Immigration battle hits home for Lynn family

LYNN – In the movies when an immigrant marries an American citizen they win a green card with their marriage certificate but the reality, for the Laub family, has only been heartache.Three years ago the Laubs’ son-in-law, Pedro Paulo Custodio, was deported after he admitted to being an undocumented immigrant and tried to legally remedy the situation. Rachel Custodio, the Laubs’ only child, followed her husband to South America and the family has been fighting to gain him legal status on both sides of the world.Milton Laub said it is difficult to digest the fact that President Barack Obama wants to legalize 11 million undocumented immigrants, meanwhile his son-in-law is being penalized for trying to do what’s right.It was about eight years ago that Rachel Laub met Paulo, as he is called by friends and family, through friends. They married five years ago.”This wasn’t some rush job for a green card,” Milton Laub said.The family knew Paulo was undocumented when Rachel married him, and there was a chance something could happen, but they never suspected it would include a three-year battle for citizenship, Milton Laub said.Once he admitted to immigration officials that he was in the country illegally Paulo worked with a lawyer and was cleared for legal status, Debra Laub said. A technical error that no one addressed, however, caused a snafu that resulted in Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE arresting Paulo the very same day, as he exited the JFK Federal building in Boston.”To this day I don’t quite understand how they took him into custody and the day my daughter called, I’ll never forget the fear in her voice,” Debra Laub said.Debra Laub said her son-in-law spent four months in Suffolk County jail until he was given the option to return to his homeland, Brazil. The plan was he would go home, with what Debra Laub called a hardship file, prepared by a U.S. attorney, that should have paved the way with the American Consulate for Paulo to come back to the U.S.Instead, when the Custodios went for the re-entry interview in 2011 their councilor never once looked at the hardship file.”With no explanation he said come back in four years,” Debra Laub said. “They spent thousands of dollars going to Rio and for lawyers and fees, and the sad part is when they re-apply next year, they will have to pay it all over again ? I just can’t process it. It’s so awful. He was going to do the right thing.”Over the last three years Debra and Milton Laub have reached out to the offices of former Sen. John Kerry, who offered no help, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Congressman John Tierney, who weren’t much better, Milton said.”We even wrote a letter to the president and we got a form letter back,” he said. “It said ?thank you for your story,’ that’s it.”Rachel Laub was home recently for a visit. Ironically it was relatively easy for her to obtain dual citizenship which allows her to come and go, but it’s not cheap, her mother said.”Rachel used to come home twice a year to visit, but it’s gotten too expensive,” she said.Wednesday Debra and Milton Laub sat on the loveseat in their Sylvia Street home. Behind them hung two collages of their trips to Brazil. Other pictures dot the walls and wedding pictures take up much of the mantel space. Debra Laub calls them their lifeline.”We went to Brazil two years in a row but my health is not so good,” she said. “We can’t make the trip again.”So they wait. Debra Laub said they will be able to re-interview next year but there are no guarantees anything will change.”Visibly we don’t see anything in the way of their return but then we didn’t see anything in the way four years ago either,” she said.The Laubs are both careful to not to disparage the journey of any undocumented immigrants in the city but they are clearly frustrated. Debra Laub said she went to the rally held on City Hall steps earlier this summer but she had to leave. She said she couldn’t listen to them chanting for legalization when they are already