Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution Read Online Free PDF Page A

her children how precious it is to be Americans.
THE TEACHER
    Annette Poppleton was born in England to a farm family. She worked her way to a college scholarship and became a teacher, her profession now for more than forty years. “I love teaching,” she says with passion. “Wouldn’t change it for the world.” 8
    In 1988, Annette and her husband brought their children on vacation from England to see Mickey Mouse in Orlando, Florida, for a three-week vacation. As devout Christians, they found a local church to attend. When local parishioners learned that Annette worked well with problem children, they encouraged them to move to the United States. They decided to do so. “We thought it would be nice and easy,” recounts Annette, “but it wasn’t.”
    Indeed, the past twenty-four years have been more of a nightmare, the kind of nightmare encountered by many immigrants. The system is so complex that it is impossible to navigate without a lawyer. There are many good and conscientious immigration lawyers—and many bad ones.
    Annette was advised by an attorney that she could work pending immigration approval. She found work as a teacher in a Christian school. Her husband had to return to England to attend his ill mother but was not permitted to return, “indefinitely pendingtribunal.” Their lawyer failed to appear at the hearing. Eventually they were removed from the United States.
    But still they were not deterred. The couple returned as visitors. This time they found a responsible lawyer who secured a special visa for them as pastors. In 2000, they opened their own school associated with the church they were pastoring, and in 2002 Annette became its principal. The school started with six students and has grown to sixty, employing six teachers. Three-quarters of the children are special-education students, ranging from autism to partial blindness to learning disabilities.
    Annette characterizes the school’s impact on its students as “miraculous.” She describes one boy who was expelled from public school kindergarten because of frequent meltdowns and in four years “has gone from totally unable to learn to becoming a learner.” The school has special success with autistic students, helping them achieve dramatic academic progress.
    Unfortunately, the attorney who had secured visas for Annette and her husband died. They found a new attorney, who applied to renew their visa, but the renewal was denied. Apparently Annette and her husband were eligible to apply for green cards but no one told them that. Altogether, Annette and her husband have spent more than thirty thousand dollars on attorney fees, which was extremelydifficult because of their meager salaries. The money was for naught as Annette was forced to return to England in late 2012. “I don’t have anything in England,” Annette laments. “My school is my life. My life is my school.”
    “I have sixty children who need me, and I have teachers who need me,” Annette adds. “They need me to be their backbone.” She hopes somehow to return as quickly as possible. “America has not made me rich, but it has made me wise,” Annette says. “I still believe in this country.”
    Annette’s loss is our loss: we cannot afford to send away talented people who are willing to dedicate their lives to America’s children, because of a hopelessly complex immigration system. America will be a better place if Annette Poppleton is among us.
THE STUDENT
    Faithful Okoye is one of five children in a family born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Her parents both had college degrees and were able to enroll her in a good boarding school. But having visited the United States, Faithful’s mother thought it would give her children better opportunities in life if they studied in America. Soshe set forth to make it possible for them to do so. “All of people’s dreams in Nigeria are of going to the U.S.,” Faithful explains. 9 “If someone gives you the opportunity to come to