Up Yours Mrs. Upchurch

 Mandei esta carta em 25 de março de 2003 para uma certa juíza da imigração americana

Morávamos em Houston, e os vistos de Dona Zulmira e Carlinhos haviam vencido

Fiz um pleito de renovação que foi recusado por aquela senhora

Escrevi esta carta explicativa

Acho que faltou desenhar, porque ela recusou novamente, dizendo:

"Mrs. Pacheco and her son should leave the USA immediately!"

Ignorei solenemente, e pensei no título do post, mas fiquei quieto
(Quem não sabe o significado, procure 'Up Yours' no Google imagens)

E continuamos nos USA até o final de minha missão, nove meses depois....
 

Um pouco da história deles está neste link:

http://blogdohomerix.blogspot.com.br/2007/02/historia-de-um-sorriso.html

_____________________________
Your Honor Mrs. Upchurch

I come back with the case of my in-laws Zulmira and Antonio Carlos Pacheco. I’m sure you remember our case. What I’m not sure is if you fully understood the peculiarities of our case. I will try to respond some of the arguments of your Decision to Deny letter. First let me state that, not being a lawyer and not being a native English speaker, I shall not use the correct wording, so I apologize for that. Also I grant I will not pay an expensive lawyer to defend their pleas so I would kindly ask you to consider the arguments below.

Yes, my application for renewal of their immigration status was untimely and I have no excuse for that, unless you consider that extreme dedication to work and minimum time allotted for private issues can play a role in an excuse.

You say that Antonio Carlos should file himself an application. Here resides the most important reason for my plea. In my letter I thought I was clear on presenting his condition: he is physically and mentally handicapped! He can not talk, he can not walk, he has to be fed, he has to be bathed, he uses diapers most of the time, we use a patient lifter to help transfer him from bed to wheelchair, to couch, to toilet seat, because he is 140-pounds-heavy, too much for the 79-year-old lady. His mental age is 11 months, which is the age he suffered the encephalitis I mentioned in my application letters. I hope that the definition of child can be revised after you read this letter and see the attached photos, taken recently. It cannot be a cold age limit situation.

The life of Mrs. Zulmira has been fully dedicated to the care of Antonio Carlos. As you know he is now 48-years-old. She never worked outside she never learned another idiom so she could not understand a single word of your letter to her. He and her son are in the United States not for temporary business or for temporary pleasure, as you clearly state in your letter. They are here because they have no other option. How my wife wished she had another sister or brother to adequately take care of them in Brazil! She could not let her peculiar familiar condition put in risk the opportunity of our lives, so she decided to bring them to this land of opportunity. The only way of doing that was to grant them the B2 visas. The consulate officer in Rio de Janeiro granted that the renewal of their immigrant condition would be a question of paper work, and so it happened on the first times, when you kindly granted the first extensions.

You say that they “… must make immediate arrangement to depart the US.” I am shocked with that statement. We are not that normal family who can go everywhere anytime, to board planes, trains, or other regular means of transportation. We cannot go to Brazil to renew their visas and come back in a blink of eyes like others can. The mobilization / demobilization of Antonio Carlos is extremely difficult. The day we came to America was the most nervous day of my life. The expectations of how could we move him from wheelchair to the plane seats, the doubt about how would he behave during  the flight, the possibility of him to poop during the flight, the fear of his screams bothering other passengers. Finally, God helped us and protected us so we could travel without any major glitches.  But I cannot imagine other trip with him other than the definitive trip back to Brazil.

The reasons stated in last paragraph makes the option of traveling to a “third country” to grant some new visas unthinkable. Neither on Mrs. Pacheco wildest dreams, she dreamed of staying in a second country, furthermore in a third country. She had full certainty that she would never step in a plane, given her son’s condition. And the only country to deserve this condition was the United States of America. My company, Petrobras, a state oil company, has offices in Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Nigeria and UK. Only the USA could be a safe harbor for a family like mine, with mild social problems, large neighborhoods and plenty of conditions to treat eventual medical problems. Even UK was out of question due to their miserable weather. That’s why when this slot opened here in Houston we decided to come, whatever the obstacles our condition could offer.

So I am filing this motion to reconsider the denied application and paying the required $110 fee. We have no new facts to present. Our condition is the same as ever. Just I feel I have explained better this time. Their presence in this country will never put the jobs or lives of anyone in risk. They never leave home. We could easily keep them quietly here until the time to go back with never bothering you with these applications. But it is not our way. We insist on being legal. Also, we are inviting you and other INS officers, as we did on our last letter, to come to our home and verify personally the veracity of our words.

Additionally, I must mention that I did not go through the articles, lines, titles, parts and sections stated on your letter due to the reasons expressed on first paragraph. Furthermore, I truly believe our case cannot be only judged by the law, but it does need to be judged also by the heart.

My permission to stay in the USA as stated on the attached petition is until August 23rd 2003. That is the date we are requiring to extend the non-immigrant status of Zulmira Galvao Pacheco and Antonio Carlos Galvao Pacheco

My best regards

Homero Ventura

Agreed in full with all that was above said

Zulmira Galvão Pacheco