Immigration has been in the news a lot recently. I can’t scroll through my social media without happening on at least two new articles daily. Each article either screams outrage and lays it at the feet of the opposing side. The comments on these articles run the gambit from sympathetic to the plight of those seeking entrance into our beautiful country to downright horrifying lack of sympathy for the families affected. As Americans, nay as human beings we can do better than such disparaging comments so devoid of sympathy, but first we need to understand why it is easier for some to come here illegally.
Let me start by laying before you my Mother-in-Law’s experience with immigration. When my own sweet Mother-in-Law realized that she could make more money cleaning houses in America than she could teaching school full time in Mexico, she decided that the best thing for her and her son was for her to apply for a work VISA. After receiving her VISA, she then left him behind with her Mother and traveled to America where she worked diligently cleaning apartments. She sent the money home to her son. While working in Utah she met a handsome spanish speaking gringo who asked her to marry him. She agreed and then was able to apply for a green card for her and her young son. 30 years and 4 additional children later they are still happily married and she dreams of one day achieving the status of American Citizen. Why does she only dream? Because it’s dang hard to become a citizen of the United States of America.
The “Path to Naturalization” that grants immigrants the status of a United States citizen is very difficult, time consuming and costly. Step one is to obtain a green card. You can recieve this through family that is already living in the United States, through employment or through a variety of asylum options. This can cost upwards of 1,000 dollars. After you have obtained a green card you must wait 5 years before applying to be a U.S. Citizen, at which point you will have to pay an additional 725 dollars, be able to speak English, pass a civics and background test and take an Oath of Allegiance. This brings the cost of citizenship up to 1725 dollars at least, and that’s only if you pass the civics test. It is comprised of ten questions chosen from a list of a hundred. It is an oral test with no multiple choice questions. If less than six questions are answered correctly you fail and can retake the test in 60-90 days. If you fail a second time your request for citizenship will be denied and you will have to reapply and repay the 725 dollar fee again. Before writing this article I took a practice test online. I passed with 90% but only because the practice test was multiple choice and I happen to really like history. Imagine taking a test like that having never taken U.S. History. It would be almost impossible especially if you speak English as your second language.
In addition to the above laws, the U.S. only grants about 20,000 VISAs to each country each year. That means that Mexico, where our demand is highest, gets the same amount of visas as Australia, where our demand is much lower. When you have a demand for VISAs that far exceeds what you’re able to hand out, you can only expect illegal immigration to occur more frequently. Make no mistake, I am anti-Illegal immigration as is my Mexican Mother-in-Law, but its not hard to see why some people resort to it.
So yes, we do need change to our immigration laws, but we need the changes to be at the heart, not the border. We need an easier and less costly route to citizenship. We need more sympathy for those who come here for a better life. The border is merely a symptom of a larger problem.
Comments
Post a Comment