N&R columnist Susan Ladd writes up the saga of Nestor Marchi, a Brazilian immigrant and father of a Greensboro firefighter for overstaying his visa.
Yes Mr. Marchi wants to stay in the U.S. to be close to his son. But another reason jumped out at me:
Nestor Marchi was helping his son repair his kitchen sink on May 2 when they got the word his stay had been denied. No reason was given.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Nestor Marchi said, wiping away tears. “I knew it was the last chance I had.”
He is not being dramatic when he says he doesn’t expect to live long if he has to go back to Brazil. As a first responder, Andy Marchi has seen what happens to people with congestive heart failure who don’t take their medication for a couple of days or a week. It might take his father months to obtain medication in Brazil.
“I have to be realistic,” Andy Marchi said. “If my dad does leave now — and he does have a 10-year bar — I might not ever see him again, period.
….“This is the place that gave me a chance to survive,” Marchi said. “I just want a chance to see my grandkids, see my family. There is no reason to live if I don’t have my family.”
Look, I’m not mocking Mr. Marchi’s health issues. But when you read columns by Susan Ladd and other ultra liberal columnists, you get the impression that we here in America have the crappiest healthcare system in the world, and it’s only going to get worse if the evil Republicans have their way and succeed in repealing and replacing Obamacare. Yet here the justification for not deporting an individual is so he can take advantage of the superior healthcare he will receive here as opposed to his home country. Needless to say I don’t know what to believe….
