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French woman embraced

Facing deportation, Belouniss finds allies
Sonia Belouniss, who overstayed her visa and fears deportation to France, has found a deep well of support for her cause from Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Scott Tipton to friends and co-workers. She keeps her bags packed, because she could be deported at any moment.

When Durango resident and French citizen Sonia Belouniss went to work at Four Corners Health Care on Tuesday, she was terrified of being deported after missing a visa deadline by 22 days in 2014.

When she went to work Wednesday – the day her nightmare immigration story went public – she was terrified about how her colleagues would react to her illegal status.

“I was sweating, nauseous, worried,” she said. “I know in America people are very against illegal immigrants. I expected a lot of negative comments.”

Instead, she was embraced.

“It was very emotional,” she said. “From my co-workers to my supervisors – it was just unbelievable. Some patients were asking me if they could contact Congress.”

In fact, no one had to call: Congress was already on the phone.

Wednesday morning, while Belouniss did her nurse’s rounds, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s office and U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton reached out to David Wyatt, Belouniss’ husband – a U.S. citizen she met 20 years ago while on the U.S. Pro Ski Tour – asking what they could do to help.

David Wyatt, who was so anxious that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials would seize Belouniss he became sick Wednesday, said it was surreal.

“Until Tipton and Bennet called, we were alone. It just means the world to me and Sonia,” he said.

While Democrat Bennet and Republican Tipton have wildly different visions for immigration reform, they quickly united in becoming champions for Belouniss and Wyatt – individuals whose lives are in crisis after Belouniss overstayed the Visa Waiver Program by 22 days in 2014 after marrying Wyatt at the La Plata County Courthouse.

In an email Thursday, Bennet spokeswoman Erin McCann said, “Our office has reached out to Ms. Belouniss to determine if we can provide any assistance.

“The bipartisan immigration bill that the Senate passed may have helped in this situation and underscores our need to fix our broken immigration system, update antiquated policies and keep more families together.”

The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens from 38 countries to spend 90 days in the United States for tourism or business without first obtaining a visa.

Unlike foreigners who travel to America on a visa, Belouniss, who faces deportation and spent almost a month in prison as a Visa Waiver Program violator, has basically no rights to due process, said her lawyer, Jessica Kunevicius.

Bruce Morrison, former chairman of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Immigration and advocate for American Families Unites, said, “In many ways, our immigration system has special favorable rules for people who marry Americans, but it doesn’t apply to everybody. There are circumstances in which you can fall outside those favorable rules and then have really serious problems.”

Josh Green, a Tipton spokesman, said stories like Belouniss’ are too common.

He said even if immigration reformed happened, given the unwieldy nature of the federal bureaucracy, there would likely always be families who get stuck in the legal cross-hairs and need help.

He said Belouniss’ lack of rights as a Visa Waiver Program violator was “a really unfortunate aspect of the situation. We certainly encourage anyone who’s having similar issues with a federal agency to get in touch.”

Support for Belouniss extended beyond powerful politicians.

Belouniss and Wyatt reported being overwhelmed by hundreds of encouraging messages from friends, family and strangers through Facebook.

David Simmons, an immigration lawyer in Denver and former Colorado Chapter chairman of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said in an interview that the public tends to be “schizophrenic” when it comes to illegal immigrants, urging immigration officials to “vigorously go after people who they don’t like and vigorously not apply the law for people who they do like.”

He said Belouniss, as a French citizen, is able to transcend the xenophobia that courses through the national immigration debate – and often finds expression by demonizing Hispanic immigrants as scheming geopolitical opportunists piggybacking on American taxpayers.

“People look at her, and say, ‘Of course we shouldn’t deport this white French pro skier. We like her! But we should go after a Mexican landscaper with the full fury and might of the United States government, even though legally, they’re both immigration violators,” he said.

It’s unlikely that Congress will pass immigration reform, and Belouniss still might be deported at any moment.

Yet, on Facebook, Tiphaine Toullec wrote about Belouniss: “De tout coeur avec toi” – in English, “my whole heart is with you” – a sentiment shared by people in both of her homes.

cmcallister@durangoherald.com

Mar 16, 2015
French resident granted 1-year stay


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