Common Sense Rules

I am a big proponent of the 'rule of law', but sometimes I think it is abundantly clear that certain situations call for exceptions to be made in the name of common sense and humanity.

Last night I read a story about a couple from Darfur who, after 2 1/2 years were finally allowed to bring their 4-year-old daughter from a refugee camp in that hell hole to the states where they have gained asylum. Here is a case where the laws on the book were painted with too broad of a stroke.

Motasim Adam, a NYC cab driver, was granted asylum in the U.S. in 2002 for both he and his wife. However, his daughter, Wejdan, was not granted asylum because she was conceived shortly after his application was approved. So, rather than anyone examining the situation and recognizing the simple solution (grant the baby asylum), U.S. law makers advised the mother to make a modern day Sophie's Choice (only without the whole Auschwitz thing...or the whole leave on child to die in order to save the other thing...ok...so maybe its not the modern day Sophie's, but you get what I'm saying) -and leave her baby girl in a refugee camp in Sudan, as it would be 'easier' for her to gain asylum if both parents were here appealing.

My gripe with this whole thing is, we have people flooding into the country without any documentation or taxable identification, who start off their life-anew by breaking laws every day and many law-makers bend over backwards to protect their "Constitutional Rights" (of which they earned none). BUT then, here we have whom I see as a stand up man, coming here to work and go through the system in order to improve the lives of himself and his family members, and it takes the geniuses at immigration 2 years to secure a visa for his baby daughter. That my friends is more than a "legal SNAFU", it is more like a legal TARFU with FUBAR sprinkles in a BOHICA bowl. (enough military acronyms for ya?)

The good news is, they are finally reunited after a long legal battle. The bad news is this little girl's first memory is that her parents left her in a refugee camp for two years...she may have some abandonment issues later on in life. Luckily for her the city has a shrink for any occasion.

While it took them way too long, at least they got it right. Congrats to the Adam family.