<p>It is true that Mitt Romney’s father George Romney was born in Mexico, but Mexican nationality laws may have been different at the time. George Romney was born in 1907, before the current Political Constitution of the United Mexican States specifying Mexican nationality by birth within Mexico was adopted in 1917. The prior Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States adopted in 1857 did not contain this provision.</p>
<p>Montes couldn’t “get in line with the rest of the people wanting to enter the country legally.” There is no such line for poor Mexicans. Maybe there should be, maybe there shouldn’t be, but in fact, there isn’t.</p>
<p>Be that as it may, he is the father of those children and they should be living with their own father.</p>
<p>There are specific international agreements about child custody to which the US government is party. That is what should govern the decision here. Truly it is sad that these children have the mother that they do. But they are blessed to have a father who does want them.</p>
<p>Huh? I understand your point, but calling people “undocumented humans” makes no sense to me, and is just as dehumanizing.</p>
<p>Regardless, I believe that the correct term is *illegal alien<a href=“courtesy%20of%20our%20current%20federal%20government”>/i</a>. The use of 'illegal is just a shortened version of that. Thus, suggest you write the Prez.</p>
<p>swattiechick; How about this ‘Monte, whose status is that of ILLEGAL ALIEN’ in the United States…". Using the term ‘immigrant’ insinuate a process which someone has engaged in - legally - thus calling an illegal alien an ‘immigrant’ of any form is insulting to all those who followed the laws.</p>
<p>What’s really sad is the dept of social services which abuses their power.
Children die when abuse cases are perfunctorily investigated, innumerable kids never have a father who acknowledge them let alone fight for his parental rights from far away for two years.
He entered the country without papers to work. Not to deal drugs, not to get welfare but to work. He married a citizen,but the process to gain citizenship was long and expensive. He had three children, who he physically & financially cared for. He doesn’t drink, smoke or use drugs, he just wanted to be able to work to provide for his family.
He had a drivers liscense using his federal taxpayer ID but when his state changed the law to require a social security number, he couldn’t renew his liscense.</p>
<p>That’s why he was deported, for being too poor to gain citizenship, even though he has shown he has better character than many other men who still have their kids ( or they could if they hadn’t abandoned them)</p>
<p>I don’t know what the mothers issues are, they haven’t charged her with abuse or neglect, but according to her they haven’t let her see or speak to her children.</p>
<p>I think the state has a responsibilty to see that children are not being abused, but too often they neglect to investigate real cases of abuse and instead spend taxpayer resources on cases like this.</p>
<p>He is still here illegally regardless of his reason. Guess what if I were to move 15 minutes to the west of me and started to work without getting “paperwork” I would be violating the law. Even if I’m “there to work.”</p>
<p>In light of the fact that the details of cases regarding children are almost always confidential perhaps there is more to the story than the father and his agenda are making public. He seems to be quite a piece of work. Perhaps the kids wouldn’t be better off with him. Perhaps they are trying to maintain access for the mother, who knows? Not anyone here.
If there is no abuse, the kids should be sent to the father in Mexico. But I would bet a dozen cupcakes that that’s not what he wants. He is drumming up sympathy to get himself returned to the US, getting the whole family to Mexico is undoubtedly not the goal. When someone is such an unsympathetic character and so clearly has an agenda at odds with his statements, I find it amusing that so many people swallow the nonsense.</p>
<p>And I work with illegal immigrants, so I’m not unsympathetic as a rule, just to his guy.</p>
<p>I don’t know EK, some things are confidential. At least in NY, outsiders never, ever know what the social services people know. </p>
<p>I’m just not big on manipulation. If he’s not abusive, send the kids to the father. Of course, we all know that’s not what he really wants, but call his bluff. Oh wait. We’re talking about the safety of kids here, if there is any question of whether he has the resources to feed and care for the kids, keep them safe and fed until we can be sure. At least in the US, poor children with parents from Mexico can be fed and receive medical care. Such is not the case in Mexico.</p>
<p>The process to become a citizenin this gentleman’s case, would have required the intermediate step of becoming a legal permanent resident - not particularly long or expensive if he were married to a citizen. The complicating factors would have been his immigration status before filing that paperwork. Shifting from undocumented to documented is not easy at all.</p>
<p>Once people decide to break the law and do things illegally, which is what’s done by the illegal aliens, they bring upon themselves a host of complications and generally further illegal activities such as falsely using someone else’s SS number or using a fake one, driving without a DL, not getting car insurance, falsifying documents for schools, living in illegal encampments or dwellings (ex: 4 families in a single family home), not filing and paying income taxes (many work cash-only jobs), and worse - cause issues like this for their kids. They have themselves to blame for this and it started when they decided to illegally enter the country.</p>
<p>But, unless this dad has abused his kids or is unable to care for them, they should be with him in Mexico since the mom’s unable to care for them.</p>
<p>I know that EmeraldKitty is right about the states’ child welfare bureaucracies causing sad and at times tragic SNAFUs, but like Zooser I think that Montes will attempt to exploit the situation; he may hope that sympathy will get him fast-tracked to a return to the U.S., if that’s even possible in the matter at hand. What was telling to me in the L.A. Times story was that Montes wasn’t excited about his Anglo wife moving to Mexico to be with him. If Montes’ meager financial situation in Mexico is good enough [in his opinion] for three young’uns, why wouldn’t it be sufficient for his wife as well?</p>
<p>I wouldnt necessarily think that it was finances that was the issue - perhaps whatever problems are keeping the mom from caring for the children, is more than her husband wants to deal with.</p>
<p>The courts will decide where the children should go based on their best interests and will (at least theoretically) not take into account the desires or rights of the parents. This sometimes generates surprising results, especially when the public doesn’t have access to the same facts the court has. (Anybody remember the mother who lost her children “because she had cancer?”)</p>
<p>Oh, I am sure (as sure as one can be reading from afar) that is the case; that the problems of the missus is a kettle of fish that Montes would rather not deal with, and certainly would be much more difficult to handle in a remote village in Mexico.</p>
<p>The core of the issue here is the citizenship status of anyone born in this country. It creates a one way freeway for people of many countries, who come here to “visit” only to give birth to a child who is now a US citizen.</p>
<p>I will never know the desperation that is felt by people of other countries who live impoverished lives because of the corruption of their governments. I will never know the mother’s heart who is so desperate to make a better life for her child that she is willing to fish in the pond of moral ambiguity. </p>
<p>I don’t have any answers, but as a mother, I will not for a second judge anyone who wants a better life for their children. Most of us on these boards are parents of college students or soon to be college students. Our children are living the “American Dream” either through our own hard work, or through the generous gifts of scholarships or grants. Step back for a moment and just wonder how you might feel if this were a board on how to get the most basic of services for your children. Shoes, clean water, food and basic healthcare.</p>
<p>Like I said, I have no answers as it pertains to this specific case. But the US government has to realize that as long as anyone from anywhere can get across our borders, birth a child, who will be a US citizen, they will deal with the public relations nightmare of separating parents from children.</p>
This shouldn’t be laid on the US government - it’s the parent who makes the decision to potentially separate themselves from their children. In this case it’s two parents’ decisions since the mother as well knew she was creating the situation by having kids with the illegal alien. It’s no different than if I knowingly illegally entered Mexico, had kids with a citizen there and then was caught and deported. It’d be my fault - not the Mexican government’s for enforcing their laws. There are often consequences to actions.</p>