The State Department's Foggy Bottom

JOHNSTOWN, Penn., September 19, 2018 (Newswire.com) - The following is an open letter from Peg Luksik, a conservative politician, pro-life campaigner and family activist in Pennsylvania.

The U.S. State Department is in a Washington D.C. neighborhood known as Foggy Bottom because of the river fog and industrial smoke that is concentrated there, making it impossible to see anything. It is appropriately placed since the Department appears to want to keep Americans from seeing what they are doing. 

Is it possible that including an envelope full of cash will make the interviewer respond positively? Are personal favors offered and accepted? If the process is without corruption - then why the shroud of secrecy?

Peg Luksik, Concerned Citizen

How exactly do people get into this country?  We know that some walk across the southern border and just disappear. But we also know people bent on our destruction entered through the State Department Visa process, while other non-dangerous folks were denied.  How does that happen? 

We can’t answer that question because the entire process is shrouded in the foggy bureaucracy of the State Department.    

Applicants fill out a form showing that they have ties of property, family, and employment in their home country to prove that they are, in fact, going home at the end of their visit. But unlike other federal programs, there are NO published, objective standards for proving those ties. 

Everything is up to the judgment of the interviewer. If that person says “yes,” it’s a yes. If that person says “no,” it’s a no. There is no appeal process. And the information provided by the person making the request is destroyed after the decision, so there is no way to evaluate any interviewer’s performance.

Members of Congress can, and often do, write letters supporting a visitor visa application.  They openly say that there is no way to predict which ones will be approved and which ones won’t. They also say that the State Department never tells them why an application was approved or rejected. In fact, they say that the State Department bureaucrats fight to keep the entire process shrouded in secrecy when a Senator or Congressman pushes back on a decision.

Is it possible that including an envelope full of cash will make the interviewer respond positively? Are personal favors offered and accepted? Do interviewers act on personal prejudices in making their decisions? Do they decide that they just don’t want to be bothered with processing any visas that day and deny every request? If the process is without corruption – then why the shroud of secrecy?

Sadly, as I write this, my own family is dealing with the secrecy shroud.

My son, a Navy chief with over 13 years of service is marrying a woman from the tiny European country of Moldova on Sept. 29. Moldova is a Christian country in the former Soviet Bloc. 

Her parents applied, twice, for a visitor visa to attend the wedding. The second application was supported by 2 U.S. Senators and 2 U.S. Congressmen, included deeds to property, letters from employers, letters from family remaining in Moldova, and even receipts from the reception hall they have already rented in Moldova for a late October second reception for the newlyweds.

They were denied, twice. No reason, other than in the opinion of the interviewer they did not prove property, employment and/or family to that person’s satisfaction. And, once again, no one must justify, or even explain, the decision.

After investigating, I have discovered that many other families are also lost in this fog. 

So, people who ignore the law can just walk across our southern border and stay forever, but people who follow the law are forbidden to even visit family by a petty bureaucrat with unlimited power.

The stench in Foggy Bottom should make all of us gag.

We need to tear the shroud of secrecy immediately. One single rip will begin the unravelling. And I am standing here with scissors in my hand.

Most of us claim to support our troops. Here’s the chance to do so, while putting that first rip in the shroud encasing foggy bottom. 

My son’s name is Peter Luksik, and he has served this nation honorably for over 13 years.  His bride will be making all the sacrifices that military wives make to support him in his commitment to America’s defense. Being without her family at her wedding because of the swamp in the State Department should not be one of those sacrifices.

America, will you defend a man who has spent his entire adult life defending you? Will you contact the White House on his behalf?

Mr. President, you promised to drain the swamp and to support our military. Can my son count on you?

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Source: Peg Luksik