Here in my lovely Prince William County, we have a group of very vocal people complaining about “Illegal Immigrants.” These people complain about a lot of things in general, but immigrants are tops on their list. Our County Board of Supervisors, led by one Cory Stewart, have done what politicians in a democratically-elected government always seem to do – pander to the loudest.
Back on November 14, the editorial section of my favorite local newspaper “The Potomac News” once again scored big with one of our local columnists James Simpson. Unlike Ken Concannon and Charles Reichley, I haven’t bothered writing rebuttals or personal e-mails to Mr. Simpson before, simply because I don’t normally consider him worth the effort.
However, for this particular column I just had to make an exception and respond.
Well, it’s over. After seven trips to the local DMV office, two letters to the Governor of Virginia, one letter to the DMV Commissioner, and three phone calls to the DMV office of Identification Review Service, Winnie has a driver’s license good for five years, in her married name, and with our current address.
Once again I’m left wondering: Why was that so difficult?
As many of our frequent visitors (visitors => More Than Two) may remember, back in December and January I posted about a problem with our local DMV. It seemed that the various DMV officials were making stuff up in increasingly new and original ways, to prevent Winnie from obtaining her driver’s license (and by default, proof of Virginia residency). My breaking point was when, on our fifth trip over a period of 7 weeks, they denied her license on basis that she could not prove how she made the jump from her maiden name “Wei Fang Li” to married name “Wei Fang Li Charest.”
Winnie and I are currently in the process of buying some additional life insurance. Not a big deal or at least it shouldn’t be. Part of the process now-a-days to buy life insurance is take a medical exam, and the insurance companies actually make this part easy by sending a nurse-practitioner to the prospective client’s home for administering the forms and lab work.
Yesterday, we had our home visit. As part of the nurse’s visit, she subjected me to some of the ugliest anti-immigration crap I’ve been personally subjected to. As a side bonus, she performed what at best would be the sloppiest blood sample draw, on Winnie, I’ve ever experienced or witnessed. Ever.
Our local Prince William County, Virginia, newspaper “The Potomac News” ran a letter to the editor today that ranks as one of the most hateful screeds against immigration that I have ever read, anywhere. Even though I have already pegged this particular newspaper as a hard-core conservative newspaper, I was still shocked they would print such a letter. I had to respond.
It’s taken 39 long months, but yesterday it finally happened. Yesterday, Winnie received her letter from the INS (USCIS) welcoming her to America.
This continues the saga of our (Winnie and mine) Internet Romance and Marriage. Falling in love and marrying via Internet proved a lot easier than getting her visa to join me in America.
By the time I left China after our wedding I was about as exhausted, physically and emotionally, as I’d been in many years. The jet lag of a 13 hours time change, the different climate, food, all the constant traveling, never knowing what was going on (due to my lack of language skills), and getting married besides just did me in.
It’s been more than three years now since I first sent in Winnie’s immigration paperwork. Even though she did gain a visa for entry into the US, after only 20 months, this was just a “temporary” visa, good until her permanent one was approved.
Today, we’ve finally received an appointment for her permanent visa interview.
No Sympathy for Racists
Last week I submitted another of my on-going series of Letters to the Editor of our local newspaper “The Potomac News.” This time, I took on a local wing-nut who is key in whipping up anti-immigration hysteria in this area. It seems that after a few years of diligently and successfully working to build his reputation as a local racist, this individual was unhappy about being labeled a “nativist” by the Southern Poverty Law Center and local newspapers.
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