Writing a Wrong

A case of injustice.

I hope my subscribers will post and share this widely. An innocent woman has been deeply wronged.

Until now, the cruelty of President Trump’s immigration policy has not touched me personally. That all changed last week when the wife of a friend I grew up with was abducted — that’s what I would call it — amid the senseless roundup of good people whose legal status is unresolved.

At 10:00 am on Sunday, June 22, Donna Milne was taken from in front of her house by ICE agents while she was gardening. Her family would not have known where she was if neighbors had not witnessed it. She was handcuffed and put in an unmarked pickup truck while doing yard work. She was taken first to the INS office in New Orleans, then transported to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi. From there she was transported to a holding facility in Jena, LA, and then brought to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, LA where she remains.

Donna Milne, formerly Donna Kashanian, came to this country from Iran to study at age 17 in 1978.

In 1979, the Iranian revolution toppled the Shah. Donna’s father had worked for the former regime as an accountant in Iran’s Department of Education. People from the earlier regime were being threatened and killed. Donna was terrified, afraid to return.

Donna married, and her legal status to stay was extended until May 31, 1983, when it expired.

In November of 1984, she had her first immigration hearing and requested asylum for her safety. The judge granted her time to prepare and file the application, which she did.

Donna’s brother had been granted asylum to stay in the United States due to the threats being made against him from Iranians. Yet, in 1987, her asylum request for persecution on cultural and religious grounds was denied, and she was moved to deportation status.

Our government deemed that her brother was worthy of protection, but not Donna. They deemed her hardship wasn’t extreme enough. Why? Why would Iranians threaten one person in her family but not her? What is the reasoning behind that? Is it just more discrimination due to being a woman or something else?

Donna had divorced by this time; the strain of her immigration status did not help the marriage. Then the government declared her marriage fraudulent. She continued with appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals, following all the rules and protocols for legal status.

In 1990 Donna marries Russell Milne, a guy I have known all my life. We all grew up together in New Jersey. Russell and Donna have been happily married for thirty-five years. In 1993 they had a wonderful daughter, Kaitlynn, who was born, raised, and educated here in America.

In the late 1990’s, Donna again filed a motion to reopen her case due to extreme hardship for her child. But in 2001 her case was again denied due to a bureaucratic rule called the Stop-Time Rule. Under the law, she could not count time after deportation began toward the 7-year requirement. Therefore, she was not eligible for the relief she was requesting.

Then Covid happened, and everything came to a halt. Our government ground to a halt, our society ground to a halt, her case ground to a halt, and people died.

On Left: Kaitlynn Milne, her father Russell Milne, and her mother Donna Milne. On Right: Donna Milne a wonderful woman and true American.

Donna Milne has lived in America for fifty years. She has been happily married 35 of those years. She has a daughter, Kaitlynn, born an American citizen. Donna has volunteered in every school Kaitlynn attended from preschool to high school, ranging from painting and facility maintenance to fundraising and event organizing. She continues to volunteer at the school where Kaitlynn currently works as a first-grade teacher. Donna regularly volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, starting in South Carolina right after Katrina, in New Orleans when they were able to move back into their damaged house which she helped rebuild. She also volunteered with the NOLA Tree Project that replenished 100,000 trees lost during Katrina in the New Orleans area. Donna has a cooking channel on YouTube, where she shares recipes as a sort of digital cookbook for friends and family. How American is that?

http://www.youtube.com/@mandonnainthekitchen9266

Her husband Russell, who is now 68, has health problems and depends on Donna to take him to his doctor’s appointments. Donna is a model of support for her husband, her daughter, her extended family, her school, her community. Donna is everything an American should aspire to be.

And now Donna has been arrested without warning or notice, her status unknown. She has no country to return to. If deported to Iran, her life would end, either through violence or because she has no friends, family or community there. She has no home, no bank account, no car, no support in Iran. She would have nothing. If deported to another country, which our Supreme Court has just allowed, she would have less than nothing. As a non-citizen she would have no status or rights whatsoever — cruelly in a permanent No Man’s Land.

Donna is the American Dream turned nightmare. Is this what our country does to a good person?