rethinking the immigration debate

previously I posted my praise of the immigrant protests and how much solidarity I believed there was between all classes of immigrants. Having talked to children and relatives of recent legal immigrants on Thursday, I can tell you that they are honestly upset with a easy amnesty program.

I learned about how many hoops would-be legal immigrants have to go through, the years of waiting. And if one little thing goes wrong, it can be decades before they let you back in (of course, the deport you). My friend Jeff, whose father is Pakistani, told me of a Jordanian friend of his who let his student visa lapse. Unlike the 9-11 hijakers, he was caught after he had married and fully immigrated into America. In fact, when he was deported to Jordan, the country didn't want him, so he had to move to Kuiwait, where he is a perminant second class citizen. His wife, a white woman with no language skills, cannot get a job in Kuwait and he can't get a good job because he is not Kuwaiti. So she has to fly out to the middle east to see her husband, and I believe they have a child.

Another 3L told me of a relative of his who cannot come back to America for 10-15 years because of some technicality (his family is from India I believe). Both were upset with the idea that just because some one snuck in over the boarder a couple years ago, they should get amnesty while their friends and relatives are banished from the US for decades. A woman who works for the US district court told us that the number one type of case they hear is illegal immigration.

There is no easy solution to this. On the one hand, we can all agree that illegals who commit crimes in the US have no business being in America. And we can all agree that granting a Reagan-style Amnesty to current illegal immigrants while letting the rest who were deported for silly reasons languish in places like Kuwait for 10-15 years when they have clear ties to US is ridiculous. On the other hand, these folks didn't immigrate to America illegally because they wanted to, it was because there weren't enough temporary visas. Most of these undocumented peoples work hard, go to church, pay someone elses taxes, send their kids to school and try to learn English and how to be an American.

We need to cut out the red tape to get in and get visas while doing a better job of doing background checks and monitoring of immigrants, especially if they come from countries with terrorist ties. My half Pakistani friend and my Indian (south asia) friend both agreed that we need more liberalized immigration, not to round up all the illegal Mexicans.

I just wonder how serious Bush and Frist really are about true immigration reform that both parties can agree on, besides that it needs to occur and they need to use it against the other party. After the recess, I think it won't come up again, and Bush and Frist will stick to their blame it on Reid plan. After all, it eventually worked against Daschle.