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Vet Checks Wrong Box, Faces Charges

American

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POSTED: Monday, June 27, 2011
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Elisha Dawkins graduated in August from nursing school in Jacksonville.
He put on hold his plans for taking the board exams because the Navy called him into action as a photographer.
Dawkins photographed happenings at Guantanamo Bay, an act that's evidence he's a trusted member of the military with top secret clearance.
Now, Dawkins, a Navy reservist and decorated Army combat photographer who served in Iraq, is in jail, charged with passport fraud. He's facing 10 years in prison for what could be a simple misunderstanding.
"Suddenly, he's picked up and thrown in jail? Then it's time for this senator to start asking questions," U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson., D-Fla., said.
Nelson has questions echoed by Dawkins' friends, including Dianne Rinehardt.Elisha Dawkins served with the Army in Iraq.

"It's a travesty, and we're trying to stop it," Rinehardt said.
Rinehardt went through nursing school with Dawkins and is a veteran herself. She's upset about the trouble her friend is in. In sharing his story with other vets, Rinehardt said that lots of people who don't know Dawkins can't believe it.
"We're all appalled that, how can you serve this country and be more dedicated to the ideals of this country, and serve this country and then be told, 'Guess what, you made a little clerical error. You're out of here.' And that's a travesty," Rinehardt said.
A federal indictment states that Dawkins started to fill out a passport application in 2004, didn't complete it, then filled out a new application two years later.
On that new application, he checked a box "no" for the question, "Have you ever applied before?" according to the indictment.
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So who's going to defend the Obama administration on this? If Obama doesn't fix this today, he isn't worth a ****.

Decorated Iraq War Veteran Elisha Dawkins Sits in Miami Jail for Lying on Passport Application - Miami News - Riptide 2.0

Immigration officials incarcerate Iraq War vet over a passport | Homeland Security News Wire

Congress.org - Letter to Rep. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts): ELISHA L. DAWKINS
 
It's bureaucracy. Could have happened under any other President, and just like any President Obama will, any other President would have just fixed it.

Before someone "defends" the administration, someone would actually have to accuse them of something.
 
Whovian said:
for this they jail someone. Enter the country illegally..............
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Jail's expensive. Why do you think illegal immigrants should just be allowed to come into this country and get free jail?
 
American said:
Link


So who's going to defend the Obama administration on this? If Obama doesn't fix this today, he isn't worth a ****.

Decorated Iraq War Veteran Elisha Dawkins Sits in Miami Jail for Lying on Passport Application - Miami News - Riptide 2.0

Immigration officials incarcerate Iraq War vet over a passport | Homeland Security News Wire

Congress.org - Letter to Rep. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts): ELISHA L. DAWKINS
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ok - well, the author proposes that he 'checked the wrong box by mistake' - meaning that he meant to check 'yes' and instead he accidentally checked 'no.

When realy what happened is this:

A question on the form asked if he'd ever applied for a passport before. He checked no. That wasn't entirely true. He had begun an application for a passport before deploying to Iraq but never finished the process. That single check on a box is why he now sits behind bars.
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A thought process occured - not a simple "oops!" - he didn't realize that an incomplete application is still considered *an actual application worthy of a 'yes'*

Regardless - this entire thing is most certainly NOT a deal to be tossed in the clink over.

Surprised it hasn't come up before - I'm sure he's not the only person on earth whose partially completed an application - leaving one in the middle of the fence on 'yes or no' - maybe they need to ammend their application questionare to say "yes, no, partially"

Ok - so that's one part. . .the no bi gdeal part.

This part is something I'm EXTREMELY disturbed by:
Prosecutors aren't sure how Dawkins received a social security number or was able to obtain documents to prove his citizenship in the first place. His lawyer, however, claims he was raised to believe he was a citizen and did not intentionally try to dupe the armed forces.
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So - no one knows just now he received a social security number or obtained documents to prove his citizenship? And why the **** not? If the government can keep track of an imcomplete passport application then can't they keep track of other things - last I looked getting a SSN wasn't quick and simple.

So - he's either a legal citizen victim of an incapable government system.
Or an illegal whose been busted.

Maybe they need ot figure it out, eh?
 
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If he could just claim to be a confused Muslim Obama would have him out in a heart beat.

This is BS in the first degree, besides if he didnt' finish the first one, it makes the last one the first and only one in my book.

Everyone send Obama a copy of the OP news story and your opinion that Obama needs to intervene for this young hero.

Go to this link to E-mail Obama:Email President Barack Obama
 
Whovian said:
for this they jail someone. Enter the country illegally..............

I'm just sayin.
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I'm not sure what you're saying.
 
Dawkins first arrived in the United States with his mother from the Bahamas as an infant. His mother was eventually deported and he was raised by his relatives in Miami told him he was an American citizen.

Contrarily immigration officials do not consider Dawkins an American and in 1992 issued a deportation order for Dawkins when he was eight years old.

The Army and Navy never disputed his immigration status in his seven years of service and even awarded him secret security clearance.

“The military believes he’s an American citizen,” said Clark Mervis, Dawkins’s lawyer.

After high school, Dawkins enlisted in the Army with a birth certificate issued by the State of Florida a few months earlier. The birth certificate was issued after his birth so the state used medical records, school transcripts, and his Social Security number to verify his birth in October 1984. It is unclear where he obtained a Social Security number.
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Maybe if he is pardoned it will show that infiltrating the US armed forced is a clear path to citizenship.

Sends the wrong message IMO.
 
We should definitely assume that President Obama personally ordered that this guy go to prison for the crime of checking the wrong box on a form. That is definitely the reasonable thing to do.
 
I don't have a dog in this fight, but if the man is a legal citizen his Congressman is the person to carry the water and deal with the Federal bureaucracy, not the President. It's called 'Constituency Services', and is a Congressman's primary job, contrary to the beliefs of many of them that their job is to permanently campaign for re-election
 
Either you fear your government or you government fears you. If the government doesn't fear the People it's game, set, match.

Obama didn't put this man in jail, but he might intercede. Perhaps he already has and sanity is soon to prevail. We can only hope.
 
Risky Thicket said:
Either you fear your government or you government fears you. If the government doesn't fear the People it's game, set, match.

Obama didn't put this man in jail, but he might intercede. Perhaps he already has and sanity is soon to prevail. We can only hope.
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Soon prevail what?

There's more to this than his checking of the box - there's a papertrail of citizenship that just begins out of nowhere - leading to the notion that's he's not a legal citizen. . . and has lied about those issues - far worse than a box-error.
 
"Obama didn't put this man in jail, but he might intercede. Perhaps he already has and sanity is soon to prevail. We can only hope."

In a system that was designed to serve some 4 million people, of which only a few could vote anyway, it's more than a just a little simple-minded to think the President should be personally involved in every perceived incident, and this is also true of Congressmen; in order for that to happen, you need vast reforms to reflect modern realities, but of course nobody wants that, so get used to rampant Kafkaesque anecdotes being a part of 'normal' life.
 
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There was a paperwork snafu somewhere in some bureaucracy and it's Obama's fault somehow?

Obama really must have godlike powers to be able to control all that.

Give it a rest. Obama's just this guy, you know.
He really doesn't have as much power and ability to manipulate and control events as some project on to him.
 
Viktyr Korimir said:
Jail's expensive. Why do you think illegal immigrants should just be allowed to come into this country and get free jail?
Click to expand...

In Houston, just recently, a man robbed a bank of one dollar, then waited for the police to arrest him. Why? Because he has severe medical problems, couldn't afford to treat those problems, and didn't have insurance. Figured if he got a few years in prison, he would get a little health care.
 
danarhea said:
In Houston, just recently, a man robbed a bank of one dollar, then waited for the police to arrest him. Why? Because he has severe medical problems, couldn't afford to treat those problems, and didn't have insurance. Figured if he got a few years in prison, he would get a little health care.
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Was it in Houston? Another site had a story exactly like that only it was supposedly in Wisconsin. In any case, it's a sad one indeed, if true, and will probably become more common as the Depression deepens.
 
mattillac said:
Maybe if he is pardoned it will show that infiltrating the US armed forced is a clear path to citizenship.

Sends the wrong message IMO.
Click to expand...

Well damn, he was 8 years old!!! He should have understood. :roll:
 
danarhea said:
In Houston, just recently, a man robbed a bank of one dollar, then waited for the police to arrest him. Why? Because he has severe medical problems, couldn't afford to treat those problems, and didn't have insurance. Figured if he got a few years in prison, he would get a little health care.
Click to expand...

I don't think he stole enough to qualify for health benefits. :mrgreen:
 
If I half fill out a form but don't submit it, I haven't applied for anything. Something is missing here.
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
If I half fill out a form but don't submit it, I haven't applied for anything. Something is missing here.
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I know right? They dug his form out of the trash....bastards.
 
How did this guy get this far if he is an illegal? Someone screwed up big time here along the way. He should have spent his time getting legal BEFORE he went in the service. I browse a message board for illegals, and just leaving things blank is what they do. The law is the law. Come here legally. If you find out you are not legal, get busy working on it. Not like anyone is going to deport you. I don't believe what people say when they say they just figured out they were illegal.. when they get caught. BS. Do the right thing, and avoid things like this. Just like the illegal cop.. HOW does this happen??
 
One good thing I see here is that passports aren't being handed out like candy. So he served in the military and had a SS number etc, they eventually caught up with him for not being a citizen when he checked the(Yes)I am a citizen box on the application.

Maybe we are at the point that so long as you live the lie long enough and have enough forged documents it's considered amnesty, surely there are others out there with similar stories and they would like passports and citizenship too.
 
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