Doctor, wife continue fight to avoid deportation

By Tricia Pursell
The Daily Item

December 01, 2008 12:09 am

— SELINSGROVE -- One day before Thanksgiving, with their Selinsgrove home generously decorated for Christmas, Dr. Pedro Servano, his wife, Salvacion, and their four children, were thankful and excited to celebrate the holidays with a little more peace of mind than they had in 2007.
But they were all aware the peace could be shattered at any moment. The doctor and his wife are living in the U.S. on what the Department of Homeland Security calls a deferred action, basically a stay of deportation for an unspecified period of time.
The Servanos are using the stay to try to find a legal avenue to keep them in this country, while continuing with their everyday routines.
"Everybody has problems; this is just my share," Dr. Servano said. "Others have more serious problems than we do."
No holiday
Last October, the Servanos received a chilling letter from the Department of Homeland Security, ordering them to report to Allenwood Federal Penitentiary -- just one day after Thanksgiving -- to await their deportation to the Philippines.
"We could not even think of having a holiday then," Dr. Servano's niece, Christina DeHaven, of New York, said in a recent phone interview.
The Servanos' mistake? Getting married.
When their mothers, who were living in the United States at the time, filled out visa applications for their children in 1978, they marked them each with a "single" status.
Two years later, Pedro and Salvacion eloped in the Philippines. In 1982, Mrs. Servano's visa was granted, and she traveled to the United States. Dr. Servano joined his wife in 1984.
They spent the next few years in Philadelphia.
But it was in 1990, after a move to San Diego, that their successful and happy lives in America seemed to come to a screeching halt. They went to an immigration office to apply for citizenship and were told they would have to return to the Philippines because their visas listed them as single instead of married.
The Servanos, with two children at the time, were shocked at the news. They hired a lawyer to appeal this decision.
But their request for citizenship was denied by the Board of Immigration Appeals. They lost another appeal in 1993. In 2002, a final appeal was denied by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals -- seemingly their last hope.
Deportation date
Their lawyers continued to search for other ways to fight the deportation decision, but it seemed like that fight had ended on Oct. 25, 2007, when the Servanos received certified letters from Homeland Security that contained a specific date for their deportation.
"We didn't really have a plan, just confusion," Dr. Servano said.
The order to appear at Allenwood was changed, and they were told to travel to Philadelphia, where more paperwork would be completed. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services then gave them 60 days to gain legislative support from Sens. Robert Casey or Arlen Specter, or Rep. Chris Carney, D-10 of Dimock.
"They surrendered their passports and waited for something to happen," said the couple's oldest son, Steven.
But their lawyers continued to fight, enlisting the help of Sen. Specter, and in December, the Servanos were told that the Department of Homeland Security had granted them a deferred action.
"We're so extremely grateful to Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the field agents and everyone in the department to be so understanding of our case," DeHaven said. "We are not self-entitled people. We know there are laws, and to grant those extensions -- that's not something they do for everybody."
And although the timetable was lifted, it was not the end of the story.
The Servanos' team of lawyers has been working on a plan since then, hoping to keep more deportation letters from arriving in the mailbox.
And the Servano family tries not to talk much about the issue.
"We try to forget," Dr. Servano said, though they all admit they feel as though they are living on the edge. "We try to stay strong and healthy during this time. We hope for closure."
DeHaven said: "We'll take little pauses here and there to deal with everyday life, but it will always be on the forefront until everything is over."
DeHaven said her uncle "has been stressed, extremely resilient and very hopeful," and added that she, Steven, and the Servanos' oldest daughter, Shappine, are often the ones dealing directly with the lawyers so Dr. Servano can continue to take care of his patients.
"In the few weeks that we had between getting the letter (for deportation) and the anticipated appointment at the field office, all he could do was go to work every day," DeHaven said.
Government blessing
No matter how much the family encouraged him to take a break, he wouldn't.
"That's how much he cares about his patients. He would never leave a patient waiting for even something like this.
"Of course he took time out to work on this case, but at the same time, he is so dedicated to his patients. He just wanted to be a doctor in America. He wanted to do exactly what he's doing now. But he wants to be able to do it under the blessing of the American government."
DeHaven, an instructor at New York University, feels indebted to her uncle for all that he has done for her, and is glad to offer help in dealing with the lawyers during this time, as well as serving as an unofficial spokeswoman for the family.
"My uncle is the guy who got me to New York University for film school. It was the only school I wanted to go to, and he was willing to shoulder the responsibility. I owe that to him," she said. "We're just that kind of family. He's been like a father to everyone in the family. Very often, he doesn't really talk about it (the case). He's not a complainer, and wants to always focus on good times."
"My problems pale in comparison to his," she added.
Yet, when she goes through tough times, his advice to her often goes something like this: "Tina, be patient with life."
Dr. Servano continues to work as a physician with Geisinger Medical Group in Selinsgrove.
Mrs. Servano works at the family's Asian grocery store, Ser-Mart, on Market Street in Sunbury. Shappine works in Philadelphia.
Steven, a recent graduate of Temple University, is applying to law schools and is planning to enlist in the Marines.
The Servanos' youngest son, Peter, recently obtained his driver's license, and their youngest daughter, Phoebe, has achieved the distinguished honor roll at school.
The legal fight:
In January, the Servanos hired JT Mallonga, a Filipino lawyer in New York.
Mallonga is the regional chairman of a community organization called National Federation of Filipino American Association.
"It's to the Filipino community what the NAACP is to the African-American community," DeHaven said. "It is one, unifying organization of Filipino-Americans, composed of hundreds of smaller community organizations throughout the country."
The organization is allied with NAACP and similar organizations, and has been working to establish its own legal defense fund. The Servanos' case is one that is being used to initiate this fund.
According to Mallonga, the Servanos have exhausted all legal means and are now left with two choices to avoid deportation.
One option is to try to get the U.S. Citizenship and Investigation Service to reopen the case by applying for green cards on the basis of their oldest daughter, Shappine, who was born in the United States.
"Any lawyer will say this is a very difficult case to reopen," Mallonga said, adding that he is also exploring the Servanos' second option: Congress sponsoring them under a private immigration bill. This bill must be voted on by a Senate committee on immigration.
"You have to have sponsorship," Mallonga said of the private immigration bill. "We are approaching the process."
They are looking into gaining support from Sen. Specter.
"If he says no, we will seriously consider filing a motion to reopen (the case)," Mallonga said.
In an e-mail, Sen. Specter's staff said they "continue to monitor the Servanos' situation as they pursue their legal options through the proper federal agencies."
Meanwhile, Mallonga's team of lawyers is looking for ways to proceed with these last two viable choices in the case. "We have to go through all of this to show the Immigration Service that we are trying to do something about their status," Mallonga said. "Deferred action status is not forever."
Community support:
Dr. Servano jokes that the national and international media attention the case has received was harder to handle at times than the case itself. Yet he gives a lot of credit to the media for the fact that his family is still in America.
"Those things really do help," he said.
"Our first priority was dealing with it privately, and with lawyers," DeHaven explained. "We were trying to avoid making it a public issue. But it is now a public issue. We have exhausted any further legal recourse."
Once the Servanos, upon recommendation from legal counsel, began asking for signatures on a petition, they began appearing on radio programs and in newspaper articles, and their story was quickly spread by The Associated Press.
But the pressure of getting used to the limelight, in addition to dealing with the fight before them, was never easy.
"It's emotional," Steven said, "to talk about your future, your children's future ... what are you going to do... ."
"My patients are always asking me what is going on, what's the update," Dr. Servano said.
All he can tell them is, "We're hoping for the best, we hope to end this soon."
"People are still signing the e-petition," DeHaven added. "We're still getting responses to The Daily Item articles. All walks of life seem to agree on one thing: this is about a doctor supporting the community. In the Susquehanna Valley, people came out in droves, saying, We don't care where you come from, you are our doctor.' "
"We are forever grateful to the thousands of people who have supported us," Dr. Servano said: "St. Pius Church, co-workers, Arlen Specter's office, the thousands of patients who say prayers, shed tears."
He said he is also grateful to Department of Homeland Security officials for their cooperation and understanding. He said he holds no negative feelings toward the department, saying only that they have a job to do.
Family members clearly express their love for America, saying that nothing they have been through has changed that.
"How could we be ungrateful to live in this country?" Dr. Servano said. "We love this country -- this is the reason why we are fighting."
He went on to list the family members who have supported the United States in the military over many years: a nephew in the Coast Guard, a brother in the Navy and grandparents in the Philippines who supported the U.S. during wartime.
If they were to return to the Philippines, they would leave behind all of their assets, projects, business and family. Their mothers, ages 96 and 87, are still living in the United States.
"In the Philippines, no one will know me," Dr. Servano said.
He has come to love Selinsgrove, their home since 1995, where he said every two minutes he seems to see someone he knows.
"We don't want to drop the ball on this," DeHaven said about the case. "Everything happens in a matter of weeks. It took four weeks of crazy frustration and stress, and determination to get that extension (for deferred action)."
And even though some stress was lifted, the fear of being forced out of the country is all too real.
"You can't define how long that term (of deferred action) will be -- two years or 20 years," DeHaven said. "It has all been very positive, but it is still not cause to sit around and do nothing."

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