“Congratulations to all the Trump backers who support deporting dangerous criminals like this doctor!” is what a friend of mine wrote and posted on his Facebook wall this morning. He is referring to the news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Polish-born physician Lukasz Rafal Niec, 43, who has been practicing medicine at the Bronson Methodist & Children’s Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Dr. Niec graduated from the Ross University School of Medicine in Roseau, Dominica in 2004, specializing in Internal Medicine. Dr. Niec also has practice affiliations with Bronson Battle Creek Hospital and Bronson Lakeview Hospital.
A Facebook commenter —a Polish woman— countered my friend’s terse and misguided assertion, rebutting, “If he did not legalized his papers that his problem. There where so many amnesties. I do not understand that people are okay with illegal.”
Not one for rhetoric, I will say this particular immigration case involves a man who not only had many years to secure citizenship but also the wherewithal and economic means to do so.
Not one for rhetoric, I will say this particular immigration case involves a man who not only had many years to secure citizenship but also the wherewithal and economic means to do so.
A Daily Mail report quoted Dr. Niec’s sister, Iwona Niec-Villaire, who said her brother is “shell-shocked” about being arrested and the possibility he may be deported. “We did go see him on Wednesday, he was shaking,” she said.
Media reports that a bond hearing in February is the next matter for discussion.
Per Nolo.com, “All immigrants, including those with green cards, can be deported if they violate U.S. immigration laws. The most common reason for people to be placed into removal proceedings is because there is evidence that they have been convicted of a crime.
Turns out Dr. Niec’s sister is also an attorney, so the legal prowess and guidance were also in his corner regarding legalizing his immigration status from green-card to citizenship. If anyone claims the denominator of fleeing their native nation for a better life in the United States, it will forever be incumbent to go about such a transition accordingly, complying with federal Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) codes.
How does a working professional who fled his country when he was three years old illegally enter America, engage in criminal activity thus generating immigration blips for law enforcement eyes…yet still nourish from the US teet? President Trump’s immigration thrust finally catching-up to those who have been unimpeded?
As a cop, I’ve investigated “pill mills” whereby would-be physicians doled-out happy pills to anyone whose chief complaint was an “ouchy” of any sort. Whereas most doctors are legitimate, some go astray from their Hippocratic Oath and Code of Ethics. Other “doctors” aren’t doctors at all, only pretending to be while gaming the system…until law enforcement authorities get a case of curiosity and American Medical Association regulators sift through licensure files. Eventually, the medical jig is up for phony physicians who imposter and defraud insurance companies and the federal government.
How does a working professional who fled his country when he was three years old illegally enter America, engage in criminal activity thus generating immigration blips for law enforcement eyes…yet still nourish from the US teet?
Where I am leading you is to the medical community governing bodies whose regulators oversee, license, suspend and revoke medical practitioners’ rights based on improprieties. That factor brings us full-circle to Dr. Niec and his legacy as both a physician practicing internal medicine ostensibly without the legal foundation to be upon American soil.
How does the American Medical Association (AMA) vet doctors and ultimately confer licensure with specific regards to foreign-born, non-citizen physicians? The AMA imposes a process and stipulation called a “two-Year Home Country Physical Presence Requirement” whereby “upon completion of training in the U.S., J-1 visa holders must return to their home country for a period of 2 years to transmit the knowledge they gained in the U.S. An individual must fulfill this obligation before being eligible for a change or adjustment of visa status to certain types of U.S. visas.”
The AMA recognizes that “An immigrant visa (also known as a green card or permanent resident status) permits a foreign citizen to permanently remain in the U.S. A lawful permanent resident (LPR) has the right to become a naturalized U.S. citizen after living in the United States for 3 to 5 years.
“To obtain immigrant status, one must qualify as a specified immediate relative of a U.S. citizen or another LPR, as an employee of a sponsoring employer or prospective employer or as a ‘diversity immigrant’ under a visa lottery program. The applicant must not fall into any of the categories of aliens deemed inadmissible by law: Criminality is one among a few which may or may not apply.
A December 2012 piece published by Forbes.com expounded on the foreign-born doctors’ immigration process and its stipulations.
Kalamazoo-based immigration attorney Marc Asch told WWMT that, since President Trump took office, ICE agents have been pursuing immigration enforcement differently than how they did (did not) under former administrations. “These days there’s less discretion being exercised in who they go after, they’re being more aggressive, generally speaking,” Mr. Asch said.
Generally speaking, ICE agents are doing what our tax dollars pay them to do. Despite the ongoing debate surrounding immigration woes, the rule of law and Naturalization codes remain where they have been for years; nothing is new accept the current administration’s attention to enforcement.
Do it correctly, and you are welcome in America. Otherwise, you are nothing less than a mark attracting legitimate lawful attention to an illegitimate unlawful presence.
Do it correctly, and you are welcome in America. Otherwise, you are nothing less than a mark attracting legitimate lawful attention to an illegitimate unlawful presence. And occupational standing has no standing in terms of immigration enforcement. Amnesty because you provide some special service or circumstance is not equitable to others with differing variables such as educational attainment and unique provisions. That speaks to our statutes against discrimination.
Polish writer for the Orlando Sentinel, Stan K. Suja wrote an interesting article on this exact topic which happens to specifically involve his culture while generically engendering US immigration codes and acquisition of legal standing among DREAMers and DACA “babies.”
Yesterday marked one year ago since Mr. Suja concisely encapsulated his experience as a Polish child whose parents emigrated to America.
“I am an immigrant to this country. I was 6 when my family came over from communist Poland. I had a Green Card until I was 18. My father tried and worked hard for more than five years in order to come to the United States legally. He had to get a sponsor in this country — and a job guarantee. So you can understand that I get a little upset when the illegal (what some call undocumented) immigrants, young and old, demand legal status just because they are here,” Mr. Suja intimated.
“Let me be clear: This has nothing to do if they are good people or bad people, how well they have done in school, how high their grade point average is, what an asset they will be to this country, or of the other arguments made for these immigrants. Let me also be clear: This has nothing to do with simply Latino immigrants. I am aware of a lot of Polish immigrants who have come to this country on a visitor’s visa and have never gone back. They hide out in the fabric of Polish-American society or marry a U.S. citizen to stay in this country.”
Dr. Niec married his wife Rachelle in 2016, each bringing one child into the blended family. According to her social media accounts, Rachelle Burkart-Niec hails from Battle Creek, Michigan.
Mr. Suja added, “This issue of illegal immigrants and their children — or Dreamers, as they like to be called — must be addressed. It is a matter of preserving our county, our laws and way of life. A country without borders and laws that are enforced will quickly cease to exist. Germany is quickly and painfully learning this lesson. Worse, a country that rewards criminal behaviors with free schooling, free health care, free housing, etc., will only encourage more immigrants to come here illegally.”
“A country that rewards criminal behaviors with free schooling, free health care, free housing, etc., will only encourage more immigrants to come here illegally.”
Mr. Suja’s testimony, understanding of and respect for our immigration statutes, and the road to citizenship is almost identical to Dr. Niec’s journey and makes a remarkably comparable imprint.
Dr. Niec has his supporters, and I implore having people in your corner when the circumstances are legal, ethical and moral. “He’s exactly the kind of person our immigration policies should be encouraging to prosper here, he’s been here for 40 years, this is a ridiculous situation,” Dr. Michael Raphelson said of his cohort. Actually, immigration laws do spell-out exactly how to go about legally attaining citizenship so that folks seeking to remain here and contribute can prosper via citizenized status. That is plenty of encouragement, indeed.
Although I have every respect for sibling love and support, Dr. Niec’s sister adds speculations, saying “Now, they’re using this expunged case that’s stamped non-public record against him.” What she is referring to are two misdemeanor charges for which her brother was arrested when he was a 17-year-old juvenile. In his youth, Niec pleaded guilty resulting in two misdemeanor convictions for destruction of property less than $100 and receiving and concealing stolen goods.
Guilty pleas recognized by the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act affords violators a second chance, meaning they avoid a criminal record…providing they do not re-offend.
Dr. Niec’s sister and kin claim he didn’t know ICE would never honor his plea agreement when he entered into it with local (non-federal) government.
But there appears to be more than what was reported thus far. Dr. Niec was arrested in 2008 after cops conducted a field sobriety investigation, ultimately charging him with “operating impaired by liquor.” Kalamazoo County records reflect that conviction was also sidelined via a plea deal.
I also found an arrest record under the name Lukasz Rafal Niec in a Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety database whereby Niec was charged with Domestic Violence and booked/incarcerated on August 19, 2013. From Mugshots.com is a full-color photo of the arrest naming Lukasz Fatal Niec as the perpetrator. The likeness matches the modern-day photos making rounds among media outlets across the nation. Records indicate Niec was subsequently acquitted of the DV charge.
Dr. Niec’s sister Iwona obtained her education (including her Juris Doctor degree) from Wayne State University in Detroit. By all accounts, she practices corporate law with a focus on “business conduct and ethics.” She currently serves as Chief Administrative Officer and Vice President with Chassix Holdings, Inc. in Michigan.
Concluding that she, too, is a DACA-based immigrant who has attained some legal standing in America…and did not meet the fate her brother did on Tuesday when ICE agents arrested him at his home, it appears the prior arrest record may have been the motivator behind immigration agents’ actions. ***
I am finding varying dynamics surrounding Dr. Niec. His wife labels him “a permanent legal resident” whose children are US citizens. Oddly, DACA-supporting former-president Barack Obama may have authorized Dr. Niec’s deportation when he was in office, and that it lay dormant…until now. That incredulous gem was stated on Inside Poland sheets. However, it correlates to the Aug. 2013 Domestic Violence arrest mentioned above…underscoring how any immigrant who is not officially citizenized and re-offends is subject to deportation.
Petitioning Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Dr. Niec’s wife asked for intervention pertaining to his detention for deportation, purporting,”He is being held at Calhoun County Correctional facility pending a deportation hearing that could take up to 6 months” followed by the hashtag #freedoctorniec.
Do you think Doctor Niec deserves amnesty? Why do you think ICE is detaining him?
