Remember Army Sgt. Alex Jiménez, the soldier of Dominican birth missing in action (MIA) when he and two others were ambushed in May of 2007 in an area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death"?Unfortunately, for his loved ones--including his young wife Yaderlin, he's dead. His remains were recently recovered.
When I heard about Sgt. Alex Jiménez' story last year, it was beyond disturbing. At the very moment that the heroic Sgt. Jiménez went missing in action in service to the U.S.A., his young wife, Yaderlin, was being threatened with deportation.
Of the many shameful acts committed against Latino immigrants in the last few years, attempting to deport the wife of a service man missing in action has to be among the worse.
Only after a public outcry, and the powerful advocacy of Senator John Kerry, did the federal authorities back-off. Yaderlin was subsequently awarded permanent residency a year ago July '07.
A year later, Yaderlin Hiraldo Jiménez' name has been added to the growing list of prematurely widowed Latina immigrants.
Newsclips:
Alex Jimenez' Wife Might Be Deported
Iraq: Missing soldiers' bodies recovered
May 2007 abduction of US soldiers in Iraq
Jimenez Family Waits
Alex Jimenez's MySpace page
Kerry Tells Homeland Security Not to Deport Wife of Missing Soldier
Woman's husband missing in Iraq since May; DHS halts her deportation
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