State-Journal.com - Troubles keep father in Mexico from witnessing birth of triplets

Photo By Hilly SchifferJessica Lopez, 23, feeds one of her triplets, Soledad Diana Lopez, while the others sleep in beds in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Saint Joseph Hospital East.

Photo By Hilly SchifferJessica Lopez, 23, sits with her mother, Vicki Cummins, in her room at Saint Joseph Hospital East while talking to her husband Horacio Lopez, who is in Mexico and was not able to attend the birth of his triplets because of immigration issues.

Photo By Hilly SchifferJuan Diego Lopez, one day after his birth, rests in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with his sisters, Esmeralda Maria and Soledad Diana, in beds beside him at Saint Joseph Hospital East Friday.

Photo By submittalHoracio and Jessica Lopez pose for a photo on her 21st birthday in 2007. The couple met at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and married in 2007. Horacio has been in Mexico for a year, waiting for his green card.

Separated from his pregnant wife by thousands of miles - and troubles with the law - Horacio Lopez Rebollar paced back and forth in his mountain village in Mexico.

The father-to-be was waiting to hear about the birth of his triplets.

“He’s getting to be a nervous wreck,” said his wife, Jessica Lopez, 23, of Frankfort.

Nearly 10 hours after their 8 a.m. delivery, Horacio, a Mexican citizen, got the first news about his two daughters, Esmeralda Maria and Soledad Diana, and son, Juan Diego, who arrived Thursday at Saint Joseph East Hospital in Lexington.

“I told him they all have his big nose,” said Jessica of her first conversation with her 28-year-old husband, a Mexican citizen.

Since Thursday, she has called Horacio several times and talked about their healthy children. They were delivered prematurely at 4 pounds each and will remain in the hospital for three weeks as they develop.

“I miss my wife, and now I miss my children,” Horacio said by phone from Mexico. “I was not there when she was about to deliver. I cannot see my babies … that is very hard for me.”

Apologizing for his bad English, although it’s nearly flawless, Horacio explains that he lives in Copandaro, Mexico, with his parents.

He’s waiting to hear from U.S. Immigration about the status of his request for a green card - which immigration officials say should come through because of his marriage to Jessica, a U.S. citizen.

“He needs to be here big time,” Jessica said from her hospital bed. “We’re going back to feed (the triplets), and if he was here, he would be doing that too.”

Their quest for a green card began shortly after their marriage in Frankfort two years ago. But because of past mistakes and little knowledge about citizenship laws, Horacio is stuck across the border, in an area where he says there are no jobs.

“The biggest fear is that he’ll try to come back illegally if they tell him ‘no,’” Jessica said. “And that puts him at greater risk, because these days there’s a greater risk he’ll get shot (as he tries to cross).”

Horacio first crossed the border illegally when he was a teen. He taught himself English by reading first-grade books and started working in the horse industry to make money to send back to his family.

He met Jessica while they were mucking stalls in 2005 at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington. Jessica says she “hated” her fellow employee at first, but his persistence paid off.

“One night, we went on a date. It was the best date I had ever been on. We went to Abuelo’s and a movie.”

They say they married April 24, 2007, because they were in love, but they rushed the wedding, in part, to allow Horacio to get his green card.

His illegal status didn’t make things difficult for Jessica until they moved in together. She had to sign for Horacio’s truck, the apartment and other items. Her husband wasn’t given a key to their apartment, because he didn’t have a valid ID.

“He was sneaking in to live there,” Jessica said.

Then there were little annoyances like being unable to buy beer.

Perhaps the biggest incentive was financial. They say Horacio was overlooked when it came time for across-the-board raises at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital.

After months of paperwork, Horacio was scheduled for an interview with U.S. Immigration officials in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, July 2008.

The couple left Frankfort, expecting to return legally in about a month.

The meeting, however, did not go well. Horacio has several traffic violations, according to Fayette County District Court records, dating back to 2001. Most are related to driving without an operator’s license and driving without insurance. Horacio also says he was found guilty of a 2000 misdemeanor after his cousin borrowed his truck, hit another vehicle and fled the scene - none of which are fatal to a request for a green card.

But when immigration officials asked if he had problems with the police, he said he had not.

His lie - which he says he told because immigration lawyers in Kentucky had advised him to - may be the reason he was not here Thursday to see the birth of his triplets.

After his request was denied, apparently on the basis that he did not tell the truth, officials told him to reapply for the green card - which he did - and expect a 10-month wait. He has now been waiting a full year.

Jessica returned to Frankfort, and Horacio stayed. When she visited him in November, she returned to the states pregnant with triplets.

“When I first found out, I cried,” Jessica said.

But before the morning of her birth, she was excited, and now that they’re here in her arms, she’s thrilled.
The only thing that would make her happier is Horacio, she says.

“I feel for her cause,” said Marilu Cabrera, spokeswoman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service in the Midwest.

Cabrera said she could not speak about Horacio’s case specifically because of privacy laws. But she explained the situation generally.

“If you marry a United States’ citizen, that person can bring you in right away, then file paperwork for a green card right way,” Cabrera explained.

However, “If someone was here unlawfully, entering illegally, and they were here beyond a year or five years, they would be penalized for that unlawful stay,” she said.

But, in cases where it would prove a hardship to the U.S. spouse, an immigrant can fill out a waiver to have the case expedited.
“A lot of times they’re granted,” Cabrera said.

Horacio’s biggest mistake - and a common one - is lying to U.S. officials, she said.

“Rule number one: Always tell an immigration officer everything, because we have it there. Always give the information. That’s something I always tell people, because we know.

“We do a lot of background checks, cross checks. We have the information.”

Horacio should have admitted and explained his misdemeanor, she said.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” she said. “We need to know you can come out and tell us the truth and show how it was rectified.”

Jessica and her babies will move in with her father, Gary Wooldridge of Frankfort, who says he adores Horacio and expects the green card to be granted any day.

“We think in time, he will be able to get back,” Wooldridge said. “He has a family to support here.”

Also helping Jessica is her mother, Vicki Cummins, who was at her side during the delivery and now shows off her three grandchildren to everyone walking the halls of Saint Joseph East.

Cummins, visibly frustrated when she talks about the case, has written letters on her son-in-law’s behalf describing how much he loves her daughter and how good they are together.

“They were trying to do the right thing, and because of that, they got screwed,” Cummins said.

“We just want daddy back.”