Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
By Karoun Demirjian (contact) 
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 | 5:25 p.m.
As the country waits for senators drafting immigration legislation to unveil a compromise bill, Las Vegas couple James and Sharon Courtney joined hundreds of immigration activists in the Capitol Wednesday to call for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
“I may be undocumented, but I am an American military wife,” said Sharon, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who has been married to James, a three-time Iraq war veteran, since 2000. “And I have come to realize: I am a warrior just like my husband.”
James Courtney, who joined the Army in 1997, met Sharon, who came to the U.S. at age 15, in a Texas bar. He couldn’t speak Spanish. She couldn’t speak English. But they started a relationship — and a year later they were married.
Thirteen years later, Sharon is fluent in English and she and James are parents to three American boys: Ricardo, 16; James, 11; and Darren, 8. Sharon is also chief caretaker to her husband James, who after a 15-year military career, received a medical discharge last year due to post-traumatic stress disorder, a brain injury that affects his speech, and other injuries.
“The doctor said that his body is now like an 85-year-old man’s,” Sharon said.
Because she is undocumented, she explained, Sharon can’t easily work. She can’t earn more money to put into their home, and worries about taking care of her family. And because she is 35, she is too old to consider going back to school and become eligible for a work permit and a stay of deportation under the deferred action program instituted last year for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as minors.
For the Courtneys to keep their family together, it’s comprehensive immigration reform, or nothing.
“I did what my country asked me to do,” James Courtney said to the room of about 200 immigrants and their supporters gathered in a room of the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Tuesday afternoon. “Now I’m asking my country to keep us together for the sake of humanity and freedom.”
James and Sharon were featured speakers at the invitation of Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford, who said the Courtneys’ story presented a compelling case for immigration reform.
“It’s clear that it is not acceptable to treat families or veterans of our country this way,” Horsford said. “The broken system is tearing our families apart.”
The Courtneys were the only family featured in which one spouse was a veteran.
“This man went over seven IEDs. Seven explosions, and was able to be alive,” Sharon said of her husband. “He feels that he has a purpose, and ever since we started coming out about it, it’s making him feel that he actually has that purpose.”
James, recalling how on Iraq deployments he would worry more about protecting his family from deportation orders than his own fate in a war zone, said that honoring his family was the best way to honor his service.
“We do not have family ties to Mexico, and me and my boys, we don’t speak Spanish,” he said. “They’re not anchor babies: They’re sons of a father who fought and a mother who sacrificed during that time … Please do not crush their dreams.”
Yes, I know, Rush Limbaugh, Hannitty, Beck, Coulter have given Republicans permission to move a little bit on immigration, but all they said is that it's now ok to talk about it a little bit! Want to know why we TeaPublicans are really glad that Benedict Rubio immediately declared obama's immigration reform proposal "Dead on Arrival"? Because obama's plan is just like Rubio's plan and we hated that one too! Amnesty and increased immigration are very unpopular among Republicans! Benedict Rubio's "pathway to citizenship" is wrong"! Future GOP presidential candidates can not increase their Hispanic vote without turning off the working class white conservative voters! Benedict Rubio's plan supports amnesty for illegal aliens. Let's talk the truth here! Republicans don't want over ten million new Latinos to vote"because you know darn well the majority of them will vote for Democrats! We will never win another national election again if we let these newly arriving Latino and Asian voters start voting! That's the only reason Democrats are pushing immigration"for their own selfish reasons! The "obama-Rubio amnesty plans" are "dead on arrival"! We were so sick of hearing about the Romney-obama health care plan that we sure don't need a Rubio-obama Immigration plan now! Benedict Rubio will probably get rejected in future primary elections. If that doesn't work TeaPublicans will choose not to vote for him if he runs for president! You know what, I think Rubio needs to take another sip of water! This guy Rubio is not the future or savior of our Republican Party! The only thing "Dead on Arrival" is Benedict Rubio's plan to be President!
"It's clear that it is not acceptable to treat families or veterans of our country this way," Horsford said. "The broken system is tearing our families apart."
------
While immigration reform must be done on some level, statements like this are non serving. The system isn't "tearing" families apart. The fact that people came here illegally, married and had children is problem one. You can't address immigration reform without addressing the fact that breaking the law is breaking the law. You come over the border illegally, then you have put everything in perile from that point forward. For some reason we don't want to address that. Everything is after the fact and how we can right a wrong. The wrong was done when that person stepped onto US soil illegally.
I am in favor of citizenship for those who serve our country, i.e. in the military or peace corps. Anyone else, no.
when you marry an american citizen you can get a green card.is her husband an illegal alien ? something doesn't sound right to me.
Is the lady not only illegal but dumb too?
She can get documents to stay in the country and also get a job.
I guess nobody has told her.
There is a program for illegals who are close realitives to a US citizen to get papers.
The program has been around for decades.
I think even Obama made it easier for her to get her documents.
This is a lame story.
The reporter is clueless about immigration law.
The reporter should have consulted with a lawyer or expert before writing the story and should have challenge her story.
Hey reporter....have you heard of this thing called Google?????
Read this USA Today story.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/natio...
OVER 214,000 PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED IT!
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION AGAINST AN AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS!
WHY SIGNING THIS PETITION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS!
While every petition, fax, email and phone call against the amnesty is important, signing this petition is by far the most important single thing one of your friends or relatives can do.
The reason is that signing this petition puts a person into an email system at NumbersUSA that will alert them every time one of their elected officials needs to hear something specific about immigration. Nobody else but NumbersUSA runs a customized grassroots mobilization system like this that constantly gathers information on Capitol Hill about your Members of Congress and then lets you know what they are doing, saying and thinking about immigration policy.
The New York Times and other mass media have repeatedly stated that NumbersUSA's mobilization network led the efforts that defeated the close-call amnesty efforts of 2007 and 2010. But the forces for open borders are far more powerful today. Please help by passing along this Petition to everybody you know.
https://www.numbersusa.com/petition?uid=...
I just read another story from another paper on this story.
The deal is that she signed in 2003 some document saying that she is illegally in this country.
Because of that, she can't get a green card.
But they have stated that they are not seeking to deport her.
I believe if she went back to Mexico applied for a visa and came back to the USA then apply for a green card and would probably get it.
You can't reward breaking the law. There are hundreds of thousands of individuals walking around with felony convictions who can't get a job, can't get a loan, can't rent the apartment they want and can't get credit, among other things. That's life!! It's called consequences of your actions. I'm sure she didn't think of the potential consequences of her situation. Most people who break the law rarely do. It always haunts them later. She's probably going to have to work a little thru the system, apply for a green card, visa, etc. Thats life!! That's how it works.
You see it more and more. People who break the law or who broke the law many many years ago complaining about being treated unfairly. Life doesn't work that way. You are responsible and your past can come back to haunt you. I applaud her husbands service to his country but I don't want her using that as a crutch for what she feels is an unfair situation. It becomes a never ending cycle.
Step one to immigration reform..people must stop breaking the current laws.
Let's reform immigration: ENFORCE OUR LAWS. Expel and deport the 15-20 million illegals. Let them self deport by ending free food, housing, health care, child care, utilities.
"I did what my country asked me to do," James Courtney said....."Now I'm asking my country to keep us together for the sake of humanity and freedom."
What you DID James, was marry a criminal...knowing at the time that she was a criminal....and now you want her to be exempt from the consequences of her crime because it benefits you directly.
When you married her both of you knew she could be deported at any time. When you decided to have children with her both of you knew she could be deported at any time. You both decided to ignore the risks...and now you don't want to deal with the consequences.
Tell me, how is this any different then if you met a woman who was on the run for bank robbery or murder and then complain how it disrupts your family when she's finally caught and sent to prison?
I broke into a house in Summerlin, I cleaned the toilets, straightened the kitchen cupboards, mowed the lawn and cooked dinner for the people who lived there, and had it ready when they came home. They got mad. Why would people get mad when I did all these good things for them? They must be racists.
I guess I'll break into another house tomorrow, and see what people do. It is OK to break in, as long as you do good things once you are there, right?
Charles Gladu - I know you are a Romney supporter. Your words today couldn't convince me more.