Anyway, here we have a guy who is trying to do the right thing to be legal and gets screwed. Tattoos may represent gang relationship, or not. When all is said and done, this guy seems to be on the up and up. When the State Department messes around with this guy, that is not a good message to others who may want to do the right thing.
Tattoo Checks Trip Up Visas
Body Art Associated With Gang Symbols Derails Some Immigrants' Green Cards.
In December, Hector Villalobos traveled from Colorado to his native Mexico for an interview, part of his application for U.S. permanent residency. Mr. Villalobos expected to be gone a couple of months to complete the process.
Seven months later, U.S. consular officers haven't allowed the 37-year-old handyman to return home to his wife and three children. The problem: tattoos—some associated with violent Mexican gangs—on Mr. Villalobos's body. "He likes tattoos, just like many Americans like tattoos" said Veronica, his American wife of six years, who says her husband isn't affiliated with any criminal organization. Mr. Villalobos says he got his tattoos—some in Mexico, some in the U.S.—because he thought they were cool.
n recent years, immigration attorneys say, concern about foreign gangs entering the U.S. has prompted Washington to delay or deny green cards, or legal permanent residency, to some applicants with tattoos.
The tattoo checks have ensnared scores of immigrants—mostly from Latin America—even though they have no criminal conviction. The denials are based on a section of immigration law that justifies "inadmissibility" on national-security grounds, including possible affiliation with criminal organizations.
FULL STORY
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