July 11, 2005

Don’t Deport the Danaceks

There was an incredibly sad story in the Star Tribune over the weekend, to which I actually have a tangential connection. From the Strib we learn of Andrew and Blanka Danacek, immigrants from the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) who migrated to the United States in 1988 and settled in the Minneapolis area. Mr. Danacek, in fact, demonstrated in 1968 against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and was jailed.

Despite having spent 15 years in this country, owning a home, and both being gainfully employed, the family is due to be deported back to the Czech Republic later this week. Why? Because the original version of their visa was obtain medical treatment for their son, Chris, who at the time was suffering from leukemia (now in remission). Now that Chris, now 26, is healthy, they must return to a homeland they’ve never known- even though they’ve been in America since before the Berlin Wall fell.

The Danaceks are, in many ways, a great American success story. Despite imaginable adversity- including the death of one of their sons in an accident, the suffering due to leukemia of their other son, on top of the unimaginable journey from the Soviet bloc to the United States. I take a personal interest in this story, as a Minnesotan, and as someone who went to high school with two of their sons: Andy, the soccer star who died tragically in 1995 at the age of 16 when he fell off a bridge, was my teammate on St. Louis Park’s cross-country ski team, as was his brother Chris, who survived leukemia and went on to graduate with distinction from Boston University.

Sign this petition to grant the Danaceks citizenship, and help prevent this horrible injustice from taking place.

Posted by Stephen Silver at July 11, 2005 09:25 PM
Comments

Our immigration system has the worst of both worlds, it's easy to get in here illegally and we make it a total pain in the ass for anyone who wants to live here legally.

Posted by: Bill McCabe at July 12, 2005 07:11 AM
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