Vet, facing deportation, says Army let him down

Vet, facing deportation, says Army let him down

www.armytimes.com

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Axel Runtschke is blond and blue-eyed. He hunts and fishes. He listens to country music and watches NASCAR. He spent three years in the Army, is married and has three kids.

He’s a regular American guy. Except that he’s an illegal immigrant.

And though he has been in the United States for 20 years after moving here from his native Germany as a child, he has been unable to gain legal residency status — even though he said the Army promised him they would take care of it

(visit the link for the full news article)

This guy is an Army veteran and has pulled more than his fair share of the weight in my opinion. I don't even know why he was not given citizenship or at least permanent residence upon being discharged. Could the fact that too many people are taking a short-cut by coming here illegally, have anything to do with it? Is he and people just like him, being left on the back-burner while our scandalous politicians cater to the illegal immigrants? This kind of thing makes me furious.

If this guy had olive skin, black hair and brown eyes, the MSM would be all over this, citing the racism that would apparently be keeping him from citizenship. Because he is blonde with blue eyes, no one in the mainstream media will take interest and ultimately no one will care too much. I am going to look into donating money for his legal fund.

--airspoon


www.armytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I agree with you, but it appears to be an Army precedent. They did the same thing to my father in the 1950s. Needed his skills as a translator, then dumped him. He got citizenship anyway. And they'll probably be doing this same exact thing to most of the Mexican people they made the same deal with. I don't think it's an official or binding deal...it's recruiter lip-service.

The MSM may yet pick up on this.

I just thought of something...why didn't he get citizenship in 20 years? Was it not an issue before this?

[edit on 28-6-2010 by ~Lucidity]

Wow.

I know what it's like. But it looks like he has some good lawyers to help him out for free. I wasn't as lucky and spent many thousands of dollars before I gave up and took voluntary deportation.

Runtschke could apply for residency based on his marriage. But that would require a three-year wait before applying for citizenship and would cost several thousand dollars he doesn’t have

What a lot of the haters on this site don't aknowledge is that LEGAL immigration is prohibitvley expensive.

Hopefully he will be able to get it sorted, but if he doesn't, Germany is not such a bad place to go home to.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


I believe that he was granted a temp green card when he was a youth, then after the army, he had figured he was a citizen, not realizing there was a problem until he lost his ID and had to replace it. I have known a couple foreigners to join the army. They get automatic residence status with a speed up to becoming a citizen. It's really usually standard and instead of lip service from the recruiter, he rather dropped the ball.

The immigration courts are usually "by the book" and once someone is deemed to be deported, it's hard to change it around, irregardless of the circumstances or the judge's personal feelings. That has always been my outlook on it anyway and I have a few family members who have had to go through the whole process.

--airspoon

reply to post by Merigold


Germany isn't really his home though. He has been here since he was 12, not to mention he served this country.

--airspoon

p.s. sorry for your ordeal, you should have just come across over the Rio Grande, you probably would have been allowed to stay.

This is a shame and an outrage. He was willing to risk his life and limb for our Great Nation of America, and we are sending him back!!! If you love America enough to join the service, especially being from another country, you should automatically receive American citizenship.

weak. poor guy. yet another example of why we need to enforce and reform how we do immigration in this country. there is no reason why that should take 20 years.

I'm pretty much anti-illegal immigrant and anti-amnesty, but I think that anyone who has put in 8 years or more in the military should be given citizenship. That's one path to citizenship I fully support.

reply to post by airspoon


Hmmm...he figured he was a citizen? Unless the military is exempt, residency and a green card require that a person file with the U.S. government every year. If that were the case he would know that he wasn't a U.S. citizen. Did he vote? I still find it odd that someone would serve in the U.S. military for 8 years then 5 years after without knowing he wasn't a citizen. Or at the very least um checking up on it?

Could this possibly be a case of his wanting to retain German citizenship too for some reason?

Ooops...misread his length of service.

[edit on 28-6-2010 by ~Lucidity]