Zoila Meyer is in a tough position because she (apparently) didn't know she wasn't an American citizen. It is important to remember, though, that she is a legal resident of the United States. Her family came to America as refugees from Cuba when she was one year old, so it's easy enough to see why she might have been confused as to her status. (Or willfully ignorant, perhaps.)
After Meyer was elected to the council in Adelanto in 2004, someone told officials that she was born in Cuba, prompting an investigation.Eventually, "the police came to me and said, 'Zoila, you're not a citizen. You're a legal resident but you're not a citizen,'" said Meyer, who now lives in the San Bernardino County desert town of Apple Valley, near Adelanto. ...
Meyer, whose story was first reported in the Victorville Daily Press, applied to become a naturalized citizen and continued with her life: raising her children and attending two local colleges to earn degrees toward her goal of working in the justice system as a forensic nurse.
However, because she was not a citizen, Meyer faced a felony charge of illegally voting in the 2004 election.
In April 2006, she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent voting and was placed on probation, fined and ordered to pay restitution.
What Meyer didn't realize is that fraudulently voting is a deportable offense.
Meyer is facing deportation, but in this case I think extenuating circumstances should mitigate her crime of voting illegally. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for illegal behavior, but Meyer wasn't ignorant of the law, only of her own status. If the immigration judge is satisfied that she really wasn't aware of her lack of citizenship, then I think it would be appropriate for him to allow her to complete the naturalization process.
A different question, perhaps even more thorny, is what to do with illegal immigrants who were brought to America as children. There are hoards of people living in America who were born elsewhere and are here illegally but have grown up here and never known any other home. That's a tough situation, and the parents who brought those people here as children bear the responsibility for the difficulty now. I see a couple of scenarios:
1. Anyone who came here as an adult should be denied permanent residency and should return to their country of origin. They should be required to take any minor children home with them.
2. Anyone who was brought here by their parents as a young child (pick some age) and has subsequently grown up in America should be allowed to stay and gain citizenship. It would be cruel to expel a man to a foreign land he has never known because of the crimes of his parents. This solution isn't fair to American citizens and is especially unfair to the millions of people who came here and played by the rules, but I just don't see any other humane possibility.
"...in this case I think extenuating circumstances should mitigate her crime of voting illegally. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse for illegal behavior, but Meyer wasn't ignorant of the law, only of her own status."
How can she be ignorant of the fact she did not become a naturalized citizen? She thought she just had to mail in the paperwork and that's it? She didn't know she had to interview with an immigration official, pass civics and language tests, and then finally take an oath administered by a judge? All those things are pretty clearly laid out in the forms you fill out and send in as your initial application package.
"Meyer... continued with her life... attending two local colleges..."
So did she apply to those colleges and then just start going to classes in the fall even though they never got back to her? ;) What I mean is, can I attend a college just because I sent in an application and was (or claim to be) somehow ignorant of the fact it was rejected? (Oh, wait, maybe I can...)
I'm not saying she should be deported, by the way. I just find it hard to believe that she thought she could vote just because she had sent some paperwork in. An application to anything is always followed by a response about whether your application was successful or not, or about further steps to take. So I'm having trouble with the idea that her voting was an innocent, honest mistake. I guess it's possible, and I don't know the details. Besides, who wants to vote so badly, they knowingly commit a federal crime in the process? Hmmm. It's a weird situation.
Bernardo:
She moved into the United States at the age of one. Her parents submitted the appropriate paperwork for all of her siblings, but neglected to submit paperwork for her (seemingly by mistake). Because both her parents and all of her siblings became U.S. citizens, it was natural for her to assume that she was a citizen also.