'I followed the law, and it took nearly 20 years for me to become a citizen,' Muhammad Hassan told 'America's Newsroom'
Legal immigrants growing increasingly frustrated with border crisis
Immigrants Muhammad Hassan and Sabine Durden-Coulter joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss why they are increasingly frustrated with the border crisis after coming to the United States legally.
Legal U.S. immigrants are growing increasingly frustrated with the surge of illegal immigration under the Biden administration.
Pakistani immigrant Muhammad Hassan and German immigrant Sabine Durden-Coulter joined "America's Newsroom" Tuesday to express outrage over what they see as unfairness after they spent years following the rules to become citizens.
Hassan said he has been trying for four years to bring his wife to the U.S. after working for nearly 20 years to become a citizen himself.
"Every time the government has asked for a piece of paper, we provided it, in a week or less. And, every time the response has been nothing but silence," Hassan said Tuesday, adding he has contacted his congressman, senator and the White House.
"All of those channels that are supposed to be available to law-abiding Americans have been exhausted. So here I am."
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Border patrol agents captured 40 illegal immigrants found crammed into several vehicles at the southern border near El Paso, Texas, earlier this week. (U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector)
Hassan described the heartbreaking toll the process has taken on the couple, including not being able to start a family.
"It's not just kids, right? It's memories we're not making. It's vacations we're not taking. It's a life that we're not getting to live together… It's thousands of dollars in tickets, and I'm having to run two households. It's not cheap, and I get no sympathy when I write to my congressman or my senator or to anybody in a position of power."
When asked by anchor Dana Perino who his congressman was, Hassan named Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
"It not only hurts the people who make that choice to come here illegally, it hurts the rest of the country. It's a breakdown in our law and order based society that immigrants have come to value," he concluded.
Durden-Coulter said she came to California in 1989 with a resident alien card and became an American citizen in February 1996 – a process that required time, money and resources.
"I'm very angry, I'm upset, I'm saddened, I'm disappointed how this can happen in America," she said. "I was married to an American soldier and had to fill out tons of paperwork, paid lots of money, spent many, many hours to fill out paperwork to come with him."
Durden-Coulter's life changed forever in July 2012 when her son Dominic was killed in a motorcycle accident caused by an undocumented driver on probation in California. The Guatemalan migrant, who had a long rap sheet including armed robbery and two DUIs, was deported in 2014.
"I came the right way, and all I have left of my family is my son Dominic, his ashes," Durden-Coulter said. "People need to start speaking out, speaking up, because this is now affecting everybody, everywhere in the United States. I don't care where you live, and it has to stop. And our government has really got to get it together.
"I don't want to hear from another angel family. I don't want to hear another angel mom crying while telling me her story."
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Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
Elizabeth Heckman is a digital production assistant with Fox News.
