It’s harder to become a legalized citizen in the United States

Perfectly Legal Immigrants, Until They Applied for Citizenship

Courtesy of NY Times

SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Dr. Pedro Servano always believed that his journey from his native Philippines to the life of a community doctor in Pennsylvania would lead to American citizenship.

But the doctor, who has tended to patients here in the Susquehanna Valley for more than a decade, is instead battling a deportation order along with his wife.

The Servanos are among a growing group of legal immigrants who reach for the prize and permanence of citizenship, only to run afoul of highly technical immigration statutes that carry the severe penalty of expulsion from the country. For the Servanos, the problem has been a legal hitch involving their marital status when they came from the Philippines some 25 years ago.

Largely overlooked in the charged debate over illegal immigration, many of these are long-term legal immigrants in the United States who were confident of success when they applied for naturalization, and would have continued to live here legally had they not sought to become citizens.

Wow, this guys are obviously doing the right thing to be legalized. I mean they are contributing to this society and they are giving so much to the community. Oh my goodness this guy is a DOCTOR who is intelligent and educated. Why are we going after the ones who are making a difference and not the ones that degrade society.

I hope the politicians and the lawyers to do something.