Army Wife in Legal Limbo, Stranded in Germany
Monday August 25, 2008
Read this Stars & Stripes article and see if it makes you as angry at our State Department, as it does me. U.S. Army Sgt. Bryan McNeely was in Iraq last year when he found out that his wife, Eva, was stranded in Germany. She still is, caught in a legal bind.
Although Eva McNeely has lived in the United States (legally) for 17 years, and is married to a U.S. Soldier, she is being denied re-entry by the Department of State. The reason? A 1999 marijuana possession conviction, for which she received a pardon from the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles in 2005.
Comments
This is insane.
I read your “Wife in Limbo” post and I’d like to give you an even more rediculous story:
My son is a Major (Foriegn Area Officer) who has served with distinction for over ten years. He was in Rabat, Morocco for the past year with his wife and son. They adoped (quite legally and above-board and by the numbers) twins girls while in Morocco. They were scheduled to leave for the states on 27July08, but some bureaucrat has held them up all this time. My son had to leave to attend a school in Virginia starting today. He dropped his son off with his sister-in-law in Hattiesburg, Ms last weekend and proceeded to Virginia as ordered. Now his wife and twin girls are stuck in Morocco, living with friends, until the bureaucrats get their head out of their nether regions long enough to let them come home. Neither my son nor my daughter-in-law have any type of legal trouble. They have led an exemplary life both in and out of the service. Their 6 year old son also has a clean record and I believe that their 1 year twin girls are also no threat to our way of life. We, their families and friends, want to see them home and safe in the bosom of their family. I, and I’m sure all the others, pray daily and more for their safe passage.
Thanks for allowing me to vent.
Paul
Damn politicians and governments are FULL of the WORST kind of people. WHERE is the UNITED STATES government when you need them???
I hope this works out positively for everyone… I’m happy to protest if need be… Keep it in the media…Pass these stories all over the internet… They can’t brush off mass crowds as easily as they can a few families…
Doing drugs and alcohol will come back to haunt you in one way or another….
I may be in a minority opinion here, but the Gov’t isn’t to blme - the pothead is, maybe is she thought more and smoked dope less, she wouldn’t have a problem. What her husband does and where he is is of no consequence - just like that illegal alien married to a GI in Mass - does knocking boots with someone in the military give you the right to be in the country when the INS says no? The fact that either of them are married to a military person is moot - one has nothing whatsover to do with the other. I’m retired from the Army, but I don’t except my kin to get special treatment because of that!
Oh come on… a women getting busted for pot, who is a military spouce, who is the mother of an American child, can’t come to the states?
Gimme a break.
When I look at our elected officials and they talk openly about their POT use and nothing is said or done about.
But some troops wife? Come on. That is so stupid.
Besides, how many troops in the military have had a drug charge against them? And how many have been let in the service in the last few years due to a shortage of people?
Come on….
I live in Texas. I live near HWY 59. It is a major drug route into the US. They pop people all the time.
Have they secured the border? No. And NAFTA let’s it come in all the time.
So one Joe’s wife got a pot charge and they won’t let her in? Some government yahoo is just justifying thier budget and screwing a military wife.
Oh, and by the way, just why aren’t we burning those Poppy Fields in the Afgan?
Ask our elected officials…..
Me thinks, perhaps, Mr Sweeney might be somewhat off course in his analysis. To be sure, those who partake of illegal substances, and consequently find themselves caught in the web of justice have no one to blame but themselves. HOWEVER, let’s look at this from the perspective of case study, (a good-sounding legal term I seem to have observed in cases which fit the prosecution’s arguement). How many people…shall we count them?…in high Government stature, have committed offenses, bordering on (and in a few cases, exceeded) the heinous (Research “Chappaquiddick”)? More recent history will unveil similar events of well-placed individuals commiting boneheads of various degrees, and, somehow, being allowed to continue “serving” the very people described.
If one were to ask one’s self what the #1 job of a Government bueracrat was, one would, after much deliberation, come to realize the answer: JOB PRESERVATION! In denying this woman entry, some bueracrat’s job has been enhanced…(”See what I just did; I protected the Country from another undesirable”).
(…Government of the people, by the people, and for the people…) INDEED!
Sarge
I say stay in Germany! (not in a mean and nasty way)Let the Army pay for her to stay and enjoy the wonderful lifestyle on the Europeans can offer. I was stationed there myself and Ihope to make it back there. In the mean time, I am finishing up my BSN in hopes to apply for an international work visa. Eventually I will relinquish my US citizenship and apply for on else where.
As far as the “pot” goes, Amsterdamn solved that problem YEARS ago…. catch up America!!!!
Was she in the US legally for 17 years? The article only says that she was sent there to live with relatives. One can obtain a visa to study at a US high school, provided one pays what it costs because US taxpayers don’t pay to send foreign students to our public schools. So did she pay? And after that one year visa would have expired, she certainly could have obtained a visa to study at community college - but did she? Again, the article does not say. It is not possible to obtain a student visa for the length of time she was in the US - even if she had one to begin with. After a course of study the foreign national is required to return to their country of residence. Did she? It appears that she was out of status the whole time she was in the US. Why is it, that when a Mexican comes across the border and goes to a US school, and decides to just ignore that whole pesky immigration process, it is the end of the world, but not in this case? Is it because she married an American? Maybe she married him so she could stay in the US. Hmmmm … didn’t think of that, did you? Again, the article doesn’t say how long they dated before they got married. And then there is the absolutely secondary issue of her having a POUND of pot and getting busted for it. That was in 1999 … did she know her husband at that time? I wonder. You see how many questions are raised by this article, and none of them answered?
If she went to the US to live with family, without a visa, then she is no different from the thousands of illegal immigrants who stream across our border every year. She should not be treated any differently simply because she is married to a service member.
Respectfully submitted.
Bill Clinton smoked pot (but did not inhale!) and served two terms as US President. This woman was PARDONED for her offense. Can these boneheads in Washington find a dictionary and look up the word “Pardoned”? In my book possession of pot is really nothing compared to the people coming into the country every day with far worse agendas. Plus, this is the same country that sends our GI’s (and I am one - KS Air National Guard and 8 years’ prior service Army) overseas on what’s basically a wild goose chase and then destroys troops’ morale with crap like this. I, for one, will be glad when January 2009 comes around. Maybe then we’ll FINALLY get some leadership instead of what we’ve had. Bush may not be to blame for everything, but, he’s a symptom of how situations like these are allowed to happen in the first place. Harry Truman would’ve fired this idiot bureaucrat, no questions asked and tenure be hanged. Bush hasn’t even got the gonads to find Osama let alone go to bat for the troops he comitted to a nothing war - then figuratively screws their spouses. Whatever this woman did in the past is in the PAST and was officially forgiven for it. Frankly, though, I tend to agree with a previous poster. You’re probably better off in Europe than here anyhow. If I had the money and the job skills, I wouldn’t be here now myself. I don’t care who wins in November, I just wish we had some RESPONSIBLE government - unlike the last eight years and it’s screwed up ideas of “national security”. Yeah, and look at the Mexican border and how many criminals come through there every day. I hope God gives me a luxury box on Judgement Day when all of this government filth finally gets what’s coming to them.
If anyone can here me, no evil deed goes unpunished but, punishment should have degrees. This is a little bit too much.
I just wanted to thank the people supporting my case. For those of you against me I can understand where you are coming from because you do not know me and therefore it is easy to pass judgement. Perhaps you have never made a mistake in your entire life? I have not seen my husband since February 22nd 2007 when he deployed to Iraq for his 2nd tour. I have not seen our daughter since Oct. 1st 2007. I moved to the States when I was 15 years old. I went to school there, graduated from High School there and also attended College there aswell. I grew up in Alabama and to me that is home! All my relatives and friends live there and in the surrounding States. I have always been in International schools my whole life and am having a very difficult time trying to adjust to life here in Germany on my own. I receive no military benefits. My husband sends me $500 a month and that doesn’t pay for much here in Nürnberg. The newspaper article was very good but the reporter didn’t have time to write everything. It was not mentioned that the arrest took place as I was a young and very dumb teenager. It occured in 1996 but I wasn’t convicted until 99. I was granted a full pardon after nearly 10 years of good behavior and restored my rights to vote. I have since received a degree as a medical assistant I have worked for a Urologist and for an Oncologist, am the President of Phi Theta Kappa(International Honor Society) at my campus and am or I should say was about to enter medical school to continue my education. My goal was to become an Oncologist because more than 6 people in my family have this cursed disease. But now I am stuck in this legal battle with people who don’t care about a family being torn apart. It took me over a year and thousands of dollars to finally get an appointment with an official who still sat behind a thick glass wall just to tell me sorry you can never go home. Have a good life and if your husband loves you he will move to Germany. Anyhow, I haven’t given up hope yet. There is so much more to tell but I don’t want to go on endlessly talking about my situation. I know that I am not the only one with such a problem. So I made a mistake as a young kid. Please forgive me! Am I the only one in the world who has done something that she regrests? I miss my family beyond words and when I see families walking down the street together I get all choked up inside. I pray that oneday we will be reunited. Please pray for us and God Bless all of you and your families !!!