Immigration Debate

After the Presidents address last night I had to say something about immigration in general. And I found a focus around which to vent my feelings from a morning Talk Show I listen to a great deal. The two hosts are usually very sharp and opinionated but that rarely make ill informed statements and normally go through the trouble to view an issue from more than one side. But their statements regarding the plight of illegal immigrants in the US struck me as highly uninformed and as such I took the time to send them an E-mail which I am simply going to paste below. The statement that set me off was that the simple fact that people had broken the law meant that the moral high ground was ours in terms of casting them out or ignoring their requests to have the same rights.

Hello Rick and Bubba,

Monkey grass (suppose that works for a first time E-mail as well).

I have listened to your show now for about 5 years. In that time I have very much enjoyed the way you cover both the amusing and the serious with a candor and thoughtfulness that is so uncommon in today's media. While I have not always agreed with your positions on some issues I have yet to be incapable of understanding your point of view. That is until this morning when I was listening to your review of President Bush's speech in regards to Immigration. Particularly your statement that the moral high ground is held by the law. I would beg to disagree and ask that you pause a minute to truly consider whether or not the law is indeed in the right in regards to immigration. That the millions of illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican border are breaking the law is not in doubt. However, for the most part they are not doing this in lieu of a legal option... many of them are doing it because it is their only option. Does this make them 'right'? It certainly means they have broken the law. Was Mr. Luther King 'right' to break the laws of segregation? Laws are imperfect and just because someone has decided to break one does not mean they must then by definition be morally wrong. Is this the case with illegal immigrants? I am not sure to tell the truth. But I think the issue is far more in doubt than the two of you indicated during your show this morning.

For starters.

USCIS Forms

Please find the form on that site which a Mexican Citizen would fill out in order to gain legal permission to immigrate to the United States. Please take the time to research it. But I can tell you that despite the enormous number of forms there you will not find a simple "I wish to immigrate to the USA in order to become an American Citizen" form. The only option that a Mexican citizen could even initiate on their own behalf would be I-526 for an entrepreneur. Essentially it is the buy your way in option and requires an investment of 1,000,000 unless otherwise stated.

In fact the ONLY current means by which a foreign national who is not rich may seek on their own behalf to immigrate to the United States is through the so called lottery visas. The Citizens of the following nations are ineligible to apply

*CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, POLAND, RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.

found on: Diversity Visas
*
So for example an Iraqi citizen could apply for a one in a million chance at receiving an immigrant visa, yet, someone from Mexico cannot even do that.

I bring this up because it is not like the millions of border jumpers are simply taking the easy way out. In most cases they are taking the only option available. As the President pointed out the reality is that there are those in predicaments such that they will attempt to gain entry into the United States no matter what awaits them at the border unless they have a better (and realistic) option. And for the most part they are not seeking to destroy the US. Far from it. They are seeking the chance at having freedom and a shot at making life better for themselves and for their children. And they seek it by the only means open to them. If you were in their shoes would you do differently?

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breath free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
/Emma Lazurus, 1883

/Once these famous words were a great description of the United States Policy in regards to immigration and many to this day think they still apply. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Until such time as people are again free to seek entry to the Unite States and can do so on their own behalf we should remove this famous Plaque from the Base of the Statue of Liberty and in its place put "Closed : Unless you have something we want". Even in the case that they have something we want (skilled labor) even then most of the available visa's are temporary and not even open to immigration. There are still relatively open immigration tracks for immediate family members and spouses of American citizens though by no means as open as most people would think. For work there only exists an immigration track for skilled workers.

So, we have failed to give them a legitimate means to come into our nation. And we have paid the consequences. As a result this process has allowed yet another second class citizenry to form in our society for the purposes of doing our dirty work. One with little to no voice who are for the most part happy to simply be ignored and left alone as they exist on the fringes of society because it is so much better from whence they came. It did not become us with Indentured Servitude. It did not become us with Slavery. It did not become us with Share Cropping or of course with Jim Crow. In every one of those examples we had some legal means by which the people of the time felt they were morally justified in the system they had put in place. Our current method is pure genius. By coming here in the first place they knowingly broke the law and as such we don't feel bad about how they are treated or that they do not enjoy the same rights. Yet we have created a situation which insures they will continue to come of their own free will and have not even provided them with a legitimate legal option. None of those earlier institutions of second class citizenry are a credit to our past. In fact the existence of those systems represent some of our dirtiest and smelliest laundry. And here we are with yet another system in place allowing for us to benefit and exploit a second class citizenry in a way in which we feel OK about it, and in fact feel fine and get indignant about when they have the unmitigated gall to stand up and request to be seen as equal. I'll give us credit... we are getting better at this. The current situation is certainly more ambiguous than our last attempt at a legally separated society known as the doctrine of "separate but equal".

As for the idea that sealing our border will make us any more secure against agents of terror? I have to laugh at that notion. We are not fighting a war where we face border incursions on any kind of scale that fortifications can ever hope to contain. We are fighting individuals and ideas. How effective was the Berlin Wall at stopping individuals? How well did it stop the flow of ideas? How utterly obscene and wrong was that horrid mass of stone and steel? How happy were we when it was torn down? How sad should we be that we now want the equivalent for our southern border? Throwing all our technological might at sealing a border from people desperate for nothing more than to pursue the American dream is beneath us. Building 'The Great Wall" went out with the Ming Dynasty. And at least the Chinese had the Mongol Hoards as an excuse. All we have is a mass of people desperate to live in a law abiding society and to work themselves into the ground for a chance to make life better for themselves and their children. For 200 years we have in the spirit of Motel 8 "Left the light on" For folks seeking a better life. But lately it seems we have turned it off, left the back door unlocked and decided to get mad at folks that enter where they have always been welcomed before... but only if they draw attention to themselves. Is this truly the America we want? It certainly isn't the one I learned about in school. Sure we can just lock the door and stop trying to have it both ways. But this nation rose to greatness on its openness. I think our future greatness relies on us remaining so. If we do truly seal our border we had best do it with a true open door for those to walk through legally. And it shouldn't be an impossible process filled with suffocating unrealistic bureaucratic red tape.

In closing... perhaps nothing I have said changes your mind. Really and truly that was not my intent. I only hope that perhaps I opened your eyes to the fact the situation is one which perhaps merits greater attention. The comments I heard on your show this morning were the first in 5 years of listening which struck me as un-informed and ill conceived... and it was very unlike what I have come to expect during my morning routine getting ready for work.

Perhaps if you have made it this far you are wondering why this issue strikes such a nerve with me. Well I am currently in the midst of marrying someone from the United Kingdom. Far from being angry at the many people who abuse and circumvent the immigration process, I have come to understand that the process is broken. Nobody should have to go through what we have had to Endure... and our process is far from over.

K1 Visa Experience

Details our experience thus far. If you check it out keep in mind that we are both young, of good health, college graduates, no criminal record, prior marriages, dependents or anything else to complicate matters. We are just two people who want to get married who happen to come from different nations and who are trying to do it by the book. Getting the Visa has taken 6 months. Getting True Permanent Resident Status will take 2 years. The process of becoming a Citizen (if she wants to) can start after 5 years and commonly takes 2-3 years to complete. Mayhap you think this sounds good and fair. But to date nobody I have educated as to the real process for marrying someone for another country has thought the process just or fair at all.

Thank you for any time you have spent on this rant... I sometimes get carried away. A long time listener.