightmare because a
young husband cannot rejoin his bride of less than a year
who is expecting their first baby. Jimmy Murphy, 35, of
Assumpta Park, Newcastle West, has lost his savings, his
job, his college place and his career hopes because the US
authorities will not allow him back into America where he
had applied for the first step towards citizenship.
He was turned away at Shannon Airport when he and his wife presented themselves to return to their Iowa
home. Mrs Rachele Murphy was permitted through, but Mr Murphy was escorted out of the US immigration station
with barely the bus fare to get back to Newcastle West.
For the past eight weeks, he has been relying on relatives for bed and board and has been dressing himself from the
one-week supply of clothes which he had brought with him for the couple's New Year visit. He has been refused any
social welfare assistance here on the grounds that he would be unavailable for work should the US authorities
change their minds.
Now the office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, has been asked to get involved, after representations
to the American authorities by local TDs, senators and councillors had so far proved fruitless.
Jimmy Murphy, son of Jimmy and Teresa, Assumpta Park, had worked with Cover All Furniture in Newcastle West, for 12 years, and had also done part-time bar work at the Cellar Bar in Abbeyfeale.
One weekend, three years ago, he went with friends for an evening's entertainment in Killarney. At the concert he met Rachelle, a human resources manager, who was on her first
ever holiday outside of America and the couple fell in love at first sight. Over the next two years each visited each other's families and the couple later became engaged and married in Iowa last June 10, honeymooning in Hawaii. Jimmy
Murphy had got a job as a security supervisor in a large casino chain but had also enrolled as a student of police
forensics with the intention of becoming a law enforcement officer. The couple acquired a home together and Mr Murphy applied for an adjustment of his status to what had been known as "green card", a stepping stone towards
full citizenship. Although married to an American citizen, automatic status upgrade no longer applies due to legislative
changes following 9/11. Mr Murphy was told that the process would take up to nine months before he would be called to interview. In the meantime, he continued to work and study.
Just before last Christmas Rachele Murphy found an offer of cheap tickets to Shannon on the internet and the couple made a hurried decision to avail of the opportunity of celebrating the New Year with the Murphy family in Newcastle
West. After their happy week here, however, things began to go horribly wrong. Returning to Shannon on January 6,
the couple presented themselves at US immigration, only to be told that Mr Murphy was ineligible to return to
America as he had breached the terms of his status upgrade application by leaving the US without a special written
permission. His bag was removed from the plane's luggage hold and he was sent on hi way.
"I couldn't even shake hands with my wife to say goodbye," he told the Limerick Leader. "She was on one side of a
line on the floor in American territory; I was on the other side, still in Ireland." He had €17 in his pocket and, having
paid ¤12 bus fare back to Newcastle West, was almost destitute, with just €5 to his name. He was taken in by his
brother Joe at Oak Park while frantic attempts were made to rectify the situation through the US embassy in Dublin.
But Mr Murphy soon found himself in a catch 22 situation. The embassy no longer had the authority to process his
case, and Mr Murphy would have to present
himself in person to the authorities in the US, the country from which he was specifically prevented from reentering.
Senator Michael Finucane made contact with a high profile American former politician, but was told that thousands
of dollars would be required to process the case.
Cllr Michael Collins has put the matter in the hands of the office of Minister Ahern in the hope that high level contacts
can regularise the situation.
"My wife is three months pregnant," Mr Murphy said. "We were starting off on a new life, with our first child on the
way and had never been happier. I had always had my papers in order. The packet of documents which I had received when applying for adjustment of status did not say that I was to
remain in America while the application was being processed. The first I knew was when I was turned back at Shannon."
Jimmy Murphy remains in daily contact with Rachele in Iowa, but, as of now, his position remains unresolved.
23 February 2007 |
