N&O article on deportation could use a follow up

I’m sure the article in this morning’s News & Observer about an young man in Durham facing deportation charges was suppose to elicit sympathy for his plight. For me, it raised a whole lot of questions.

First, the article says the young man featured in the story, Fausto Palma-Gauifarro came to Durham in 2005. The article also says that Palma-Gauifarro’s mother, Veronica “initially had temporary permission to live in the United States.”  If he came to the US in 2005, does that mean by implication that he chose not to live here until then?

Second, doesn’t it seem in the least bit odd that the mother of the young man featured in the story Veronica Guifarro is still on a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) visa, twelve years later?   Is that possible?  Or, could it be she never re-applied?  You have to register each period to maintain TPS benefits. I wonder if she registered, the article doesn’t mention that or why her older son, Angel, was sent back to Honduras. Nor does the article mention anything about the other child — a name or his status. 

Third, if the mother is here legally under TPF for twelve years, why not just apply for residency status? It seems a logical thing to do. 

Fourth, again if we assume the mother is here legally, wouldn’t she have included him again on her TPS application? If she did, do we know if it was rejected? If so, why?  This is all information that is conveniently left out of the article. Instead, we’re told that  Fausto’s friends say  “Fausto is a human being, he deserves to be here” and “ He’s an awesome kid”… We’re told this is the very reason why we need to pass the DREAM Act. 

They may be nice things for friends to say, but not things you build a policy on — especially when it seems your missing pertinent information to important questions.