A Call to Reunite a Mother With Her Family

We, the undersigned, urge you to exercise your legislative capacity to reunite the Derani family with their mother, Mrs. Maha Derani, who has been separated from them now for over a year and three months.

In May 2002, Mrs. Maha Derani was deported from the U.S. to her native country, Syria, due to her inability to renew her visa in 1983. Since her deportation, she has been living in solitude thousands of miles away from her husband and five children, the youngest being a twelve year old American-born daughter, who is growing without the guidance and presence of her mother at such an impressionable age. During this time Mrs. Maha Deranis physical condition (including diabetes, chronic migraines, and thyroid disease) has deteriorated, mainly due to the immense emotional stress associated with forcibly being separated from her family.

Upon being deported, she left with the hopes that after serving the two-year waiver period mandated by her initial visa she could return to her family in the U.S. However, on July 22nd, 2003 she was denied a visa by the U.S. Embassy in Syria, despite the approval of her American-born sons visa petition by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Mrs. Maha Derani was told that she cannot return to the U.S. for AT LEAST TEN YEARS. The officer at the embassy cited a law that penalized those who overstayed their visa by 365 days with a ten-year punishment period in which they could not be granted entrance to the United States. This law was implemented in 1997, twenty-one years after she entered the U.S., yet it was still used to validate her sentence.

This law, and the subsequent denial for Mrs. Maha Derani to be granted permission to be with her family in the United States, the country in which she was a productive member of society for over 27 years, has caused a tremendous amount of hardship for her and her family. We urge you to help reunite Mrs. Maha Derani with her husband and five children and to pursue any and all avenues of relief under the law.