Mandy Lewis

From my own life experience as a hostage in Iran for 444 days, I know how fragile safety can be--and how precious our rights are, especially now that we are plunged into war with Iran. I am outraged that a woman, one who I know, who has lived her entire life in the United States--adopted as a toddler by an American military family in Iran---now faces deportation to Iran, of all countries, because of a bureaucratic visa technicality. She has no criminal record, has lived in in California communities, paid taxes, more than contributed to the fabric of this nation, and calls this country her home. Yet, the Department of Homeland Security says she must removed because she technically "overstayed" a visa from the age of 4. "She has fought for nearly two decades to fix her status within the system--always above board, asking for no shortcuts--but she fears her next court hearing later this month" may "almost certainly result in detention and deportation." She has said," I'm struggling and fighting so hard to keep this life in America that I love and deserve...It's such a betrayal to my dad and to myself to send me back to a country where I was just an orphan baby." This is beyond unjust--it is cruel. She does not even remember Iran, a country she left as a child, and where as a Christian she could be persecuted, imprisoned, or worse under Iranian law that treats apostasy as crime punishable by severe penalties and even death. How can we call oursleves a nation of justice and compassion when we tear apart someone who is, in very sense an American? This isn't immigation enforcement--it is punishment of an innocent woman who belongs here. If we allow this to happen, we are not enforcing the law--we are abandoning our humanity. Where is the outrage? Where is the national coverage? If we allow this to happen, we are abandoning the very values we claim to stand for.