what do you say to someone who you know will be dead soon?
We had a visitor last night. 57 year old man, engineer by training, accountant by profession. He arrived to the States on an H-1 visa (employer sponsoring a skilled worker) several years ago, got it renewed once. Said employer declared bankrupcy a little over a year ago and he has been unable to find another sponsor for his H-1 since. With INS registrations, he will be forced to leave unless he can convince the judge to be allowed to stay.
If he returns to Bangladesh, he will be dead within months, by his estimate. Why? Because one of the reasons he went through the trouble of getting an H-1 visa and relocating to the States is because he needs kidney dialysis treatments. In Bangladesh, there are options for dialysis, except it is very very expensive and accessible to a very elite few. And even for those people with access to it, they do not get dialysis on the regular basis they should be getting. So this man, this man who has been working hard for the last few years to pay for his medical treatments, came yesterday to say goodbye to my parents last night, knowing that he will soon be dead.
So dear Tom Ridge, I hope you and your boss are sleeping comfortably at nights with the blood of one more innocent civilian on your hands.
If he returns to Bangladesh, he will be dead within months, by his estimate. Why? Because one of the reasons he went through the trouble of getting an H-1 visa and relocating to the States is because he needs kidney dialysis treatments. In Bangladesh, there are options for dialysis, except it is very very expensive and accessible to a very elite few. And even for those people with access to it, they do not get dialysis on the regular basis they should be getting. So this man, this man who has been working hard for the last few years to pay for his medical treatments, came yesterday to say goodbye to my parents last night, knowing that he will soon be dead.
So dear Tom Ridge, I hope you and your boss are sleeping comfortably at nights with the blood of one more innocent civilian on your hands.