‘It was very scary for me’
Burlington woman’s past experiences with Biden leave her hopeful for future of U.S.
A Burlington woman fondly remembers Joe Biden helping her when time was of the essence.
It was 1976, long before Biden’s bid to become president of the United States. Anna-marie Osburn, then a 20-year-old newlywed carrying her first baby, had inadvertently wound up in the middle of an immigration issue keeping her from returning to her husband in Delaware following a brief trip home to Canada.
She’d first travelled to the United States in 1975 to visit Don Osburn after meeting him during an impromptu stay at Bridgetown’s Valleyview Campground in 1972. Anna-marie was there with family and her mother let her and her sister stay in a pup tent within view of the family’s site.
The sisters sang and strummed guitar, inevitably catching the attention of Don and a travelling mate.
Anna-marie laughs as she recalls her mother’s account of watching the young men, one conveniently toting a guitar, making their way to her daughters’ campsite.
“I remember her saying to me, ‘that was just like bees to honey.’”
Don was visiting Nova Scotia to see more of Canada, and Anna-marie made a point of visiting the United States to see more of him as soon as she was old enough to do so.
“We fell in love and I stayed,” she said.
IMMIGRATION WOES
She went in July, applied for landed immigrant status in the States and they married in November. The following May, she learned she was pregnant.
She said she decided to visit friends in Canada “not being aware that if I left the USA, I wouldn’t have any status to return.”
She found that out the hard way.
“Nobody warned me,” she said.
On what was meant to be her return trip, she was removed from a train in Vermont and denied access into the United States.
“It was really awful at the time. It was very scary for me,” she said.
She said an officer working at the border implied that she might be able to return to the United States if she had her marriage certificate proving she married an American, so Don and his father drove all night to get it to her. There was no one nearby for her to call.
She slept on the floor of a
building at the Canadian border crossing waiting for them to arrive with the documentation.
“It was kind of traumatic, I would say,” she said.
“I was very, very, very relieved to see Don and his father roll up the next day with the marriage certificate.” But it was all for naught. She was still refused entry into the country. She remembers it being July 1 in Canada, and the related office closures compounded matters.
CONTACTED BIDEN FOR HELP
Anna-marie hopped a plane in Montreal and returned to Nova Scotia to stay with her parents in Digby. She spent the summer knitting clothing for the baby on the way, watching the Olympics and anxiously awaiting the day she would be reunited with her husband.
“It was really sad for us,” she said.
“I just wanted to be with him and experience that together.”
Don contacted the office of Biden, who was a young senator in Delaware at the time, in hopes that he could help get Anna-marie back in the United States before the baby was born.
“They told him that they were going to assist him as much as they could — and they did,” said Anna-marie.
The feeling that someone in a position of authority was finally on their side provided glimmers of hope in a challenging time.
“It was completely reassuring, and it just kept me hopeful — both of us,” she said.
TURNING POINT
An Aug. 23, 1976, letter addressed to Don, and signed by Biden, confirmed AnnaMarie’s immigrant visa was issued during an Aug. 18 interview with the United States Consulate General in Halifax.
“I am very happy to have been of some assistance in this matter. I only wish there had been more that I could have done to have expedited the issuance of her visa,” the letter states.
The correspondence closes with a reminder that they can reach out to Biden’s office again if ever there is a need.
“I did get to return much quicker than normal and it was all due to Biden, and he kept us informed about what he was doing on our behalf,” said Anne-marie.
She feels an immense sense of gratitude when she looks over the letters from Biden today.
“I was very grateful,” she said. “I always kept these letters very safe because they mean a lot to me.”
The Osburns went on to have two daughters born in Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Now residents of Kings County, they celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on Nov. 29.
Anna-marie was thrilled to see Biden identified as president-elect for the United States in November.
“When I learned that he was going to be the candidate for president, I thought, yes, this is what the United States really needs right now,” she said.
“Somebody like him, somebody who is compassionate and considerate.”