I was thinking about this old thread today and decided to see if there was an update.
Oh boy. Where to start? Let's start with the basics.
And then she thought this was apparently just going to be a fun vacation to Mexico and it would all blow over soon.
How dumb can you be?
Oh wait but there's more. Just wait for it.
How deep does this rabbit hole go?!?!
#StayWoke
Oh boy. Where to start? Let's start with the basics.
Helen Beristain told local media she voted for President Trump and supported his immigration policy directing federal law enforcement to step up deportation of undocumented immigrants. The order, signed days after Mr. Trump took office, has led to immigration raids across the country that have spread fear throughout immigrant communities.
However, Helen Beristain didn't believe that policy should apply to someone like her husband, who owns a business, pays taxes and stays out of trouble with the law.
”We were for Mr. Trump," she told the station. ”We were very happy he became the president. Whatever he says, he is right. But, like he said, the good people have a chance to become citizens of the United States."
And then she thought this was apparently just going to be a fun vacation to Mexico and it would all blow over soon.
"You've just got to look at the bright side of the things," Helen said. "Sometimes, things don't go your way. Sometimes people make you feel like you're a criminal, you're doing bad things. But you've always got to look at the bright side."
Even if he ends up leaving for the 9 months until his green card comes through.
"Yeah, it's going to be a long vacation in Riviera Maya," Helen said. "Never been there! I've never been to Mexico! Maybe I get to be! To get to beautiful places like go to Cancun or do fun things, right?"
How dumb can you be?
It was only once President Trump expanded the criteria for people being deported that he was dinged for a deportation violation back in 2000 when he crossed into Canada by accident.
"That's when everything went down," Helen said. "They said 'Well, you don't have a social security, you don't have no paper work, you don't have nothing. You're illegal, my friend, you're going to go in jail."
Helen was looking at the bright side at the time, thinking it would only be months until he could come back to the U.S.
"Yeah, it's going to be a long vacation in Riviera Maya," she said.
At this point, their attorney says it's unlikely that will be the case unless the administration changes.
Oh wait but there's more. Just wait for it.
The owner of a popular Granger restaurant, Roberto Beristain, has signed papers agreeing to be deported, possibly any day now.
His wife, Helen Beristain, said that Roberto told her in a brief call Thursday from an Illinois detention facility that he figures: ”I'm going to do this the right way."
Their story has drawn national attention — and threats and calls to Eddie's Steak Shed — particularly since Helen has said she voted for President Donald Trump. Now, she says she regrets that vote.
”I wish I didn't vote at all," Helen Berestain said Friday. ”I did it for the economy. We needed a change."
She recalls that Roberto had complained, ”He's going to get rid of the Mexicans."
But she countered with Trump's words, that he would deport only the ”bad hombres."
How deep does this rabbit hole go?!?!
She also revealed that she, like her husband, had once been an illegal immigrant, though now she is a U.S. citizen. She is originally from Greece.
She said she flew from her home in Greece to Chicago legally when she was 10, coming with an aunt to visit Helen's sister. She decided to stay after her visa expired, not fully understanding immigration laws, and went to school in Chicago.
Twelve years later, she flew back to Greece because her dad was fighting cancer. And four months after that, she realized that she couldn't return to the U.S. because she'd become an illegal immigrant.
So, she said, she flew to Canada and crossed the U.S. border with the driver's license that she'd obtained when she was 16. She said she also had a Social Security card that was marked ”not valid for employment." It was 1991.
Then in 1993, she made an appointment with the U.S. Embassy in Greece, where she came back to Athens, went through some paperwork and gained a legal visa to enter the U.S. In 2002, she said, she gained citizenship.
That was more than 15 years ago. She acknowledged that laws could have changed since then and that the process may not be so easy anymore.
#StayWoke
Now she is dealing with calls from around the country, apparently from both Trump supporters and opponents, who say things like, ”Well, that's what you get for voting for Trump."
She wants all the people who are quick to respond hatefully to consider all of the details.
”There's a lot of racism out there, and it needs to stop," she said, adding that skin color ”doesn't make you a killer or a bad person."