A widowed Mexican immigrant has been banned from entering the US to attend her late husband’s funeral after he died in a boating accident.
Adriana Gonzalez, the wife of Vincent Frank Short, has asked state officials for help to be reunited with her husband. She was denied entry into the US twice when she requested an emergency visa, The Seattle Times reported.
Short, 36, died after falling from the mast of a commercial fishing boat in Akutan, Alaska, this past July.
‘I just want to say goodbye in person. To see his face, to take his hand and tell him everything is okay,’ Gonzalez told The Seattle Times.
She received the news of her husband’s passing through a phone call from his stepmother, Vanessa Brower. With his funeral planned for Saturday at Poulsbo chapel in Washington, Gonzalez and Brower immediately set up a visit to the US Consulate General’s office in Tijuana, Mexico.
The husband and wife already had a tourist visa interview scheduled for September since Short wanted to visit his family in Washington for Christmas. Gonzalez requested for her original appointment to be converted into an emergency visa application interview.
After her evaluation, Gonzalez was presented with a list of reasons why she was denied, but only one could possibly apply to her, she said. The code was 214(b), which indicated the interviewer did not think there was enough evidence to prove her return to Mexico following her visit to the US.
Adriana Gonzalez, the wife of Vincent Frank Short, has asked state officials for help to be reunited with her husband after being denied entry into the US twice
Vincent Frank Short died after falling from the mast of a commercial fishing boat in Akutan, Alaska, this past July
She received the news of her husband’s passing through a phone call from his stepmother, Vanessa Brower
The Daily Mail has reached out to the US Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection for more details on the reasoning for her denial.
The following week, she attempted an interview at San Ysidro crossing in Tijuana. In that interview, Gonzalez requested humanitarian parole, which grants a foreign national temporary entrance into the US for an emergency.
After waiting for hours, her request was denied a final time and she was given a warning not to try again at another location.
Since then, Gonzalez has contacted US Senator Patty Murray’s and Congressman Michael Baumgartner’s offices for help in hopes to see her husband one last time. She asked for them to start a petition to waive the denial of her visa application.
She wants to tell her husband: ‘I’ll be with him forever, that I’ll take care of the kids and be brave like he always told me.’
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives of Murray and Baumgartner’s offices for more details on the petition.
Short’s family has started a GoFundMe in his name to support Gonzalez and their three children.
The family described him as a ‘devoted father, a loving husband and a hardworking provider who always puts his family first.’
At this time, they have raised over $47,000 of their $100,000 goal.
Short’s family has started a GoFundMe in his name to support Gonzalez and their three children
Short was described as ‘devoted father, a loving husband and a hardworking provider who always puts his family first’
His family has raised over $47,000 of their $100,000 goal in support for his memorial services
Gonzalez wanted to tell her husband that ‘I’ll be with him forever, that I’ll take care of the kids and be brave like he always told me’
‘I want him to know I did not leave him alone,’ Gonzalez said.
‘That I did everything possible to be with him, because the distance never separated us, or the border. I just want to say goodbye.’
