Hundreds of US citizen kin scramble to apply for parole in place

Norma Quichocho, from the Philippines, and her husband Martin, a U.S. citizen, have been married on Saipan for 17 years but have never worked on applying for a “green card” or permanent residency status for her until the federal government imposed a Nov. 27, 2011, deadline for non-U.S. citizens to obtain a transitional or other types of immigration status.

Without a status or at least a parole in place by Nov. 27, nonresidents could face deportation from the CNMI.

The Quichochos are now unemployed, making it harder to apply for “green card” which would cost the couple “at least” $2,000. The husband also now has a disability.

“I cannot bear to be separated from my family if I lose my status. We’re hoping that I will be able to apply for a parole in place and a green card,” Mrs. Quichocho told Saipan Tribune in an interview yesterday.

Quichocho is just one of the hundreds of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens who are now scrambling to apply for a parole in place to allow them to lawfully remain in the CNMI beyond Nov. 27 while their green card or other immigration status applications are being processed.

At least 250 of these immediate relatives of U.S. citizens trooped to the American Memorial Park indoor auditorium yesterday afternoon for a parole in place workshop that Micronesian Legal Services Corp. conducted.

MLSC directing attorney Jane Mack, who led the parole in place workshop along with staff attorney Linda Wingenbach and other staffers, said they anticipated a huge volume of individuals to participate in yesterday’s workshop so they planned for two separate sessions-one at 1pm and the other, at 3pm.

But some people interviewed said they were at the AMP auditorium as early as 10am just to be able to get in and take part in the MLSC workshop.

Yesterday’s workshop drew more than the one MLSC held recently for immediate relatives of Freely Associated States citizens where only about 50 showed up.

At yesterday’s workshop, immediate relatives of U.S. citizens were given a roundup of how to prepare a request letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for a humanitarian parole in place, the supporting documents needed, filling up Form G-325 and meeting other requirements.

Mack repeatedly reminded people that a grant of parole in place is discretionary, on a case-by-case basis, and is decided by USCIS.

Quichocho said she’s thankful for the MLSC workshop because she got to learn about and understand the requirements in applying for a humanitarian parole in place.

She said it’s her fault that she and her husband are now scrambling to obtain parole in place and green card for her.

“When we were still employed and just got married, my husband and I were hearing people say that once aliens are given green card, they leave their husband or wife behind and they go to the states. I told my husband from the beginning I will prove to him that I’m not like the others, that I love him and I will always be by his side. But because of the federal government requirement, I now have to get my green card or I could be deported,” she said.

‘My children are fighting in the war’

Elizabeth Mendoza, who came to Saipan as a nonresident worker in 1989 and lost her job two years ago, said she wants to apply for humanitarian parole in place to give her U.S. citizen son time to petition her as an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen.

Her son is turning 21 on June 1.

Mendoza said her son is in the U.S. Army and is currently deployed in Afghanistan.

“My son doesn’t want me and my husband to leave Saipan. All we want is to be given just a few months before our son could petition us,” she told Saipan Tribune at the MLSC workshop yesterday. “My son is fighting a U.S. war, and we hope the U.S government would grant us parole in place until we’re petitioned as IRs.”

Mendoza and her husband, who came to Saipan to work in 1986, also adopted two other children, one of whom is also a sergeant in the U.S. Army and bound for Afghanistan next week.

“It would be a sad day for the whole family if we have to leave Saipan while our children are in the war. They shouldn’t be worrying about us because they are in the war, but they are worried,” she added.

‘He left me’

Wirantri S. Truss, originally from Thailand, said she just applied for green card last week despite being married to a U.S. citizen in 1992 and now has two children-one is 17 years old and the other is 12 years old.

Truss, 50, said her first husband didn’t work to get her a green card because he thought she would leave him for another man if she has one. They divorced.

She said her second husband abandoned her even before applying a green card for her.

“Lawyer said if I sue my husband, I could apply for green card. But I need parole in place first so I can stay,” she said after attending the MLSC workshop.

Elena Whitenack, 55, said her U.S. citizen husband brought her to Saipan in 1994. But her husband died in 2002 without fixing her green card. She now has only weeks to work on her parole in place to give her more time to apply for a green card or she could be deported from the CNMI.

“I’m confused and stressed out. I don’t know where I will get the money to apply for green card,” said the mother of a 10-year-old.

Marilou Manglona, 49, said the expensive green card is also holding them back from applying for one.

She said her husband of 18 years now couldn’t afford to pay for a green card application because he’s now unemployed. They also have to fend for their children-18, 13, and 9 years old.

Another nonresident working at a poker arcade said she went to the MLSC workshop to see whether she could also apply for a humanitarian parole in place because her employer has not even talked to them whether their foreign employees would be petitioned for a Commonwealth-only worker status or CW status.

She said their employer has not even posted job vacancy announcements to see whether qualified U.S. workers will apply for the foreign workers’ positions, with only about a month left before Nov. 27.

“I’m afraid I would lose my status. My child is only 11 years old. I don’t want to be separated from my child,” she said.

Yolanda Aluag, 57, said she wanted to learn more about parole in place so she went to the MLSC workshop even though she’s not an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen.

She said it’s her day off anyway, so she decided to attend the workshop. She said when she got to the American Memorial Park auditorium at 12:30pm, the auditorium was already filled to capacity for the 1pm session, so she and over a hundred more had to wait for the 3pm session.

More free MLSC workshops

Besides holding parole in place workshops for immediate relatives of FAS and U.S. citizens, MLSC also held a workshop on Tinian on Friday.

Next Sunday, MLSC will hold a final parole in place workshop for CNMI permanent residents and for those born between 1974 and 1978 also at the American Memorial Park auditorium.

MLSC has been holding these workshops free of charge to participants.

Philippine Consul General Medardo Macaraig, at yesterday’s information caravan in Susupe about immigration, parole in place and related matters, said the consulate general advised immediate relatives of U.S. citizens to go to the MLSC workshop instead so they would learn about parole in place application.

He said this is among the reasons why there were not that many at the information caravan in Susupe, while hundreds were at the MLSC workshop.

Last week, many jobless foreigners wrongfully thought they could apply for and be granted parole or parole in place so they could stay in the CNMI up to Jan. 31, 2012, and find a job.

Without a CW petition filed for them by Nov. 27, nonresidents will lose their status to remain in the CNMI and could face deportation unless they fall under those categories that are eligible for parole.

They include CNMI permanent residents, immediate relatives of CNMI permanent residents, spouses, and children of deceased CNMI permanent residents, and immediate relatives of FAS citizens or those from Palau, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia’s Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, and Yap.

Parole in place is also available for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens who need more time to change their immigration status, including obtaining green card.

Foreign workers who have parole in place that already expired or is expiring on Nov. 27 and who will be applied for CW status are also required to file for a parole in place extension. This will allow them to stay in the CNMI at least up to Jan. 31, 2012, or while their CW petition is being processed.