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Happy Ending In Sad Drug War Tale

11-30-2004 | Drug Policy Alliance

Last April, the Drug Policy Alliance brought you the story of Terry and Debbie VanDuzee. The middle-aged newlyweds were barred from living in the same country because of the drug war.

The VanDuzees had met in an online chat room and eventually decided to get married in Canada (Terry's home) and settle in the United States (Debbie's home). But routine immigration paperwork didn't go through because the United States government discovered that Terry had three Canadian convictions for Marijuana possession -- as a teenager. He was pardoned for all three convictions and one was expunged, yet husband and wife lived apart for more than two years.

Months of relentless pressure on government officials on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border have paid off for the VanDuzees, who are finally spending their first holidays together as a married couple. Debbie wrote the following in an email to the Alliance:

"We found out that the I-192 non-immigrant waiver that we applied for back in December of 2003 was approved on October 25, 2004. Terry for the first time in our over two years of marriage was able to come into the U.S. to meet my four children, other family members, and friends. He did not know till the day he got to the border how long they would allow him to come for. They gave him 6 months. A supervisor at the border I think felt sorry for us because of all we had endured and mentioned a status of adjustment, asking my husband was he coming to do that. We did not know it was possible. So, when Terry got here and he told me what the supervisor had said, I checked into it with INS. Sure enough, they told us we could file for a adjustment of status and Terry could stay here until it was decided on, which could take anywhere from 10 months to a year and a half. Also, we could file a form for work for Terry and it would take about 90 days to hear back from it. So we submitted the adjustment of status, the work permit, the Affidavit of Support, the Biographic, which they told us to fill them all out and send them in. It cost us $560.00 to file them. Now, we wait to see what will come of them."

"Terry has now been here for two weeks today. He's met all of my kids but one of them. He's met my two grandchildren and some of my friends. It's great finally having him here with me. For the first time in over 2 yrs of marriage, I'm not torn anymore and I give thanks to God for it because with all the crying out that I did in all that time to those in government, ministries, and everyone in between, I could not get any help to get Terry here. It was our persistence and merely the grace of God that got Terry here. We are hoping and praying now that Terry is here, that he will be able to stay. In a country now where when you do wrong, that you seem to be better off in ways than when you do things the right way, our trying to do it the right way is paying off. I have seen so many in our country who have done things the wrong way of coming in illegally and seems they were being blessed, when we did all we could to do things the right way and it took over 2 yrs to get him here, just for a visit!

"Like anything else though, going through ordeals are not a piece of cake but once your deliverance comes, things are so much better and you feel you are in dream. While I lost a lot of faith in the government and
others too because I feel they did not care about the pain we were going through or the pain of others going through it, some did care and ran our story online and some even ran it in the newspapers. For those, we
will be eternally grateful. : o) Now, we just look to hopefully continue on in our marriage and lives together.

Thank you for putting our story online. I hope and pray that hearing the story and the results will help
someone out there. I just wanted to update you and tell you, my husband FINALLY made it! I pray for us Americans, that we will stand together in times of need and pain because I have seen, we sure cannot count on our government too much to help us. Thanks again for your help and God bless!

"It's funny how we take advantage of things and people till they are not there. Most take for granted when they get married that they can be together, we've had to learn the hard way since we couldn't be together. I pray the story helps others. I pray for the day when things change and our government truly forgives and forgets as they are suppose to."

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Ron Paul for the Long Haul