Visa for Laiza Cimeno looking real

Immigration ordeal appears to be over for Edgartown family.

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James Cimeno, Laiza Cimeno, and Leah Cimeno with Summer Cimeno in a stroller. — Courtesy James Cimeno

Laiza Cimeno, the Islander who feared she was trapped in Brazil over a visa denial, appears to be getting a visa now.

“We got word that Laiza’s visa has been approved, unbelievable!!!!,” her husband James posted on Facebook Friday. “It is in the shipping process. We are beyond excited but will be uneasy until we are back on American soil. We are still traumatized. Feels too good to be true. We should be coming home later [than] our scheduled plans but I’ll happily take the deal. Again, we can’t thank the love and support enough that we have received. We came as a family and we are going home together. No man left behind. God bless.”

“They’re all coming home as a family,” family friend Ashley Waters told The Times. “I’m just so appreciative. We have an amazing community. I can’t wait to tell my daughter her best friend’s mom is coming home.”

Laiza came to the U.S. in 2004 from Brazil. She entered the U.S. without a visa via a Mexican guide. She initially spent time in Braintree before settling on the Island. She and James have two children, 7-year-old Leah, and their 2-year-old, Summer, who are with her in Brazil.

Her visa was initially denied due to erroneous information, according to James. The government believed his wife was arrested at the border in 2004, and a deportation letter was issued for her as a result.

Laiza’s plight had captured the attention of the Island, as well as of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey, and U.S. Rep. William Keating.

Reached on Wednesday, Waters said there’s “no official date yet, but hopefully soon.” Waters described the Cimenos as “very, very happy. They’re so thankful for everybody’s help.”

Also on Wednesday, Maria Acofta, Laiza’s friend and coworker at Bite on the Go in Vineyard Haven, said Laiza messaged that consulate officials told her the visa snafu was a mistake and her passport should be good to go in two weeks. Acofta said she hopes to hold a party for her when she returns.

 

25 COMMENTS

    • not a chance– the trump administration is currently embarked on a policy that deliberately separates families from their children in an attempt to pressure congress to fund that stupid wall that mexico is supposed to pay for. In the last few weeks, apx. 4,000 children have been taken from their parents and put into internment camps with such nicknames as ” the ice box” and “the dog pound” –There is nothing premature about my comments– the facts are clear–
      yes it’s great news that this woman MAY be allowed to return to her home and be with her children– and it’s great news that some people survived the Holocaust–

    • Hard to “take back” any bashing of the gov’t when even they can’t get their story straight.

      From today’s NYTimes: Separating families. The Trump administration has offered three different explanations for the new policy that separates children from their parents at the border. The explanations are contradictory, as Fordham Law School’s Jed Shugerman noted on Twitter. Each one is also deeply problematic on its own.
      Explanation #1: Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, has justified the policy based on the biblical command to “obey the laws of the government.” As Slate’s Ruth Graham notes, the same Bible passage has been used to justify slavery, Nazi appeasement and South African apartheid.
      Explanation #2. According to President Trump, he has no choice but to separate families, based on current law. And the policy is the Democrats’ fault, because they refuse to negotiate with Republicans on immigration policy.
      But his own insistence that Democrats agree to finance a border wall — in exchange for ending family separation — undercuts that position, as The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin points out. “Claiming Democrats are responsible for child separation obviously isn’t true if he refuses to change the policy without concessions,” she writes.
      Explanation #3. You can usually rely on Trump to provide the most factually challenging claims among anyone in Washington. Not this time. “We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period,” Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, claimed this weekend.

      Andrew, you probably like the “biblical” excuse spouted by fake-Christians like Sessions. There are a lot of those fakers around these days.

    • Don’t hold your breath, Andrew; the hateful rhetoric from the snowflake left is premeditated, not premature. For them every human circumstance and interaction is fertile ground for Trump/Republican bashing.

      • what a blanket pile of hypocrisy– trump violates human decency , and you accuse me of hateful rhetoric ? Excuse me for interjecting facts into an article about immigration . No hateful rhetoric in my comment — if I happen to mention something that trump said that was a lie, that is not” hateful rhetoric” that is calling a lie a lie.
        Calling people seeking asylum or refugee status in accordance with established immigration laws and U.S. values “criminals” because they happen to speak a different language than you, or are perhaps a different color that you IS hateful rhetoric.

      • Our government is rounding non-white people up in camps and lying to them to steal their children. Half of the electorate approves of this. How _should_ we respond?

  1. I was dismayed by the vitriol in the comments section of the previous article about this case. I hope now we can all give well wishes to a Vineyard family who is able to stay united. This is great news!

  2. Good news James. Relief and happiness to you and your lovely family. That is all that really matters. John and I are most relieved at the news.

  3. If a US citizen commits a crime that is punishable by imprisonment, he or she goes to jail and does not take their children with them. For you liberals that is immoral and Jesus wouldn’t do it. They spout “” fake Christians” but themselves can’t articulate the definition of a Christian.

    • Here’s how it works, Andrew. Decent, moral human beings, of any religion and any political affiliation, feel compassion for children ripped away from their parents and want it to stop NOW. Talking about rule of law or arguing/bragging about who can articulate a definition of what it means to be Christian is meaningless to traumatized children who need their parents, not Jesus, NOW. I just thought you should know that decent people of all religions- and no religions- are horrified by the cruelty and immorality of the current POTUS and his administration, a POTUS who is indeed the most hateful person to ever head our country. He honors murderous despots but denigrates our closest friends and allies, (and gold star parents, veterans, POW’s, physically challenged, women, etc, etc) and allows children, some of them babies or disabled, to be separated from their parents. I know plenty of people, from both sides of the political aisle, and there isn’t a single one who is not horrified by what this adminstration is doing to these children. Decent people want it to stop immediately, which Trump can constitutionally do, but fails to. Your adherence to any religion is not believable and your hypocrisy is astounding. I have zero respect for your mouthed words of religiosity because is it fake. Religious leaders, including the Pope, have spoken out against this inhumane practice that you exuse because of a perceived crime by the parents. It’s pretty clear who the fake Christians are.

      • Tell me what you really think Aisra. I put up with Barack Hussein for 8 years. You are going to have to do the same with Trump. Since when have you cared about babies.? I do not adhere to any religion just one. They can’t all be correct. Oh I forgot—- tolerance means we follow the law of non contradiction. Perceived crime you say?

        • Migrants and asylum seekers are deported under civil law, not criminal. Technically, deportees aren’t criminals.

    • See what you’ve done, Andrew? The snowflakes had just about settled down and you had to go and drive thru and stir ’em up again.

  4. Crossing the border illegally is a misdemeanor crime not punishable by imprisonment. A compassionate person wouldn’t separate families for this, Christian or otherwise. The first statement is a fact, the second my opinion. I am happy for the Cimenos and repulsed by so many of these comments against them and immigrants in general. Unless your family was brought here in chains in the hold of a slave ship, there’s a good chance they were running from religious persecution, war, violence or poverty to get here.

  5. Ascot wearer informs us that people died fighting for this country – now I’m curious about his/her military experience.

  6. Why do the liberals want children to go to jail with the parents for a crime the parents commit…?

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