Fourth Blog

I'm responding to an article titled "U.S. Relents in 11-year-old girl's Deportation Case" by Jim Kavanagh. It's about an 11-year-old girl named Ewelina who is spending every second of her last days in America--until July 20th at least--before she is forced to go back to her homeland, Warsaw, Poland. Her parents, Hubert and Agnes, are legal residents of America, but because the family missed a deadline to file a petition in 2001, their daughter Ewelina is being ordered to leave the country by the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Since the case has been released to the public, the attention it has received has put pressure on the federal government to dismiss the deportation. The author uses an appeal to pathos to evoke the sympathy of readers. He argues that family shouldn't be separated and he uses quotes of the family's attorney, Maria Odom, to support his position and to establish social significance as well. She states, "I am an immigration attorney, and I see families being separated every single day because of our law". After discussing the family's despair, another quote from Odom is added to remind readers that keeping families together isn't exactly the law's number one item on a to-do list. "Our law is designed for enforcement primarily, and it really does not have family unity as a priority. And that is part of the reason why this system is so broken: because our government is not taking into consideration the human aspect of the effect of that law." It may not seem important to people who believe illegals should be deported right away, but most Americans, legal or not, would find this article heartbreaking. Ewelina's father Hubert mentions that "it doesn't make sense to separate families like that, especially when she is only 11 years old and it's going to be hard for her." Her father also compares the tragic split to a divorce -- "I think she's going through something like, you get family separation because of divorces and stuff like that, and that's how children react," he continued. This article not only affects those who are going through the same situation, which is "very typical of a lot of family immigration cases", according to Odom -- but it also affects children going through family separations, divorce, and being torn away from parents. Because most married couples are getting divorced nowadays, this article is somewhat related to the effect separation has on families. Why does it matter? This family is being torn apart because of the law, not by choice... it's a reason for America to take into consideration the value of being supported by loved ones.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/06/26/georgia.girl.deportation/index.html