Twenty years ago, Pedro Servano and his wife, Salvacion, wed. It was an act of love, an act of honor. They were committed to one another. Planning a move to the U.S., they shared their sacred vows. Salvacion moved first. Two years later, her husband followed.
They began raising a family. They settled in the Central Susquehanna Valley, where Pedro Servano is a physician employed in Geisinger's Selinsgrove clinic.
But before they even arrived in Pennsylvania, their share of the American dream had become threatened. While in San Diego, they applied for U.S. citizenship and an INS official decided they should be deported because their original visas contained an untruth. The error? The Servanos married. The paperwork -- filed two years before their wedding -- indicated each was single. What would seem like an innocuous technicality has provided the seed for a bureaucratic nightmare. In appeal after appeal, the original decision has been upheld. Despite numerous expressions of support from neighbors and civic leaders, the Servanos may be forced to report for deportation this week.
The situation would be ridiculous except for the pain it is causing a local family. It is not ridiculous. It is outrageous.
The Servanos should be made citizens of this country, if that is their wish. If a man who has devoted decades helping the ill and injured is incapable of proving he is worthy of an exception, who could?
Interestingly, it is the second time this year a local physician has gotten snagged in a visa problem. A doctor from Shamokin Area Community Hospital was prevented from returning to the U.S. when he went to England. An outcry ensued and the doctor was able to get his red tape problems resolved. He has resumed practicing in Northumberland County.
Not all illegal immigrants should be sent to their countries of origin. Some should be allowed to remain. They should be made legal residents of this country. It is their home.
What makes us Americans? The good fortune of being born here? The blessing of a bureaucrat?
Terrorists and criminals should be deported. Law-abiding, hard-working people should be recognized as welcome citizens of this country. The Department of Homeland Security must devise a fair manner of determining if residents who are in this country illegally deserve amnesty.
