News-Record.com

Illegal means illegal. This lady was breaking the law. Does the GNR now approve of law breakers? Do I feel compassion for her,yes. However, I have to follow the law, illegals should do the same. She had plenty of time to do the right thing and choose not to.

Yeah, and I saw some firefighters the other day that were putting out a house fire JUST a bit too enthusiastically. And a cop that lives down the street was catching TOO many robbers last month.
The nerve of those guys doing their jobs so well!

Doug, Jaycee,
We'll see how you feel when someone takes someone you love away from you... You'll sing a different tune then.

Jaycee:
Doing their jobs? Their job is Homeland Security. This woman posed no security threat and has used legal channels to address her immigration status, which probably would have been resolved by now had she not had a bad lawyer. Did you read the whole story?

Allen,

I read the story, and I learned that she voluntarily agreed to leave the country in 1993. It's now 2006, so she has been in this country for 13 years, knowing that her status was uncertain, but she has not done anything proactively to address it. Are you suggesting that saying that you had a bad lawyer is a defense from consequences? It would seme that it was her lawyer, and shouldn't she have been monitoring the case. It was she that was at risk, and it would seem foolish to assume that your lawyer is "handling" everything for 13 years. she is a sympathetic case, but the law doesn't seem to be on her side.

Billy, your observation is really not relevant here. What does it have to do with this case? If someone I love had broken the law, then I would expect that there might be consequences. I'd still love and support the person, but I'd have to be realistic about it.

The law is the law. But judges use discretion and common sense in meting it out every day.

Allen, the "Department of Homeland Security" includes:
Transportation Security Administration
Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Secret Service
Citizenship and Immigration Services
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Federal Emergency Management Directorate
U.S. Coast Guard

So it IS their job.

Billy, if my loved one was knowingly, willingly, and blatantly violating the law for years and years I don't think I could justifiably feel "bad" when they were caught.
Allen, if this were a smelly, old, unemployed African or Middle Eastern male do you think this story would have the impact it had, what with a cutesy picture of a nice-looking young lady? The story played on sympathy, ignoring the fact that she's a scofflaw who knew she had been in violation of Federal law for years.
Reminds me of the Colombian woman that Manlin Chee finagled back into the country after she'd been deported for being part of a large cocaine distribution ring that dealt white death on our streets to our children. No telling how many robberies, burglaries, assaults and murders that ring was responsible for. That was a tear-jerker of a N&R story, too, but I was personally involved in that case and know the truth your story failed to present.
Try being unbiased in your news coverage for a change, instead of attempting to sway people to your liberal, anti-Bush (anti-Homeland Security) position with stories sympathetic to law breakers.

The bottom line is that we don't know all of the facts.

It is disturbing that at least on the surface it appears that Lena was attempting to immigrate here legally and was rebuked, yet we have such little action at the federal level against those who ignore the law and come here illegally on a daily basis.

Have you noticed that Mr. Johnson avoided the question, is the GRN now supporting law breakers?
Billy Poet, please do not think for me. I was raised to respect the law. My children were raised to respect the law. Jaycee if you are waiting for the NR to be unbiased you are in for along wait. Have you ever seen a negative lTE on liberals? I purchased the paper for 43 years every day. It always backs liberal, tax hikes, and covers up for all the liberal scandals in Raleigh. That is why there sales are falling.

I see the concerns about the letter of the law, still I agree with Sam's earlier comments:

"It is disturbing that at least on the surface it appears that Lena was attempting to immigrate here legally and was rebuked, yet we have such little action at the federal level against those who ignore the law and come here illegally on a daily basis."

She was 16 years old in 1993. How is she to return to her country when she was only 16 years old and start a life without her family?