Support Benjamin Ricardo's Request for Deferred Action/Stay of Removal

Daniel and Katie Ricardo are two United States citizen children growing up in Morgantown, West Virginia. Both children are severely hearing-impaired and must wear customized digital hearing aids that allow them to communicate with their friends and family. Daniel, four-years-old, and Katie, seven-years-old, outgrow their hearing aid molds every six months and must have an audiologist re-shape the molds to ensure that they fit well and work properly. In addition to these regular visits to their audiologist, Daniel and Katie both work with the speech pathologist and educational audiologist at their school to improve their communication skills.

The early years of a childs life are crucial to his growth, especially in the areas of speech/language and cognitive development. Without the medical care and specialized educational services they are currently receiving, Daniel and Katie would not be able to successfully mitigate the difficulties they will face later in life due to their hearing disabilities. Receiving proper treatment in their early years could ensure that the Ricardo children learn how to properly adapt to their hearing impairments so that they can use these lessons in the future to live a healthy, normal life.

However, Daniel and Katie, both intelligent and active kids, are at risk of losing access to the services they so desperately need. Their father, Benjamin, is a citizen of Mexico who currently faces deportation in May 2010. Last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) granted Mr. Ricardo a Stay of Removal, which allowed him to legally live and work in the United States for a year while Daniel continued to receive treatment for his hearing disability. Mr. Ricardo has been living in the United States for 16 years, staying out trouble and working hard to raise his small family. A dedicated father, Mr. Ricardo is active in his church and in Morgantowns hearing-impaired community. His Stay of Removal, however, is only valid for one year, which means that Mr. Ricardo must return to his rural village in Mexicoand take Daniel and Katie with himunless ICE extends his Stay of Removal based on the hardship his U.S. citizen children will surely face.

Both children have made great progress in the last year, but that progress would almost certainly be lost if their father is removed to Mexico because they will have to go with him. In Mr. Ricardos village, located several hours outside of Mexico City, Daniel and Katie would not have access to the same or even similar treatment and services that they receive in Morgantown. Once they outgrew their hearing aid molds, Daniel and Katie would live in a world of deafness and become isolated from the hearing-abled community. Moving to Mexico with their father, the familys sole financial supporter would be incredibly detrimental to Daniel and Katie and would hinder future development.

In light of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Ricardo's case and the extreme hardship on his two U.S. citizen children that would surely result if he were removed to Mexico, the signers of this petition respectfully request that ICE grant Mr. Ricardo's application for Deferred Action or a Stay of Removal and allow him to continue living and working in the United States so that Daniel and Katie have access to the audiological services they desperately need.