Ten-year-old Sam Evenchuk is on his way to his grandfather’s home in Brooklyn, N. Y., a victor over the “red tape” of the immigration department.
Sam came into difficulties with the government on July 4, when he was stopped on a train coming from Windsor to Detroit. Immigration authorities ruled he could not enter alone, although he had a regular visa. The law sets the minimum age at 16. An immigrant inspector took him to friends in Windsor, Ontario, to be kept until his mother, Rose, could be notified in Toronto.
Mrs. Evenchuk did not know that Sam’s visa was good for only 15 more days and that he would have to wait seven years for another if he did not use it in that time. She waited until August 27, when she came to the United States and brought him with her. Her visa was good and she was passed, but officers said Sam could not enter for seven years, according to the law. Mrs. Evenchuk, who is a widow, was frantic. Her other five children were living with their grandfather in Brooklyn where she intended to join them with Sam.
Urged to make a personal appeal to the labor department, Mrs. Evenchuk went to Washington and explained her circumstances. She went back to Windsor to await the decision which has now reached her. It was favorable and she is on her way, with Sam, bound for New York.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
