Green card holders, beware! 9-28-2006

28, September 2006  Green card holders, beware!

Readers should be aware of a new law which may adversely impact green card holders Consider the case of Gurdev Singh Gill. Gill arrived in California from India in 1986. He began his American experience purchasing a gas station but soon acquired enough capital to purchase farm land. Like so many other Sikhs who had hailed from Punjab, Gill’s hard work and love of the land resulted in fulfilling the ‘American dream.’  Within a few years Gill had expanded a small ranch into a thriving 300-acre grape farm.  He gained local celebrity status last June appearing on the front cover of the American Vineyard magazine being nominated ‘Farmer of the Year’ for his contributions to the local community. He applied for US citizenship to culminate a successful career as an agro-farmer. 

The proverbial ‘shoe dropped’ when his application for citizenship was denied. Gill had fallen victim of to the draconian new law, One Strike, You’re Out. 15 years earlier the Gill family owned a gas station which became the target of drug dealers who would often vandalize his store. One day, Gill became incensed and feeling threatened took out his gun from his pick up and fired in the air. Gill was fined and given probation for possessing a firearm. Nothing more happened until Gill applied for US citizenship. His citizenship was denied and the court ordered Gill be deported because his earlier infraction made this frail 82 year ‘model citizen’ a ‘dangerous criminal’.  Bob Jobe, Gill’s attorney, has experienced the same selective use of the one strike rule in many parts of the country. This may well be a new tool to ethnically cleanse non-whites.  Other green card holders are also falling victim to the perverse interpretation of the one strike rule. Lucas Guttentag, who teaches immigrants' rights at UC Berkeley and Stanford law school, believes, “This is the most punitive immigration laws we've seen, I think, for a hundred years.” I would urge readers to contact their local representatives in Washington and demand that Gill’s deportation order be revoked and revocation of the One Strike Law. In the meantime all green card holders who are eligible for citizenship should not delay their application lest they become victims of the ‘One Strike Law.’