What you least expect, while singing, "Come, Thou long expected Jesus"!

Dr. Edith Breburda
On your way to Christmas vigil: your motion alarm at your living room goes off, and you get a glimpse of certainly uninvited guests- thanks to modern techniques. 

While waiting for the security company to repair the home system, I decided to take refuge to my laptop and write about an incredible Christmas story. A report about illegal immigrants and spotlights, and an unintended open house- not only for police officers, who came with their dogs and rifles. In the midst of the little house, not in the best area of a Midwest metropolitan of the United States, was a Replica statue of the original image of the Madonna of Altötting (Bavaria/ Germany) with the Child Jesus. It was as if she would oversee all of what was going on this Christmas Eve, 2018. 

Of course, they all did not come for her. However, it is custom in that little neighborhood -with a lot of tiny houses- to light candles on the streets. Then, they all go out and watch the spectacle. This night, the residents have been joined by police. They rushed in grate haste with their (German) Shepherds to the side.

They focused on this house. Above two helicopters, who lit up the building properly.

Meanwhile, a TV news station arrived to report the incident. The main reason for the event were intruders, who smashed the window of the little office on the side of the house where no security camera could capture their deeds. There was an automated security warning light that went on when they climbed the wall-trespassed the property, to reach the weakest point of the house -but that didn't stop them either. This was on the north side of the house where looking out was only an orchard, holding in its midst a Catholic chapel belonging to a religious community.

The corpus delicti, the rock used to break the window, landed in the middle of the office. The computer on the desk was turned upside down and found its rest next to a small poster that bore the question, “Do you know your risk of Heart Disease?”, located in between a picture of Saint Pope John-Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Actually, Pope Emeritus was born in the vicinity of the most famous place of pilgrimage, where in a small chapel Our Lady of Altötting (the Black Madonna) stands. 

My ancestors, who had a huge farm Estate (Gutshof) not far from Altötting, admired Our Lady of Altötting tremendously. It was difficult to do so during the NAZI-regime in Germany. My Grandfather almost ended up in Dachau for being a strong Catholic, who refused to remove a huge old crucifix in his Gutshaus. However, two of my great-uncles were at the concentration camp Dachau, just for being “Catholic” Mayors, in the Sudetenland (the majority of the inhabitants were German). They had been deported immediately after the Munich Agreement outlined the terms of the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938.

I brought Our Lady of Alötting with me when I came to the United States to work as a scientist at a Midwestern University in 2001. My father, who was a refugee from the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1947, had just retired from his position as a university professor in Germany, and thus he and my mom joined me to come to America.

Actually, I never ever wanted to come to this county, and I purposely rejected previous job offers at Harvard Medical School. My research was going well, and I worked at the most renowned Trauma Surgery in Germany – until I received an offer from a world-famous scientist, which I could not turn down. After earning my Ph.D. with highest distinctions, I have never had difficulties finding a position at high-ranking research institutions, their research efforts being directly funded by the US-Government.

Unfortunately that all changed, when I applied for my green card on the basis of being classified as an outstanding scientist, nine months prior before the expiration of my H-1B visa.

Since that moment, it seems to become impossible for me to immigrate. Even more, I wound up before Immigration Court, very much to the puzzlement of the judge, because it is the law in this country that one is not to be deported as long as one has a visa application pending.

Now, for years, I am waiting in line as a legal immigrant, with no work authorization or anything else. If I leave the US, I cannot reenter the country for approximately two decades of years. It seems that even family-based immigration is blocked. Meanwhile, USCIS is so mixed up with my case that all of my expectations are very low.

Coming back to that little house, where a relative took me in- the intruder has been captured. It is unusual to arrest the burglar at the crime scene. My appreciation for the work of the police is beyond words, especially, because a policeman ended up fighting with this man. The intruder was in jail afterwards– just for a few hours. In the early morning of Christmas day, a judge decided to release the defendant. He was an illegal present man from Mexico. It seems to me that these men have nothing to fear. Catch- and release looks to me like an invitation to commit crimes.

I worried about my documents and my manuscripts for all the popular science books I have written while waiting for issuance of my already-years-ago-approved family-based permanent residence permit (green card), all of which were in the house at the time the intruder entered.

Thanks to police and to our Lady of Altötting, everything was still in place. Nothing was stolen. There was only a broken window. But maybe there was not much in the house that would have been of interest for illegally present persons? The only thing reminding me of the incident is a little bird that twittered excitedly the next morning. In its way he is expressing in his chirping sounds the two tones of the alarm siren that interrupted the peace of Christmas Eve. 

Finally, Mr. Emmanuel -the security company technician arrived at the house. He told me we had been lucky: sometimes they come and kidnap the owner of the house. Emmanuel was thinking of a particular case. It was a huge residence in a wealthy gated area. Besides the owner, the intruder took all electronic apparatus along with him as well - including the printed-circuit board for the alarm system. Fortunately for the police, this made it easy to track the victim and intruder shortly after the crime.