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April 5, 2007
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Judge’s decision is a ‘miracle’
for Hales Corners couple |
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After long wait, Bakalas are granted asylum |
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| In this file photo, David Bakala and his two children stand with Sr. Joseph Marie Flynn during a press conference at St. Mary Church in Hales Corners in June 2005. David and wife Regina were granted asylum April 2 by a Chicago judge. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero) |
CHICAGO — David and Regina Bakala will always celebrate Monday April 2, 2007 of Holy Week.
On that day Judge John O. Brahos, in a Chicago Immigration courtroom, granted the Milwaukee couple asylum in the United States, saving them from deportation to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“We hope you have long and happy lives in the United States,” he told them.
The couple, with tears streaming down their faces, embraced and Regina said, “Oh, God.”
The decision came nearly two years after Regina (Andes Imwa) had been jailed for nearly two months in Kenosha, after she learned a previous petition she had filed for asylum in North Carolina had been denied. She also learned her grace period to appeal for asylum had expired. The attorney, who had filed the petition, had moved out of that state and apologized for failing to notify Regina.
Brahos said he was “inclined” to grant David asylum and Regina as his wife derivative asylum because “David’s failure to file asylum when he first came to the United States was excused.”
Brahos’ decision was based on a live phone interview with Milwaukee clinical psychologist Rhea Steinpreis, who testified that David suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after having been “severely” tortured in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which prevented him from filing for asylum when he first escaped from that country in 1997.
Later, out of immigration court, David raised his thumb in a victory sign and said, “I feel good. I’m excited.”
Regina added, “I had no idea what the judge’s decision would be, but with my faith, God knew. I’m very, very happy and God’s wonderful. He’s always there when you need him.”
After the hearing, the Bakalas embraced Sr. Josephe Marie Flynn and several other supporters from St. Mary Parish in Hales Corners. It was Sr. Josephe who spearheaded the “Save Regina” movement, seeking to free her and David from deportation.
Until two years ago, the School Sister of Notre Dame was director of adult and family ministry at St. Mary. Now retired and writing a book about Regina’s struggle to bring democracy to the Congo and later to stay in the United States with her family, she said, “I’m so relieved. I expected it, but I’m really overcome. I think attorney Mary Sfasciotti was the 11th lawyer I tried and everybody else said the case was too hard. Even the politicians and the media discouraged us. It really is a miracle. When people read my book, they’ll realize this.”
At a press conference outside the Chicago Immigration Building, Sfasciotti said, “Nobody knows how impossible this was. It would have been like scaling Mount Everest” to get Regina asylum on her own, she said. That was because Regina, who was also suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, was under so much stress she could not answer questions rapidly or coherently for an immigration court judge, who then declared the 1997 case “fraudulent.”
It was Sfasciotti who agreed to take on Regina’s case and persuaded the Atlanta Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen the deportation case against Regina in June 2005 after she was released from prison. Later, the hearing was transferred to the Chicago Board of Immigration.
“Once I filed a motion, St. Mary’s parishioners and the Catholic community gave such incredible help. Maybe I would have done it without that help, but I think that support helped to reopen David’s case,” noted Sfasciotti.
Immigration attorney Harold Block, who worked with Sfasciotti and represented David, said, “If you’re serious about immigration law today, you don’t have time for anything else — you’re dealing with unforgiving laws.”
Initially, Block said, Brahos granted David “withholding status — a personal form of relief, which actually has a higher burden of proof. But the burden ultimately was to overcome the negative difficulty of (David’s) extraordinary experiences and forgive (him) for not applying for asylum within one year.”
According to Block, the board of appeals reopened David’s case on Jan. 30, 2006. The decision was based not only on the fact that he was suffering from PTSD, but also because the “Democratic Republic of the Congo (is) a dangerous place to return to especially people with a democratic conscience.”
According to Sister Josephe, Regina had been a high school principal in the Congo and joined the P.A.L.U. political party named after Patrice Lumumba, the first democratic prime minister elected in the Congo. After his assassination, dictator Sese Seko Mobutu assumed power and things became very difficult for those speaking out for democracy.
It was at the time Regina was involved in this grassroots political movement that she met David, who was an accountant. The two were married in the Congo, but due to her political activity Regina was jailed for seven months, beaten and raped. David was also tortured and escaped execution thanks to leaders of his political party.
After she was released, she was gang-raped when she was on her way to a political rally. At that time she got a fraudulent visa and fled the country, arriving in North Carolina. There she met an attorney, who took all her money, $4,000, and then said he was not qualified to represent her in immigration court. She found two other attorneys and the third took on her case. However, when Regina and David were reunited and moved to Wisconsin, that attorney failed to notify Regina her petition for asylum had been denied and that she would have to appeal it.
After arriving in Wisconsin, the Bakalas joined St. Mary Parish, where pastoral associate Mary Matestic helped David complete the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. Both are active as extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. They have two children at St. Mary School: Lydia Daphene, 7, and Christopher (Coco), 6. The children are United States citizens.
David, 53, and Regina, 43, are employed at the Sacred Heart School of Theology, Hales Corners. He works in maintenance and she in the development office.
They will be able to apply for their green card and permanent residency in one year, and be eligible to become U.S. citizens in five years.
After the hearing the Bakalas headed to St. Mary School for an impromptu rally.
A public celebration of thanksgiving will be held at St. Mary Church on Sunday, April 15 at 3:30 p.m. |
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