By Daniel Nardini
When U.S. President Donald Trump expedited the process to allow white South Africans (known as Afrikaners—the descendants of Dutch colonists who settled in southern Africa in the 17th Century) to come to the United States with no questions asked, something snapped inside me. These Afrikaners were brought into the United States as “refugees,” even though Afrikaners are far from repressed in the Republic of South Africa. Afrikaners, although having suffered from the violence and lawlessness in South Africa like just about everybody else in that country, are suffering the least compared to everyone else. Incidentally, Afrikaners make-up 7 percent of the population yet they own 70 percent of all the commercial farmland. Their language is officially recognized in South Africa, and they are able to freely express themselves through their own news media. Hardly a repressed minority.
But this brings me to the case of my wife. My wife Jade was born and raised in the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Long before Trump ever became president, then U.S. President George W. Bush made coming to the United States for so many immigrants next to impossible. I know personally because when I tried to bring my wife to the United States, U.S. immigration did little to nothing to help me. I always heard from paranoid immigration officials saying that “we have to vet every person to protect America against terrorists,” and “you have to understand that we must fight against terrorism. We are in a war against terror.” I kept hearing all of this as excuses why immigration officials sat on their hands and did nothing, did not provide me with information that I needed to know for the immigration process, and I was even threatened with prosecution and even jail for “questioning the policies of the U.S. government at a time of war.”
Because of all this, I had to hire an immigration lawyer to fight for my rights as a U.S. citizen and do whatever it took to bring my wife to the United States. I had many lonely days and nights without her, and not only a lot of frustration of getting her to the United States but fighting for my rights to have her join me because the U.S. government had turned so much against me. It dismayed me that U.S. immigration was so arbitrary, so uninformed about what the law was, and worse treated me, a U.S. citizen, almost like the enemy. I had to endure a year and a half separated from my wife, and after I managed through my lawyers to get her into the United States I had to fight for another year and a half to make sure that the U.S. government did not deport my wife. It was one of the most sad and bitter experiences of my life. Despite being a U.S. citizen, despite the fact that my taxes paying for these same government officials to be in their jobs in the first place, I had to fight for my my wife to even have the most basic rights to join her husband in the United States.
By a miracle I managed to beat the U.S. government and get to keep my wife in the United States and help her gain legal permanent status. However, I foresaw a real possibility in the future of a more hostile U.S. administration trying to deport even legal permanent residents, so I did everything I could to help my wife gain U.S. citizenship. I had a big fight with the U.S. government under Bush even then for this, but in the end I managed to get her U.S. citizenship. Yes, I used the same lawyer for this because I no longer trusted the U.S. government with anything. Despite how much my wife and I were kicked around by the U.S. government for the whole immigration process, we have had a beautiful life together here in Illinois. Over the years, my wife and I have come to more than ever to appreciate the state of Illinois for all the wonderful people we have met, and the cultural, racial, ethnic and religious diversity of this state that has helped us both realize that we are far from being alone.
My wife applied for her sister and niece to be able to come and live in the United States back in 2013. Well, to this day we have heard nothing from U.S. immigration. That says it all. At a time when Afghan refugees (especially those who helped the U.S. military during the Afghanistan War) are being denied to live in the United States, or South Sudanese being denied refugee status by the U.S. government even though many are facing real persecution amidst a civil war, the U.S. government has just let in Afrikaners whom in my view do not deserve to be in the United States in the first place. They have been welcomed into this country with open arms because they are white. The only one consolation I have is that none of these Afrikaners will be settled in Illinois.
Our Racist Immigration System: A Personal View
By Daniel Nardini
But this brings me to the case of my wife. My wife Jade was born and raised in the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Long before Trump ever became president, then U.S. President George W. Bush made coming to the United States for so many immigrants next to impossible. I know personally because when I tried to bring my wife to the United States, U.S. immigration did little to nothing to help me. I always heard from paranoid immigration officials saying that “we have to vet every person to protect America against terrorists,” and “you have to understand that we must fight against terrorism. We are in a war against terror.” I kept hearing all of this as excuses why immigration officials sat on their hands and did nothing, did not provide me with information that I needed to know for the immigration process, and I was even threatened with prosecution and even jail for “questioning the policies of the U.S. government at a time of war.”
Because of all this, I had to hire an immigration lawyer to fight for my rights as a U.S. citizen and do whatever it took to bring my wife to the United States. I had many lonely days and nights without her, and not only a lot of frustration of getting her to the United States but fighting for my rights to have her join me because the U.S. government had turned so much against me. It dismayed me that U.S. immigration was so arbitrary, so uninformed about what the law was, and worse treated me, a U.S. citizen, almost like the enemy. I had to endure a year and a half separated from my wife, and after I managed through my lawyers to get her into the United States I had to fight for another year and a half to make sure that the U.S. government did not deport my wife. It was one of the most sad and bitter experiences of my life. Despite being a U.S. citizen, despite the fact that my taxes paying for these same government officials to be in their jobs in the first place, I had to fight for my my wife to even have the most basic rights to join her husband in the United States.
By a miracle I managed to beat the U.S. government and get to keep my wife in the United States and help her gain legal permanent status. However, I foresaw a real possibility in the future of a more hostile U.S. administration trying to deport even legal permanent residents, so I did everything I could to help my wife gain U.S. citizenship. I had a big fight with the U.S. government under Bush even then for this, but in the end I managed to get her U.S. citizenship. Yes, I used the same lawyer for this because I no longer trusted the U.S. government with anything. Despite how much my wife and I were kicked around by the U.S. government for the whole immigration process, we have had a beautiful life together here in Illinois. Over the years, my wife and I have come to more than ever to appreciate the state of Illinois for all the wonderful people we have met, and the cultural, racial, ethnic and religious diversity of this state that has helped us both realize that we are far from being alone.
My wife applied for her sister and niece to be able to come and live in the United States back in 2013. Well, to this day we have heard nothing from U.S. immigration. That says it all. At a time when Afghan refugees (especially those who helped the U.S. military during the Afghanistan War) are being denied to live in the United States, or South Sudanese being denied refugee status by the U.S. government even though many are facing real persecution amidst a civil war, the U.S. government has just let in Afrikaners whom in my view do not deserve to be in the United States in the first place. They have been welcomed into this country with open arms because they are white. The only one consolation I have is that none of these Afrikaners will be settled in Illinois.