Friday, October 08, 2010

An Illegal Gets Legal Just In Time

People rant and rave about so-called “anchor babies,” the tots who are born in the U.S. by illegal immigrants and supposedly help the parents stay in this country but actually don’t do them any good at all. The babies, if they actually want to be anchor babies, must wait 18 years, then their parents must wait another 10 years to become citizens.

30 years is as nothing for one woman. Eulalia Garcia Maturey was kind of an anchor baby, coming across the border on a boat back when nobody really cared too much about that sort of thing. People did it all the time and if there were border guards, they were more interested in drug runners that folks who were visiting or coming across for jobs.

She may have been all of three months old and the family stayed here. "I want to spend the rest of my days in this life living legally in the United States," she said. "I was raised here, and I want to die here." Just before the start of World War II, Maturey received a "Certificate of Lawful Entry" card issued to her on April 4, 1941.

Then in 2008, the US started requiring everyone to show a passport when crossing the border. Maturey knew she couldn't take any more chances. So Maturey pulled out that 69-year-old "Lawful Entry" card. With that document, government officials were able to find her Legal Permanent Resident documents in the archives in Washington.

The LPR saved the day and her chance to become a citizen. Everything worked out and this 101-year-old lady can rest in peace when her American days are finally over.

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