A United States Navy veteran is seeking President Joe Biden's intervention after his Kenyan wife was denied a visa to relocate to the US.
Speaking during an interview with Common Dreams, an American publication, the veteran— Mark Stancil — lamented that his family has now been forced to live separately and seized the opportunity to ask the Biden administration to grant his wife the Visa needed to enable the family to reunite.
The couple has four children who have suffered the inconvenience of having both their parents live in separate countries.
"As an American citizen, I never thought I would be forced to choose between love and country," he stated.
"I am an Army and Navy veteran, and it feels like a betrayal of my service that I can’t live with my family in my own country."
While narrating his story, Stancil pointed out how Deborah changed his life following the demise of his first wife.
"When my first wife passed away more than a decade ago, it was one of the hardest times in my life. I became a single father, and while it’s been my life’s joy to raise my kids, it has been lonely. That changed when Deborah came into my life," he remarked.
Stancil, who resides in Missouri met his wife Deborah when he visited Kenya for missionary work when they developed an instant connection.
The duo later got married in Kenya and he adopted Deborah's daughter as his own. Two years later, they sired a baby girl.
Following their marriage, they began plans to relocate to the US. However, this was cut short after an undesirable outcome at the consular office in the US Embassy in Kenya.
Stancil questioned why immigration officials rejected his wife's visa but approved his daughter's.
"She (Deborah's daughter) now lives with me and my eldest daughter outside Kansas City while our toddler lives in Kenya with her mother."
The army veteran called for the US government to intervene for him to live together with his wife and children, pointing out that travelling to Kenya twice a year was not sufficient.
"I have a good union job on a Ford assembly line in a community I love, and if I moved to Kenya I wouldn’t be able to provide for my family the way they deserve."
He noted that his story was enjoined in a Supreme Court case where a Judge is set to rule on whether US citizens have a constitutionally protected right to have their spouses granted a visa.
The verdict will be delivered at the end of April 2024.
