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Italian-born Army veteran appeals deportation

Published:Wednesday | November 13, 2013 | 12:00 AM
In this undated family photo, Sharon Giammarco hugs her husband, Arnold Giammarco, 57, at a relative's home in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. Arnold Giammarco legally immigrated to the United States with his family in 1960 at age 4. Never having become an American citizen, Giammarco, a US Army veteran, was deported back to Italy in November of 2012 after serving time on criminal charges. - AP

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP):An Italian-born United States Army veteran who turned his life around after struggling with drug addiction is fighting his deportation, saying he should not have been expelled last year for a minor criminal record after honourably serving his country and living in the United States legally for more than 50 years.

Arnold Giammarco was deported to his native Italy over drug possession and larceny convictions, his attorneys said. The former Connecticut resident is seeking to reverse his deportation, arguing in a federal lawsuit filed yesterday that immigration authorities never acted on his citizenship application in 1982.

For decades, authorities declined to deport veterans except in extra-ordinary circumstances, but Giammarco's lawyers say immigration agents have departed from that practice in recent years.

Giammarco, 57, did brief stints in prison for shoplifting in the 1990s and drug possession in 2007. He has been homeless at times, but his supporters said he got clean, became a father in 2008, found work and married.