I haven't been posting here much lately. Personal shit going on for the most part.
Some of that has to do with my wife getting a letter from Homeland Security on March, 18. It informed my wife that her I-751 petition was denied because we did not make a January 23, 2006 interview date. The problem is we were never notified. We had a receipt number which should show our status, but it was never updated and we later found out they never do that in Atlanta. We provided email addresses and phone numbers but they apparently decided that a letter that costs all of 39 cents was a adequate way of informing us (if it was ever sent, and mind you we paid 200 bucks to file our I-751 so it isn't like a few extra cents for delivery confirmation would bankrupt them). So, my wife was made a illegal immigrant retroactive to her filing date. We filed a appeal (costs $385 bucks) and hope that will resolve the matter soon.
I will spare further details but I am intimately aware of how legal immigration works. I have been through customs many times, I have been to embassies and USCIS offices. I've seen and filled out more forms that any human being should have to. The mere idea that illegal immigrants, who never tried to follow our laws and rules could hypothetically "cut in line" on my wife infuriates me.
Immigration can be a great thing. In the case of my wife, she is a high school graduate with a secondary education. She is hard working, scored native proficiency on her TOEFL, has made every effort to be a law abiding citizen (immigration laws included) and to integrate into our culture. This, to me is ideal immigration. She can't even apply for any public assistance for ten years, and I applaud that. We do not want people cutting in line, taking benefits they never paid for. My wife adds to the diversity of the country, helps insure that we as a nation do not become stagnant. Immigration is what made this nation what it is, and we can not forget that. A big part of the problem is that they made legal immigration so difficult. For instance with my wife, she has been lumped in with illegal immigrants even though she did everything she was supposed to.
Now, the case with "real" illegal immigrants (people that crossed into this country illegally) is a whole other story. It is impossible to characterize them as law abiding, because they broke the law to get here. Unfortunately many of these people are poorly educated, have many children (I worked with one man who didn't speak a word of English, couldn't work any position beyond the easiest one and had 9 children he stole food for every night), do not speak English and while they might very well be hard working they are destined to the lower class. In truth, I blame supporters of Mexican (and other Spanish speaking countries) illegal immigrants for part of the problem. It is acceptable to look the other way, when you have a illegal Mexican working for you. Hell, we should have the Democratic Presidential candidates debate in Spanish so they can understand us. We should have the ballots in Spanish so they can vote (if they find a loophole that lets them get citizenship). Hell, everyone knows that if you live in certain parts of the country you need to speak Spanish.
We left our back door open. Germans, Italians, French, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc... they have to take the front door. My wife took the front door. Illegal immigrants, ignore proper border crossings (when they use them, they go in overwhelming numbers and just run past border guards). But, the fault is ours as well. We've created a double standard in which immigrants from non-Spanish speaking nations are held to much higher standards. They are expected to integrate, they are expected to fill out all the paperwork and they have to go through customs. Yet, we look the other way while hordes pour in the back door.
We are not just importing lower class people, we are creating them. By allowing them to be work here illegally, by making everything we can into Spanish, by willingly taking the jobless from Mexico we are creating a new segregated lower class. A class that no longer needs to integrate. I worked with a Pakistani, a Indian, a Portuguese (all immigrants) and several Mexicans. The latter three spoke English and were here legally. Most of the Mexicans were not here legally. The Pakistani and Indian left for better jobs. The Portuguese person was a manager and the Mexicans? Almost all couldn't even speak English, I never saw one move up in position within the job much less leave for a better one. In fact, I feel they also devalued their fellow legal Mexican immigrants because people had certain expectations from Mexican workers.
These are all problems, but the biggest moral problem I see is that of cutting in line. My wife followed all the rules, obeyed the laws and in truth she has been punished for it. Her life has not been made easier because she obeyed the laws, in fact it has been made more difficult. On the other hand, we talk of amnesty for illegal immigrants. We talk of rewarding people who disobeyed our laws, which in turn punishes those who did obey them. Also, there is the more practical matter. American citizens who were born here, have paid into the social programs most of their lives. As it stands now many illegal immigrants are searching for loop hopes (such as having a child within the United States) that can allow them to "cut in line". If we provide amnesty, I can assure you it will not be via the rigors my wife went through. Do you know of sponsors for 10 million people? So, they will be privy immediately to public funds and the like. If this is not the case, amnesty has no way of working because the whole reason they chose the back door was because it was easier.
Now, I know I've written a lot. I know many of you might disagree and I know people like AM23 are likely to pick a single sentence out of this pile of rhetoric to argue with. But, what is my point?
Well, of course legal immigration needs to be fixed. It needs to be easier and the process needs to be less blind. Why not provide tests like the TOEFL? Why not give standardized tests or require a certain level of education? My wife already had to get sponsorship papers (so that if she was in need of aid the sponsor rather than the government would provide it), she already had to pass medical tests and pay many fees and file many forms. Why not include a few more tests and make the rest of the process less blind? Why is she being hassled after she started her life here in America? Why not move on to people that are breaking the immigration laws. Or for that matter why is marriage one of the few ways to legally immigrate? If you have a well educated, intelligent person that speaks English and wants to live in America (and is willing to give up all claims to public assistance for a decade) then what is the problem? We left our back door open, but our front door is certainly well guarded and it isn't fair to the millions of hard working intelligent people on other continents that would love to contribute to America. I'm not sure many of you know this, but we give tens of thousands of green cards out each year in a lottery. We give them out at football games. AT RANDOM! Why? The process has been made intentionally blind and there is no logic in that.
Secondly, some sort of real security needs to be in place. While a wall might seem foreboding, that is the point. Come in the front door, close the back door. That is the only logical resolution. Of course, one has to keep companies and the like from rewarding illegal activity as well. Hell, I'm not even against guest worker programs but! We have to plug the holes first, a guest worker program without added border security will only make things more of a mess. Not to mention the fact that until we have true border security we'll always have a increased threat of people that wish us harm sneaking into the country.
Third? Well, if you've made it easier to immigrate legally and you've made it harder to get in illegally the ten million number we keep hearing will go down. How do you deal with the rest? Well, you go after companies hiring illegal immigrants. You restrict funding to government run programs that are providing services to illegal immigrants (on the government dime of course). You encourage enforcement of existing laws. By taking away the incentive to come here illegally, it would only be logical that illegal immigrants either make a greater effort to come in the front door or leave and return to Mexico. In short, the problem would then sort itself out for the most part.
Some of that has to do with my wife getting a letter from Homeland Security on March, 18. It informed my wife that her I-751 petition was denied because we did not make a January 23, 2006 interview date. The problem is we were never notified. We had a receipt number which should show our status, but it was never updated and we later found out they never do that in Atlanta. We provided email addresses and phone numbers but they apparently decided that a letter that costs all of 39 cents was a adequate way of informing us (if it was ever sent, and mind you we paid 200 bucks to file our I-751 so it isn't like a few extra cents for delivery confirmation would bankrupt them). So, my wife was made a illegal immigrant retroactive to her filing date. We filed a appeal (costs $385 bucks) and hope that will resolve the matter soon.
I will spare further details but I am intimately aware of how legal immigration works. I have been through customs many times, I have been to embassies and USCIS offices. I've seen and filled out more forms that any human being should have to. The mere idea that illegal immigrants, who never tried to follow our laws and rules could hypothetically "cut in line" on my wife infuriates me.
Immigration can be a great thing. In the case of my wife, she is a high school graduate with a secondary education. She is hard working, scored native proficiency on her TOEFL, has made every effort to be a law abiding citizen (immigration laws included) and to integrate into our culture. This, to me is ideal immigration. She can't even apply for any public assistance for ten years, and I applaud that. We do not want people cutting in line, taking benefits they never paid for. My wife adds to the diversity of the country, helps insure that we as a nation do not become stagnant. Immigration is what made this nation what it is, and we can not forget that. A big part of the problem is that they made legal immigration so difficult. For instance with my wife, she has been lumped in with illegal immigrants even though she did everything she was supposed to.
Now, the case with "real" illegal immigrants (people that crossed into this country illegally) is a whole other story. It is impossible to characterize them as law abiding, because they broke the law to get here. Unfortunately many of these people are poorly educated, have many children (I worked with one man who didn't speak a word of English, couldn't work any position beyond the easiest one and had 9 children he stole food for every night), do not speak English and while they might very well be hard working they are destined to the lower class. In truth, I blame supporters of Mexican (and other Spanish speaking countries) illegal immigrants for part of the problem. It is acceptable to look the other way, when you have a illegal Mexican working for you. Hell, we should have the Democratic Presidential candidates debate in Spanish so they can understand us. We should have the ballots in Spanish so they can vote (if they find a loophole that lets them get citizenship). Hell, everyone knows that if you live in certain parts of the country you need to speak Spanish.
We left our back door open. Germans, Italians, French, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc... they have to take the front door. My wife took the front door. Illegal immigrants, ignore proper border crossings (when they use them, they go in overwhelming numbers and just run past border guards). But, the fault is ours as well. We've created a double standard in which immigrants from non-Spanish speaking nations are held to much higher standards. They are expected to integrate, they are expected to fill out all the paperwork and they have to go through customs. Yet, we look the other way while hordes pour in the back door.
We are not just importing lower class people, we are creating them. By allowing them to be work here illegally, by making everything we can into Spanish, by willingly taking the jobless from Mexico we are creating a new segregated lower class. A class that no longer needs to integrate. I worked with a Pakistani, a Indian, a Portuguese (all immigrants) and several Mexicans. The latter three spoke English and were here legally. Most of the Mexicans were not here legally. The Pakistani and Indian left for better jobs. The Portuguese person was a manager and the Mexicans? Almost all couldn't even speak English, I never saw one move up in position within the job much less leave for a better one. In fact, I feel they also devalued their fellow legal Mexican immigrants because people had certain expectations from Mexican workers.
These are all problems, but the biggest moral problem I see is that of cutting in line. My wife followed all the rules, obeyed the laws and in truth she has been punished for it. Her life has not been made easier because she obeyed the laws, in fact it has been made more difficult. On the other hand, we talk of amnesty for illegal immigrants. We talk of rewarding people who disobeyed our laws, which in turn punishes those who did obey them. Also, there is the more practical matter. American citizens who were born here, have paid into the social programs most of their lives. As it stands now many illegal immigrants are searching for loop hopes (such as having a child within the United States) that can allow them to "cut in line". If we provide amnesty, I can assure you it will not be via the rigors my wife went through. Do you know of sponsors for 10 million people? So, they will be privy immediately to public funds and the like. If this is not the case, amnesty has no way of working because the whole reason they chose the back door was because it was easier.
Now, I know I've written a lot. I know many of you might disagree and I know people like AM23 are likely to pick a single sentence out of this pile of rhetoric to argue with. But, what is my point?
Well, of course legal immigration needs to be fixed. It needs to be easier and the process needs to be less blind. Why not provide tests like the TOEFL? Why not give standardized tests or require a certain level of education? My wife already had to get sponsorship papers (so that if she was in need of aid the sponsor rather than the government would provide it), she already had to pass medical tests and pay many fees and file many forms. Why not include a few more tests and make the rest of the process less blind? Why is she being hassled after she started her life here in America? Why not move on to people that are breaking the immigration laws. Or for that matter why is marriage one of the few ways to legally immigrate? If you have a well educated, intelligent person that speaks English and wants to live in America (and is willing to give up all claims to public assistance for a decade) then what is the problem? We left our back door open, but our front door is certainly well guarded and it isn't fair to the millions of hard working intelligent people on other continents that would love to contribute to America. I'm not sure many of you know this, but we give tens of thousands of green cards out each year in a lottery. We give them out at football games. AT RANDOM! Why? The process has been made intentionally blind and there is no logic in that.
Secondly, some sort of real security needs to be in place. While a wall might seem foreboding, that is the point. Come in the front door, close the back door. That is the only logical resolution. Of course, one has to keep companies and the like from rewarding illegal activity as well. Hell, I'm not even against guest worker programs but! We have to plug the holes first, a guest worker program without added border security will only make things more of a mess. Not to mention the fact that until we have true border security we'll always have a increased threat of people that wish us harm sneaking into the country.
Third? Well, if you've made it easier to immigrate legally and you've made it harder to get in illegally the ten million number we keep hearing will go down. How do you deal with the rest? Well, you go after companies hiring illegal immigrants. You restrict funding to government run programs that are providing services to illegal immigrants (on the government dime of course). You encourage enforcement of existing laws. By taking away the incentive to come here illegally, it would only be logical that illegal immigrants either make a greater effort to come in the front door or leave and return to Mexico. In short, the problem would then sort itself out for the most part.
, have children and take advantage of the system.
) then they'd probably just wind up being people that tax the already overloaded civil services.
