A potential model citizen

A potential model citizen

Other nations send students to the United States for an eduction hoping that they’ll come home after they get their degrees. Young, educated people are the lifeblood of any nation.

This concept is apparently lost on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is prepared to send Virgil Ciprian “Chip” Gilea back to Romania, a country he left 14 years ago to join his mother and father in the United States.

Gilea, it should be noted, did not come to the United States illegally. He joined his parents who had come to the country four years earlier with only a few dollars in their pockets.

They learned English, got jobs, established themselves and sent for their children.

Learning the hard way

Both Chip and his sister, Bianca, learned English while attending school in Boardman. Both graduated from Boardman High School and Youngstown State University.

The big difference between them was age. Because she was younger, Bianca became a citizen based on the citizenship earned by her father. Chip had to pursue permanent residency and citizenship on his own, but his lawyer missed a crucial court deadline.

We are a nation of laws, and those laws must be followed. But at the very least. ICE should give the Gilea family a chance to reargue its case to the Bureau of Immigration Appeals.

Gilea has worked for an education, he owns a home in Austintown, he had the respect of his co-workers and his family is here. He’s the kind of citizen any nation would welcome. The United States should not be so eager to send him away.