getting deported

jessie30 · Post by **jessie30** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:56 pm

I have an unusual question that I hope somebody would be able to answer. I am Finnish who's lived in the U S about 30 years and have a son who's in prison and just found out that he'll be deported to Finland when he gets out. He was about a year old when we moved to the States(he's now 30) and don't speak, write, or read Finnish. Does anybody know what he needs to do or who to contact when he gets there, he is totally teriffied.

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Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 10:12 pm

jessie30 wrote:I have an unusual question that I hope somebody would be able to answer. I am Finnish who's lived in the U S about 30 years and have a son who's in prison and just found out that he'll be deported to Finland when he gets out. He was about a year old when we moved to the States(he's now 30) and don't speak, write, or read Finnish. Does anybody know what he needs to do or who to contact when he gets there, he is totally teriffied.

http://www.finland.org/public/default.a ... ture=en-US
"The Embassy of Finland in Washington and the Finnish Consulate General in New York and Los Angeles provide consular services that include passports for Finnish Citizens, assistance to Finnish citizens in distress, population registration, notary services, and matters relating to military service and Finnish citizenship. Pre-elections are also arranged by the Finnish missions."

...by the way, your son still has the citizenship? http://www.migri.fi/netcomm/content.asp ... ,2553,2752

jessie30 · Post by **jessie30** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 10:46 pm

Thanks for the replies. He does have relatives in Finland, but he does not know them. He did speak Finnish when he was little, so I wonder if it would be easier for him to learn it, perhaps it's in his subconscious.

EP · Post by EP » Fri Dec 04, 2009 11:50 pm

Why will he be deported to Finland? Isn´t he a US citizen after all that time? What the hell did he do to get deported?

And how little was he when he spoke Finnish?

I have a cousin´s son who is Austrian. His mother (stupidly) stopped talking Finnish to him when he was about five. She just took the easy way out and the whole family went to German and German only. When he was a teenager he became furious at his mother and said that she had deprived him of a language he could have easily absorbed as a child. Later he wanted to make an EU career and Finnish would have helped him enormously (he speaks German, English, French and Spanish, but Finnish would have been a fancy addition). My cousin sent him to my other cousin (a farmer, everybody speaks just Finnish) for a summer, and he picked up the elementaries again. A couple of years later he got a work practise placement through his Austrian school, and that was in Finland. My children had just moved out, so we gave him a room for a year, he sort of became our youngest child. During that year we spoke Finnish and Finnish only. He improved very quickly, and in the end he sounded fluent. So what he learned in childhood certainly helped.

Last time I met him a month ago, and he has not forgotten. His Finnish is now even better than it was 8 years ago, even when he has spoken German with his mother, and Finnish only during one week in summer when he makes his yearly Finland trip.

Rob A. · Post by **Rob A.** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 12:30 am

jessie30 · Post by **jessie30** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:03 am

My son has a fellony weapons charge and a drug charge, and is doing three years in prison. He was spoken Finnish only untill he went to a kingergarten. His father and I separated early on, I had an American boyfriend, so Finnish was not spoken much. He's not an American citizen, has a "green card".

jessie30 · Post by **jessie30** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 4:10 am

Unfortunately the prison he's at have no academic education opportuneties, but offer training for welding, masonary, etc.

AldenG · Post by **AldenG** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:20 am

Have you already exhausted all opportunities for legal help to avoid the deportation?

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:54 am

He does have relatives in Finland, but he does not know them.

I don't think these relatives are eager to help their remote "gangster" relative.
Finns are good in ignoring unwanted or embarrassing relations.

Use the official channels (embassy) to arrange as much as possible. Unofficial channels will largely ignore him.

EP · Post by EP » Sat Dec 05, 2009 2:31 pm

Unfortunately the prison he's at have no academic education opportuneties, but offer training for welding, masonary, etc.

That is better than academics, welding and/or maconry skills would give him (at least in theory) a chance to get some kind of job.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:49 pm

Damned big mess...

Peikkonoita wrote:re-acquaint him with his culture (i.e. teach him about Finland)

Of 1980? Yeah, as if we have telephone booths or taxis taking cash...

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:36 pm

Assuming he won't be required to do military service (you say he is 30...) then the best thing for him would be to get on one of the immigrant integration courses. It is not normally possible to get onto one of these if you are Finnish but if you discuss his situation with the embassy they may be able to arrange for him to get on a course. The municipalities give accelerated, intensive language training and also culture familiarisation classes. There is also a small allowance which is paid if the courses are attended regularly.

There are probably some not-for-profit assocations which help people who have just left prison, but I'm afraid I don't know which they are.

Since he is an EU citizen there is probably no reason why he would have to stay in Finland, learn Finnish etc. So, if all else fails, he can look for work in any EU country, including the UK and Ireland, where the language would not be a problem. Job propects are probably marginally better in the UK than Finland especially if he speaks no Finnish. OTOH, surviving financially in the short term would be difficult so maybe it is better if he gives Finland a try first.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 8:46 pm

I was thinking that as well, in the UK or Eire he'd not have a problem with the language.

jessie30 · Post by **jessie30** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:06 pm

My son was told by an immigration judge whom he has a phone conferance that there's no hope for any legal actions to prevent from him getting deported.

jessie30 · Post by **jessie30** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 5:57 am

Thanks for all the encouraging comments. He was offered(in prison) to go anywhere in Europe, but my son wrote to me and stated that he'll try Finland first, if it does not work out he'll go to UK. He does know little bit of the Finnish culture, after all, I was born and raised in Finland, and have kept some of the tratitions going. Even thou' my son has lived in South Florida most of his life( he also lived in Arizona, Nevada, and California, all really warm climates) he loves cold weather, figure that out. I on the other hand hate cold and live in Louisiana where weather is suppose to be warm, well it snowed last night. Global warming, perhaps.

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