REACTIVEradio

Being from Canada (born and raised), I have the pleasure of having to hear about ongoing issues in the United States with the added benefit of not being a resident and therefore not having any say in the matter. If there was something going on in Canada that I could do something about, you could be sure my voice would be heard. Sure it might only be heard in the kitchen while I’m reading the newspaper, but who knows, maybe the conspiracy theorists are right and the government satellites orbiting the Earth can hear me just the same.

Today’s topic revolves around a woman in California by the name of Zoila Meyer who decided to make a difference – and was (or should I say: is in the process of being) punished for it. Leaving her home of Cuba at the tender age of 1, her family decided to make a better life for themselves and move to the land of the brave, the land of opportunity. Setting up shop in the Golden State, her parents raised her as a bright young lady, and grew up to be an upstanding member of society. So upstanding, in fact, that she was recently elected to City Council of her town Adelanto. She has 4 kids, all of which are enrolled in school, and doing quite well. She herself even attended two local colleges in the hopes of becoming a forensic nurse.

It’s at this point that I shatter any preconceived notion of what you may think of this woman and tell you she was arrested. Not only was she arrested, she faces deportation.

I can hear the collective gasp of my 3 readers. You are asking yourselves (and probably me too) ‘what did she do? Did she murder someone? Did she murder a lot of someones?’ Unfortunately, in the current world of stupid laws and stupid people being told by their stupid bosses to follow said stupid rules, this case is less shocking, and more depressing than anything.

When Mrs. Meyer’s family emigrated to California, they came across completely legally and even obtained legal resident status. They didn’t, however, foresee their daughter becoming a politician (nor, I’m sure, did they ever even consider the possibility, and rightfully so) so they didn’t apply for citizenship. Being a woman in her late 30′s, running for office in arguably the worst country for immigration in North America, Zoira realized that this might pose a problem and started the process of applying for naturalized citizenship.

Everything was going swimmingly at this point. She was becoming a fully legal member of the society she had spent her entire life growing up in, and wanted to give back to that community by helping shape it. She registered as a candidate, running for Councilor, and ended up winning the election.

She was Councilor for 10 weeks.

Why only 10 weeks? Well, she was “forced to resign.” Why did she step down? Because she was arrested. Not only arrested, but facing deportation. You see, because she was not a naturalized citizen and only a legal resident, she did not have the right to vote. That’s right, the fact that she voted for herself in the election is the reason she was placed in handcuffs. The “icing on the cake” is that fraudulent voting is a deportable offense.

Now there is something of a silver lining, in that for some even stranger reason than fraudulent voting, since her family’s last vacation was in Canada, she will be deported to Canada rather than Cuba. I’d like to think that Canada is at least marginally better, as I’m sure the chances of her safety would be somewhat diminished if they were to ship her back to her true home. The fact remains that she is being considered more dangerous than many violent offenders, which itself would be downright hilarious if it wasn’t so scary.

I cannot imagine what this woman must be going through right now. Literally having your whole life around you being ripped apart, and the government of the country that you (well your parents, but you get the idea) made the conscious decision to escape to is now turning their back on you, and to make matters worse, they’re giving you a choice between certain death and certain abandonment.

Mrs. Moyer: I know the chances of you reading this article are slim to none, but on the off chance your attorney happens to Google your name and he follows the link here, I hope he passes on the message that Canada is a much more forgiving country and that we would be lucky to have someone such as yourself within our borders should your appeal for deportation be denied.  I wish you all the best and ask that you reach out to the internet if there’s anything any of us can do for you.  God knows we can be quite persuasive.

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