Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay
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rtprod:
--- Quote ---I have to say that if you look around the world, US actually has one of the most open immigration policy than most of the counties.
--- End quote ---
I'd like to see some documentation on this as well, since we live in a land of opportunity that US immigration consistently withholds from foreign nationals. I have gone through the immigration process myself step by step (though not for myself), and I'm not ashamed to say that I helped a pair of gay friends engage in a green card marriage (successfully, I might add though it took a lot of money, headaches, nerves and waiting) because the ridiculous state of things in this country with regard to legalizing long-term residents who are out of status left them no options and I saw them crying for years, exploited by jobs, long hours, paying social security they would never reap and the rest. You have no idea how painful it is to see a friend cry over a parent's funeral in another country that they simply cannot attend for fear of never getting back into this wonderful place. For every blocked driveway, they are paying a hefty price of their own.
Let's stop fooling ourselves how progressive everything is here -- looked at the current administration lately? Gay marriage is legal in Belgium, Canada and other places, guys. Sorry to jump to another issue but I have a gay friend who is an undocumented Mexican immigrant here in the US, who is learning Dutch and moving to Belgium right now. Why?
Because they will take him. As he is.
Sad state of things, I have to say.
rtprod:
Also, if anyone would like further information about just how terrifying and crime-ridden the trip to the US from south of the border can be, please just ask me and I'll write more about safe houses, deaths, drownings, stolen money, rapes, etc. For those who would prefer to think that people just "swim" their way here for the hell of it to take advantage of American programs and institutions, you've got your head in the sand.
Those who come want it so badly their lives hang in the balance, and that's the kind of spirit that founded this country, in case anyone has forgotten.
Read this book and you'll get it:
http://www.harpercollins.com/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060789441
rt
sparkle_motion:
--- Quote from: rtprod on May 04, 2006, 03:39:05 pm ---Read this book and you'll get it:
http://www.harpercollins.com/global_scripts/product_catalog/book_xml.asp?isbn=0060789441
rt
--- End quote ---
I remember when that happened here in Texas. A lot of people expressed the sentiment "Well, they deserved it, they shouldn't have been breaking the law".
Utterly despicable.
rtprod:
--- Quote ---I remember when that happened here in Texas. A lot of people expressed the sentiment "Well, they deserved it, they shouldn't have been breaking the law".
--- End quote ---
Well, that's typical of the way we tend to see most global plights beyond our comforts and privileges.
Dunno why many can't question whether some laws that may be constitutional might also be antiquated and not humane.
rt
rtprod:
--- Quote ---From what I've gotten from friends/co-workers etc, it isn't that people aren't human, it's just that real life isn't Disneyland. Not everyone on the planet is going to 'make it' and there is no rule, no law, no nothing that says that everyone should. It's just a really nice social construct that we imagine that they should. It's unfair, sure. But life is unfair.
I don't agree that everyone 'can have it', the reasons the laws are in place is because opportunities that abound are finite. Every job an illegal takes, a legal immigrant or perhaps a citizen loses.
--- End quote ---
Del,
I love you dearly, you know that much. But that just smacks of idealism and not reality. Compared to these people, our lives are Disneyland. Period. I don't understand why it's so hard to admit that while immigration advocates like me are not advocating open borders by any means, we are attempting to adjust what is largely, on both sides of the house, considered an inequity and unfair bitch of an unsatisfactory situation for 12 million people.
Why can't everyone "have it?" The message last Monday was clear. If you removed the "illegals" as you call them from society, particularly cities, you would see a complete debilitation in the efficiency of your own life -- your clothes would not get cleaned, your bus would not arrive, your dishes would not be washed, your hotel room not straightened, your food would go unprepared, your vegetables unharvested, your taxis would not be driven, your gardening not done, your home not cleaned, your cable TV not installed, your.... should I keep going?
This is a very large social issue that cannot be addressed with ideals like what "should" be -- we need to address what simply IS. Undocumented workers can get TIN numbers, they can get driver's licenses in some places and they can even buy homes. And they are doing all of these things, and planning for the future. It's naive for anyone to deny these privileges they have rightfully earned just because some silly law on the books doesn't measure up to the situation in this country today. The law needs to be changed, period.
And when that law changes, and they are suddently not looked at as second class citizens anymore but rather, equal citizens, then what? Will American society crumble? No, it will get stronger and more diverse. And THAT is the real issue for many today that they would prefer not to admit -- the diversification of our culture makes many very, very uncomfortable.
rt
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