Please contact your congressman or senator and ask that a waiver of the permanent bar be made available in cases of extreme hardship to a US citizen. My family is facing the possibility of my husband being deported permanently from the US because he was denied entry with a tourist visa at the US/Mexican border a few years ago and he returned (illegally) without inspection. In our case, if he is deported it will divide our family. I have two children from a previous marriage that I can't take out of the state of Illinois due to the fact that their father has visitation rights with them. I also have a child with my husband. All of the kids are little, the oldest is 8. The legislation that needs to be changed is the following:

INA 212(a)(9)©, which states that a person who was deported or removed and who, after April 1, 1997,
illegally re-entered the U.S. is permanently barred from immigrating through a family member. The person cannot even apply for a discretionary waiver of the bar until ten years after leaving the U.S.
No one seems to know what waiver can be applied for after ten years, everyone I've asked tells me that no such waiver exists.

Thanks in advance for your support!

If you'll allow me a question, Psalazar -

Was your husband aware of his illegal status upon entry or did he think it was a legal act to cross in whatever manner he did?

I understand if you'd prefer not to answer.

Technically, I'm not a democrat, so I'm not suppossed to be posting here...

If you'd like the full story, see my posting in the Domestic Policy forum. To answer your question, yes. He knew it was illegal. However, in this country we make the punishment fit the crime. Giving my husband the permanent bar just for entering illegally, when it has such a terrible effect on me and my children, is like giving someone the death penalty for J-walking.