What makes district 4 unique is that we have the highest Hispanic and Asian populations in Huntsville. I understand unlike most others exactly what immigrants in our community go through. ICE terrorizes our communities in district 4, which is why I will not welcome ICE in our city when elected as councilman.

Transcript:

I am Nick Frevold. I live in district 4 of Huntsville.

There is a common misconception that immigrants are either “legal” or “illegal”. As someone who has personally navigated the immigration system, I can promise you, it is not that simple.

Before I married my wife, she was living in Malaysia. We went through the k1 visa process to bring her and her daughter to America. When she arrived, we got married within 90 days, as required by the k1 visa. She came here legally and we followed the rules. But the very moment she signed the marriage document, her k1 visa expired. The k1 visa is only valid until the day we get married. After marriage, we had to immediately apply for permanent residence, also known as a green card.

But green cards are not processed quickly. For us, it took *10 months*. During those 10 months, my wife and step daughter did not have a legal status. They were not here illegally, but they also had no legal protections either. They were under a legal gray area of having “authorized stay” while their green cards processed. What this meant is that they were “allowed” to stay up until the moment they are told to leave.

What this meant was that absolutely ANY interaction with ICE, or police agencies working with ICE, could result in my wife and step daughter being forcibly separated from me. They would be deported and sent to a country where our marriage is *illegal*.

I want to emphasis that we followed every step as designed by the US immigration system, but my family could have still be grabbed off the streets by ICE agents at ANY time for ANY reason, even without committing any crimes. Its not just hardened criminals at risk of being taken by ICE, its every single immigrant family.

Do you know what its like to live every single day in fear that today could be the day that your wife and child are taken from you? We had to live in fear every single day for 10 months straight because of the terror being brought by ICE raiding our cities. Is anyone here willing to stand up against ICE and protect our families? Or are you on the side of ICE, who is terrorizing the people who *YOU* represent?

Thank you.