We Now Have to Sue Gov't To Do Its Job
Apparently, the Biden administration believes it can pick and choose what work it wants to do, and what work it doesn’t. It believes it can choose which Americans it wants to serve, and which ones it doesn’t.
American musician Jimmy Wilgus was in Moscow, Russia working on the soundtrack for a motion picture when he was arrested nearly eight years ago and charged with indecent exposure — in an area he was unfamiliar with.
After his arrest, he was tricked into signing a confession, and placed on trial.
Neither his wife, his parents, nor U.S. Embassy personnel were permitted to attend the closed-door hearing, and he was summarily found guilty and sentenced to 12-1/2 years of hard labor at IK-17, a Mordovia, Russia penal colony.
Up until then life was good for Jimmy.
He had a beautiful Russian wife, his band was popular throughout Eastern Europe, and he was establishing a new, state-of-the-art recording studio, with a film company as one of his first clients.
Even after his trial and sentencing Jimmy had something going for him: The Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act.
Named after an American who died in March 2020 after his wrongfully detention in an Iranian prison, this law provides that the president shall appoint a Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, who’s charged with bringing home Americans wrongfully detained abroad.
However, it’s approaching four years since the Levinson Act became law and the Wilgus family has heard nothing, so they filed a lawsuit naming President Biden and administration officials, including Roger Carstens, the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
Gibbons P.C., a Newark, New Jersey law firm representing Jimmy and his parents, released a statement on Sept. 12, indicating what is required of the government in these cases.
"This law requires the State Department to review the case of every American detained abroad 'as expeditiously as possible' to make a determination as to whether 'there is credible information that they are being detained unlawfully or wrongfully,' and then, if they are wrongfully detained, to work to bring them home and provide detailed reports to Congress about their efforts," their press release said.
The Gibbons group also indicated that the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia, where the lawsuit was filed, "will be the first to interpret the meaning and import of the Levinson Act" in the nearly four years since it became law.
The government’s response to the Wilgus lawsuit was jaw-dropping.
The administration didn’t deny any of the allegations set forth in the complaint.
"It admitted that the State Department has not in fact evaluated whether Jimmy is wrongfully detained," the Gibbons press release said.
"Rather than make an excuse for its not having done so — the Government argued that the law does not require the State Department to give this attention to every American," and on that basis the government filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Seriously?
The government is saying, in essence, that the law doesn’t apply to every American.
The administration will work tooth and nail to release WNBA star, Brittney Griner, imprisoned by Russia for admittedly entering the country with a controlled substance, but not Jimmy Wilgus who is trying to establish a business in the Russian Republic.
"The Jimmy Wilgus' of the world, who are just living in Russia and suddenly get snapped up for doing absolutely nothing wrong, get ignored," Lawrence Lustberg, an attorney for Wilgus' parents, told Greta Van Susteren, on Newsmax's "The Record."
And it’s not as though Wilgus is demanding the sun and the moon.
The lawsuit "only asks for the State Department to review the circumstances of Jimmy’s detention and make a determination as to whether he is wrongfully detained," according to the law firm’s press release.
And the situation is becoming more critical for Jimmy, who suffered from a stroke during his incarceration.
His parents, James and Bella Wilgus, told the New York Post, "We’re proud to say IK-17 has failed to break Jimmy’s spirit and will — but it has destroyed his health.
"He now suffers from a spinal issue, osteochondrosis, as well as a failing liver and hypertension that wasn’t present prior to his incarceration."
Imagine being hired by a private company and telling your supervisor, "I don’t feel like serving this customer, but I’ll serve that one."
How long would you last?
The Founders designed the United States as a government of, by, and for the people, meaning the government works for us — not the other way around.
That’s why government employees are called public servants.
But the bigger, more unwieldy government becomes, the more that principle is lost.
It’s time to make some corrections. Throw out the dead wood and free Jimmy Wilgus.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.