Say Anything Blog

Rob,

While I won’t disagree that the legal immigration procedure is arduous, clumsy, self-defeating, and in dire need of reform, witness the tribulations of Mr, Mehta, it should also be pointed out that in publishing this story, Reuters is no doubt using it as an excuse for all the 12-15 million illegals now in this country.  By highlighting Mr. Mehta’s circumstances, brought on by the federal government, Reuters is at least implying strongly a bureaucratic rationalization for all the illegals here, and a condemnation of those of us who regard the word “illegal” as obviously, succinctly well-defined.

Bat One,

Perhaps. But I think Rob’s point still stands.

If illegal immigrants rationalize their decision by pointint to the bureaucratic red tape they have to go through to immigrate here legally, then we should consider making the process less arduous.

To make somebody wait 9 years on a Green Card application is ridiculous, IMO.

Brandon,

I quite agree that the 9 year wait IS ridiculous..even obscene.  But for every Sanjay Mehta, there are tens, or even hundreds of thousands of Central American immigrants working as agricultural and lawn care workers, roofers, drywall and paint subcontractors, office cleaning crews, etc., and nearly ALL of them illegal.

Does the system need to be fixed?  Certainly, but if a country, any country, cannot control it’s own borders, then is there any point in having a system at all?  There is no sovereignty without control of the borders.  And without sovereignty, there’s no point to any sort of system… broken or fixed.

Bat, I agree with you, which is why I pointed out in the post that immigration reform needs to accomplish two things before anything else: a) secure the border and b) reform legal immigration.

The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is… legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay … If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

As an American woman married to an immigrant, I have to say the process is more than arduous and clumsy, it is so mired in red tape that even the politicians don’t understand how to reform it. It is an incredibly unforgiving process if you make even the tiniest mistake.

My husband arrived in the U.S. on a legitimate visa. When we became engaged, we immediately contacted a reputable immigration attorney to find out how to go about filing for him. We were told that he should stay put and I should file the petition and his Adjustment of Status application concurrently.

Unfortunately, he just happened to be on a visa that does not allow adjustment. Under the current law, he has overstayed his visa so if he leaves the U.S. he is barred from returning for 10 years. If he had just left at the time of our engagement he would’ve been able to receive a green card.

We have been married for 4 years, have two children together and have spent much of our free time lobbying our congressional representatives for some relief of these archane laws passed in 1996. (Note: illegal immigration has increased tenfold since these restrictive policies were put into place).

Institute a program that will bring back circular migration to and from Mexico and that will free up the border agents to go after the drug smugglers and potential terrorists. No wall or fence will keep people out, so a sensible and realistic approach to the immigration demands of the labor and argricultural sectors is the only thing that will work.

Institute a program that will bring back circular migration to and from Mexico

Not unreasonable.

The Debate is over!  Global Whining has been confirmed.

The underlying assumption here is that the system is suboptimal because of innocent red tape and bumbling bureaucracy.

IMO there is a method to the madness. The loss of people like Mr. Sanjay (and myself, for that matter) who honestly waited for the system, turns into a _massive_ gain for others. ie, the employers (who get a captive labour market which has no possibility of moving, negotiating or any redress), colleagues (who can claim credit credit for the captive labourer’s work), and a host of other parasites like the credit agencies.

After 2003 a local temp resident has to go back to his home country to renew the visa. which takes around a month with no guarantees. It is easy to get stuck in the “security check” because all you need is a common last name. This makes it almost impossible to visit our relatives (school vacations are difficult to coordinate with visa interview dates).

These lobbies, especially the business employers are very powerful and they wrote the laws in the first place. They are reaping good rewards from it.

In other words, America has in a way reinstated a milder form of slavery (or at least indentured labour).

Our children’s lives are in confusion. Our careers are ruined. Our spouses are not allowed to work. And one can be stuck in this state for more than a decade. We are unable to visit our families. All for the greed of the employers and lawyers.

Shame! These people are generating bad karma for themselves.