That was a quick turnaround. From the Knoxville News Sentinel-
MARYVILLE - Hotaru Ferschke, the 24-year-old Japanese widow of a U.S. Marine sergeant killed in Iraq, has been granted a temporary visa to come to America and have her baby.All that remains is for Hotaru's doctor to allow her to make the long flight to Tennessee. Hotaru has an appointment tomorrow.
The granting of the visa was announced today by the Washington office of U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., which had been working closely with the family of Sgt. Michael Ferschke to get permission for Hotaru Ferschke to come back to the U.S. to have her baby, as the sergeant had wished.The Ferschke saga has touched the residents of Blount and surrounding counties deeply ever since it was announced that he had been shot to death while on a door-to-door search in Iraq Aug. 10.
There was an outpouring of sympathy and grief when the death was announced and an avalanche of outrage when Hotaru's plight was revealed in published reports this week.
Robin Ferschke, mother of the dead Marine, says Hotaru is "sweet and shy" and will be treated "just like a daughter" when she comes to Maryville.
The consulate should have never put the mother through what occured last month. Someone was ignorant of the law. How many legal immigrants didn't have the support Mrs. Ferschke had and as a result got screwed? We'll never know, but here are two instances of legal immigrants who ran afoul of the cockamamie US immigration system.
I sincerely hope the visa allows Hotaru to stay in America till her status is adjusted. Cherish those wonderful in-laws you have Hotaru Freschke. Welcome to the USA and may God bless you and little Mikey.
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Immigration, Military
Comments (7)
a little ray of light in a ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by thud | October 1, 2008 7:52 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
a little ray of light in a day of turmoil...thanks for reporting it.
1. Posted by thud | October 1, 2008 7:52 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 1, 2008 19:52
2. Posted by BPG | October 1, 2008 8:25 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
I'm glad that Mr. Alexander was willing to step up. She needn't worry about permission - the State Department has no problem granting B1/B2 visitor visas to women who are 7+ mos pregnant. But they're not coming to have their babies here, no no no, just to visit.
2. Posted by BPG | October 1, 2008 8:25 PM |
Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 1, 2008 20:25
3. Posted by LaMedusa | October 1, 2008 8:47 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Very good news. Here's hoping for a happy and healthy baby.
3. Posted by LaMedusa | October 1, 2008 8:47 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 1, 2008 20:47
4. Posted by Parthenon | October 1, 2008 8:52 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Sometimes the system works. Not often, but once in a while. Good stuff.
4. Posted by Parthenon | October 1, 2008 8:52 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 1, 2008 20:52
5. Posted by HughS | October 1, 2008 9:30 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
That is great news.
5. Posted by HughS | October 1, 2008 9:30 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 1, 2008 21:30
6. Posted by LissaKay
| October 1, 2008 10:20 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Take a look around at the rest of that link ... see what is top news here? Yeah, a 21 year old woman visiting from Alabama, here to help open a new restaurant, staying at a motel on the "nice side" of town (albeit an area of that side that has gotten to be not so nice - truck stop off the interstate). She was missing for a week before her nude body was found floating in the river a few miles away. There is a suspect now, he was a housekeeper at the Days Inn where she was staying, and yeppers ... illegal immigrant.
Scum like that get in here with no problems, yet the widows of our military men are treated like they are asking for the world when all they want is to be in the country of residence that is rightfully theirs. Disgusting.
6. Posted by LissaKay
| October 1, 2008 10:20 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on October 1, 2008 22:20
7. Posted by brainy435 | October 2, 2008 3:30 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Holy crap, did Steven Tyler get a little crazy in Japan 24 yrs ago? Tell me she doen't look like Liv Tyler.
7. Posted by brainy435 | October 2, 2008 3:30 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 2, 2008 15:30