The DOC Last Reply

Okay, here's the rundown.

On July 16th, 2026, I received a letter from Deputy Assistant Secretary Deborah Wolford.

It said my appeal of a marriage request denial was invalid because the request was submitted back in 2024, and apparently I missed a 10-day appeal window.

Only problem, I never got a denial in 2024.

No form, no notice, no communication, nothing.

And you can't miss a deadline that never started.

Now, I was looking forward to getting married and, you know, things change.

And at that time, I wasn't able to communicate with my fiancé.

So it was more like, you know, here's-- I'm, I'm waiting, not hearing anything.

So I'm thinking, "What's going on?" They sent me a series of little letters and stuff and said it'd been denied, but there was nothing formal about it.

So I thought, "Okay, you know, I've waited long enough.

I'm gonna send in an appeal." And this is the response that she sent me.

Now, the letter that she sent shifted gears.

It said that my fiancé has no intention of marrying me, which is her right, and I respect that completely.

But that has nothing to do whether DOC followed its own procedures.

And then it came the line that really stood out.

"This is the last reply you'll receive concerning your fiancé." Okay, now that's, that's what really jumped out at me.

It was more, more like the situation where you're growing up and you're with your parents, and you go in and you ask, you know, "Hey, can I go spend the night at my friend's house?" And let's say your, your father answers and he says, "No, you can't do that." And you'll ask, "Well, why not?" "Because I said so." And that's, that's a common answer, and parents have every right in the world to use it because they're a supreme authority in a family.

You know, you, you are under the authority of your parents till you reach the age of 18.

Technically, that's the way it should be.

And to tell me, "Nope, you can't marry her, and we're not gonna talk about this ever again," that's bold.

You know, considering if this were true and that-- and I mean denying my marriage, if that was true, I could always reapply, you know? But if, if I reapply and then they're saying, "We're not gonna send out any letters, any, any, uh, confirmations, any, uh, approvals or disapprovals.

We're just not gonna talk about it." And I did put that to the test because shortly after that, I sent a letter in just kind of detailing all of this.

What, what are you talking about? And the response I got was, "No response is necessary." So this woman, this DOC official, is really strict on not talking about this anymore.

That's not the way to handle the public.