A BELFAST man who has been living in the U.S. for 25 years is facing deportation on September 12.
Chris Burke, 44, entered and left the U.S. many times throughout his life. He never had a work visa.
It was in 1997, when he was coming back from a vacation in Canada that he allegedly lied to an immigration officer and said he was a U.S. citizen. Ten years later the conversation has come back to haunt him.
When Burke applied for his green card last year for the second time (the first time was with his first wife but he missed his two interviews) he was informed by the Department of Homeland Security that he has to attend a deportation hearing on September 12.
Burke left Ireland in 1982. He married his first wife in 1990, applied for his green card but missed his interviews.
“Because I missed the two interviews they cancelled my application,” said Burke in an interview with the Irish Voice from his home in Florida last week.
He remarried in 2002 and now has two daughters and two stepchildren. He is the owner of an organic farm in Florida, dabbles in the real estate business and sells Irish art for a living.
“I went to Canada with some friends and my wife. When we were coming back over the border they (immigration officers) pulled us aside and it wasn’t long before I was sent back to Canada,” he recalls.
“You know I don’t even remember saying I was a U.S. citizen or not, it was so long ago. I think I might have said my wife was a citizen.”
Burke returned to Ireland from Canada and subsequently separated from his first wife. “We were having trouble anyway,” he shared.
In 1999 Burke decided to return to the U.S. After clearing immigration at Washington Dulles Airport, Burke thought he was home free.
“Just as I walked out into the airport a notice came through the intercom for me to return to immigration,” he recalls, and he promptly did.
Burke was escorted into an office. “They asked me had I ever falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen. I said no. Then the door opened and another officer entered the room. He asked me where I was from. I said Ireland. He smiled at me and said he was the head of immigration in Shannon for years and said he loved the Irish,” explained Burke.
After explaining to the officer that he had been married to an American citizen and was the owner of some property, Burke was given a parole visa and told to reapply for adjustment of status.
Over the years Burke met with his current wife, had two children and reapplied for his green card.
“I filled out the necessary paper work again and was fingerprinted. Everything was going great until my lawyer asked me to write a check out to Homeland Security instead of a money order.”
When Burke finally got the money to Homeland Security it was too late. He had missed the deadline and had to file an appeal.
Last month Burke received a letter denying him his green card. The letter stated he had fraudulently claimed to be a U.S. citizen back at the Canadian border on August 3, 1997 and as a result he had to attend a deportation hearing in September.
“My whole life is here. I don’t have anywhere to go in Ireland if I’m deported. I have no home there but I have two homes here, one in Florida and one in Washington. How could I possibly pay two mortgages from Ireland?” he said.
Burke has two girls age two and three. “I couldn’t possibly uproot them, and I would certainly not take my stepchildren away from their father or their mother.”
Apart from being very worried and anxious, Burke is also confused.
“I don’t quite understand. They left me into the country initially and they even gave me an employment authorization number so I could work,” he says.
Burke, who describes the situation as “unfair,” is currently trying to lobby his local senators and representatives in an effort to stay in the U.S.
“I live for my children. I can’t be apart from them for a day never mind years. I might have made the mistake of saying something stupid back then but it was just a human error. We all make mistakes,” he said.