12/22/2023
To Whom It May Concern: 12/21/23
I don’t know how to ask for this kind of help, so I’ll just get to the point. My beloved wife of over ten years is at risk of being deported; and as this happens to many every day, my wife deserves to stay. Let me try to explain more clearly.
In March of 2003, at 33 years of age, Maria del Rosario Lopez Yanez crossed the southern border illegally to enter the United States, to join her siblings who were struggling to make it in San Diego. She was the only one of 8 children to go to college in Mexico City, but she cut that engineering dream short to help her family. While here, she helped her siblings raise their kids, build their small businesses, and keep the family together while never having children of her own. Crossing that line was the only thing she has ever done wrong in her entire, empathetic life.
In March of 2003, I was trying to climb out of the hole that I had dug for myself in the first half of my frivolous 20’s. I was getting clean off of hard drugs, using ma*****na as a crutch; going back to school to try and refresh any brain cells that remained; and treating women like trash – how I saw myself. I barely managed to eke out a Biology degree from San Diego State University (while being homeless twice and working 60-hour-weeks at Taco Bell) and start my own small business – Ziggy’s Tutoring – in 2009. Starting as a way to pay my tent-space fee at Lake Jennings, I took to tutoring as a way to teach others the only thing I was good at: the basics of education and recognizing the bad path to stay away from. The Lopez family were some of my first clients. This is where I met Chayo.
Our courtship didn’t last long, as we were adults (not 16 anymore, and knew what we wanted) and wanting to get going with the whole “family” thing. Unfortunately, after I’m sure was more than 5 miscarriages, we decided that adoption would be the only way we could have a family, but our living situation did not cater to this dream. So we decided to grow our business, save our money, buy a house, and then call the foster and adoption agencies to see where the chips may land. We are paying back my student loans, building my credit back up, saving what little we can for a tiny home, and doing everything we can, for over 10 years, to prove we are (and can be) good citizens of this country that we love. We have paid taxes, worked with an immigration lawyer to do the right things in the right ways, and have even given back to the community through volunteering and our NPO Ziggy’s House, that gives free homework help and tutoring to anyone in San Diego and National City.
After 9 years of documentation of our lives and relationship, taxes, residences, family, friends, and mental states, we were looking forward to finally getting a federal waiver for this Class B misdemeanor and going on with our lives. We were notified by our lawyer that we were denied on the 17th of December 2023. They are giving us 30 days to respond with more evidence of our hardships and reasons for her to stay in this country as a legal resident, as what we have already given is not enough for their reasoning. We are giving them more, including the fact that my mother has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, but I fear this may not be enough. This is where you come in.
Is there any way you can help by spreading my story? The immigration system of this country needs attention. Many are getting through the cracks while many of those that are trying to do things the right way are getting thrown out. Do you know any immigration lawyers that may know of a better way for us to go forward? Do you know of any politicians or people who work in immigration that know how to grease to right wheels? Again, I don’t how to do this, but this woman deserves the best I can give her, and since I love her more than myself, that’s what I aim to do.
A Proud, yet Desperate American, James G. Zieglerkelly
Please share, someone you know might be able to help.
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