Addressing An Injustice

Today I depart from my posts regarding Africa to talk about something that just happened to my parents and my sister in Brazil. Instead of telling you the whole story, I will post here a letter I just composed to be sent to the American Ambassador in Brazil. I post it here to ask you to pray for my family in Brazil as they are very saddened by this. I also ask you to pray for me and my sister who lives here as we are so far from my folks and very much wish we could simply give them a big hug today.

I apologize if you don't feel this is appropriate for me to post here, but will return to the Africa reporting tomorrow, Lord willing. Here we go:
Ambassador Clifford M. Sobel
U.S. Embassy
SES - Av. das Nações, Quadra 801, Lote 0370403-900
Brasilia, DF Brasil

April 30, 2008

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

Today an injustice was committed at your Embassy. My sister and her three children, (Loide Cristina, Patricia, and Daniel Trindade) together with my parents (Eulalio & Jacira Trindade) were denied entry visas to the United States, after they traveled from Northern Brazil (Macapa) to do an interview with one of your consular officials in Brasilia. Their interview was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. and they were seen by a female employee whose name they didn’t get.

The injustice was not so much the fact that they were denied entry visas. It has to do more with the fact that your employee didn’t even bother to open the envelope with the documentation proving that my sister and my dad both have stable jobs which pay them very well and that they were simply trying to pay me and my sister a visit.

Your employee set her eyes on members of my family and declared: “You intend to stay in the United States; therefore, I am denying you visas.” My sister tried to insist that they only wanted to visit me and my sister, but the lady replied: “Your brother and your sister stayed there and you want to do the same.” She tried to show her the letter I had written, explaining that I am a pastor here, and she encouraged her to look at supporting documents containing bank statements, pay stubs, etc. but all she got was: “I don’t need to hear any more and I don’t need to give you any explanation. As you can see, I am busy here and I have other people to see.” My sister, then, politely, said: “Thank you very much,” and left.

I would like to say: “shame on you and on your selection process.” What your employee did is outrageous and I would like to protest it. I know it is not going to change the outcome of the decision, but I must communicate this to you because it is simply not right.

Now, I know you don’t deal with the day-to-day operations of your Embassy, but just so you know, members of my family, including my elderly parents and my seven month old nephew, (who didn't need to go but went because my sister is still breast feeding him), traveled all the way from Macapa to Brasilia, at great expense to them, and paid all the expensive fees you require, because they had been promised an interview. But in fact they didn’t get an interview. They had a lady who had formed an opinion about them before she even saw their documents tell them “you don’t have a chance” and that was the end of the story. That is so wrong and so messed up. I don’t even have words to describe it. It is, fundamentally, a type of malpractice that should not to be tolerated in any place of business, let alone am Embassy of the most powerful nation in the world.

For the record, my sister married a missionary kid she knew from her childhood and she came to the United States legally when he decided to take a job here. I was hired by the Wooster Grace Brethren Church, where I still work, while I still lived in Brazil, and came to the U.S. as a legal immigrant in 1993. We both came to this country legally and because of our firm convictions as followers of Jesus Christ we would never break the laws of this or any other country, nor would we ever encourage anyone else to do so.

My sister has no intention of living in the U.S. (had your employee checked, she would see that her husband was staying back in Brazil), and my mom and my dad are too old to have any plans to move anywhere, including within Brazil. My dad will be 81 this year and he is still the senior pastor of a church in Macapa, where he has been a pastor for 42 years.

I know it might be hard for you to believe it but let me assure you: there are still people in this world who have no desire to live in the United States. Your employee couldn’t have been more wrong about my sister and my parents, and I am outraged that an employee of this country which I have grown to love so much in my 15+ years as an immigrant here, could have been so arrogant, so pathetically groundless in her denial of visas to my family.

I wish you could see the wrong that was done and use your influence to correct it, but am afraid that my letter may only fall on deaf ears. I hope you understand the hurt that this kind of arbitrary decision causes on people. I have two daughters who are graduating in June and my mom and my dad were very much looking forward to being here for their graduation. But such is life for those whose only 'sin' is to raise suspicions in the mind of someone who obviously is too misinformed or clueless. You ought to check the training you provide your employees, because you certainly couldn’t get it more wrong in this case. Or maybe you just don’t care. In either case, it makes this country look really bad.

I don't expect you will, but if you wish to contact me, you may do so at the address on the bottom of this page and my sister may be reached at 291 South Milton Street. Smithville, OH 44677. Phone: 330-669-9106.

Sincerely Yours,


Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
Associate Pastor of Outreach
The Wooster Grace Brethren Church
Cc.: Representative Ralph Regula, Representative Deborah Pryce, Senator George Voinovich, Senator Sherrod Brown.