SARASOTA, Fla. — Standing in a mostly empty living room, Yanara Perez-Sanchez fished for her iPad through luggage.
"It's been a decision I've thought and thought about for the last three years," she said.
As money gets tight, she's made the tough decision to move. But finances are just the tip of the iceberg. Her house hasn't felt like home for the last three years.
"My husband, he went to Honduras to get his Visa to come back and get his Green Card. And that was three years, almost three years ago. And at the Embassy, they denied his Visa because he missed an immigration appointment back in 2004 when he came in through the border," she recalled.
She's a Cuban-American who earned her U.S. citizenship in 2016. She met her husband in a night class dedicated to helping immigrants improve their English.
"I say he's more American than I am. He is the person that goes to a store, and they ask for money for a charity, and he'll give them money," she said. "This is his country. This is home for him. Honduras was completely shocking. It was very shocking for him. It was very shocking and not only the financial aspect of it but also the cultural thing. He was not used to that anymore. He was used to the United States. he lived here as an American."
After finishing accounting school, he was unable to find work.
At 22 years old, Felix illegally came to the United States. He was apprehended and placed in a facility in El Paso, Texas. He was fingerprinted, interviewed, and released with a "Notice to Appear."
Felix's brother sent him a bus ticket to Florida, where his brother lived. Felix did not "appear" as was requested.
As time passed, he met his wife, had a daughter, and bought a business.
"He did go, you know, to get to come back legally. Because he values his family. He didn't want to continue being here illegally, and then this happened," his wife said.
Since being ordered to stay in Honduras, the family has spent time going back and forth. They celebrated their daughter's tenth birthday in Honduras. But it's still tough on the family financially and mentally.
"My daughter is very depressed. So we decided that, you know, no more waiting. I was trying. I'm a nurse. So I work three shifts per week. So what I was doing is I will work, for example, the first three shifts a week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then I will work the last three of the following week, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So I had those days between Wednesday and Friday to go and see him," she explained. "I was doing that almost every month. And but at the same time, I can't always take my daughter because she's in school and the tickets are very expensive."
President Joe Biden recently announced plans to change the requirements for the undocumented spouse of a U.S. Citizen seeking citizenship.
In order to be eligible, noncitizens must have resided in the United States for 10 or more years as of June 17, 2024, be legally married to a U.S. citizen, and satisfy all applicable legal requirements. On average, those who are eligible for this process have resided in the U.S. for 23 years.
Those who are approved after DHS’s case-by-case assessment of their application will be afforded a three-year period to apply for permanent residency.
They will be allowed to remain with their families in the United States and be eligible for work authorization for up to three years. This will apply to all married couples who are eligible.
The White House predicts this could protect half a million undocumented spouses and 50,000 noncitizen children under the age of 21 whose parent is married to a U.S. citizen.
"I really hope no one ever has to go through this," she said. "We were just like, a common family. We were not rich. We were not. We were just a common family. But we were very happy. My daughter was a very happy child. And that was taken away from her. I hope nobody else has to go through this. And I really hope that this law or regulation that President Biden wrote helps a lot of families. That's gonna be great. If it does work, because it's gonna help a lot of families. But I would also like for them to take into account the people who are currently going through this. Not only the ones that are here as of June 17, 2024 but the ones that are currently going through this."
They reached out to Senator Rick Scott for help, but he told them that since the case was at the Consulate level, there was nothing the State Department could do.
"It's been a hassle. So, he got denied on October of 2021. Before he left, our attorney had applied for an I-212. And he told us that he was not going to have any problems. He was going to come back safely. And that didn't happen. So we went back to the attorney. And he asked the Embassy to reconsider the decision. And after that, not only the Embassy denied him again. But they told him from the beginning, they told him that he was going to have to remain on Honduras for five years as a punishment for missing an immigration appointment. And then, on top of that, he will have to reapply for his I-212. And he will have to apply for an I-601," she said.
They learned that, as of three months ago, that process was backlogged by about 20 months, meaning that after his five years are up, they'll likely still have to wait nearly two more years. Right now, the case is under review.
Until then, the family will do what they can to see each other as much as possible.
A state report says hundreds of frail elderly nursing home residents were stacked side by side, head to toe in a small church with no working air conditioning or refrigerator during Hurricane Helene.
