Mixed-Status Families and U.S. Immigration Law

Mixed-Status Families and U.S. Immigration Law
By Tiffany Butler

   Bethlehem – the City of David, the birthplace of Jesus. Generations before Jesus or David were born in this town, famine came to Bethlehem. Due to the famine, a man named Elimelech emigrated with his wife, Naomi, and their two sons to Moab in search of food and opportunity. Instead of a land of prosperity, the land of Moab for them is a land of bitterness and loss. While Naomi gains two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, she suffers the death of her husband and eventually her two sons. When she hears that abundance has returned to Bethlehem, she sets her face to return to the eventual City of David. Orpah returns to Moab, but Naomi’s other immigrant daughter-in-law, Ruth, accompanies her to Bethlehem. What results from this story is what we refer to today as a “mixed-status family.” Mixed-status families often consist of family members who are legal citizens, immigrants, naturalized citizens, and/or illegal immigrants.www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/hope-is-waiting-for-the-us_b_9810252.html and www.ugm.org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs_legal

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