Saturday, April 08, 2006
Immigration Rebuttal
Exercise: None - too busy with other stuff which kept me active. :)
I'm going to use a full post for my feedback on my immigration post because there is just too much for me to write in the Haloscan comment box. I'm warning everyone right now. This is going to be a long ass post. :P
Steph made the following comment:
Mexico's economic problems has nothing to do with the US. You're way off on those issues. Mexico's problems stem from decades of state ownership, much like most of Asia. For nearly 7 decades they practiced "dependencia", which basically meant that they were to be self sustaining and not trade with any other countries, believing it would boost their own economies. THEY are the ones who cut off trade which brought their countries to where they are today. The only reason some Latin American countries are now finally starting to raise their GDP is because they sold off large amounts of their state ownership, much like Margaret Thatcher did to bring England's economy out of the slump it was in during the early 80's, and finally opened up trade.I can list a slew of other things that has hampered the Mexican economy, but none of them have to do with us. Read "Commanding Heights" chapter 9. You watch PBS. The book is based off the PBS program of the same name.You use a lot of strong rhetoric, but most of it is extremely misguided by emotion. The fact that the congress would consider any kind of program letting illegals stay is being generous IMO. I think every single one of those moronic illegals marching in California should have been hauled away and deported.
I was able to pull up one of the essays from the book.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandi.../
My thoughts....
I wasn't trying to say the US is completely at fault for Mexico's economic problems. Anyone who would think that way obviously hasn't looked at things very closely. I was only referring to the things which did involve the US starting with the Mexican War in which the US took half its territory away. I mean if you get right down to it, in a way WE are the illegal immigrants - not the Mexican people.
My point in regards to NAFTA is that it wasn't the success as it was touted to be. I'm not sure if you read the post that you referred to or not but even that points out that Mexico's economy is now in a position where it's very sensitive to the performance of the US economy meaning when our market took a turn for the worst, theirs did too. What it fails to mention are the people who were put out of work (namely the small & mid sized farmers) because they couldn't compete with the big companies NAFTA allowed in. It's those companies who reaped most of the benefits and more on the US side than Mexico. The link also fails to point out that NAFTA made it possible for companies like WalMart and Costco to go down there and completely under sell the retail market which again although there was a creation of some jobs, it also forced others out of theirs along with tearing up the environment. Oh and I guess I should also mention that those who are newly hired cashiers at WalMart in Mexico make about $1.50/hr - that's approximately 1/6 of what the someone in the US makes doing the same job. Now tell me....where would you rather work?
My "rhetoric" as you call it is not extremely misguided by emotion. My thoughts and opinions are based on first hand experience from dealing with immigration not only in this country but others as well. Until you have dealt with it directly, you really can't understand it.
Brett said the following:
Way to go, Steph! Yea, I especially like the comment "I don't blame people for hopping the border illegally". What other illegal things are acceptable? Also, how does our country get made out to be the bad guy when these people are sneaking into our country? The only bad thing I can see that we did was not protect our borders properly. Other than that, as you so clearly point out in your own decision to live in this country, we are the greatest country in the world. That's why everyone wants keeps trying to get into this country. The main thing to remember in all of this is that we have LEGAL immigration, which I am all for, and ILLEGAL immigration. To condone the breaking of laws starts a very slippery slope for any argument.
WHOA! Who said anything about me supporting people coming into this country against the law or doing anything else which is illegal??? My statement about not blaming people for sneaking in had to do with being able to understand why they would choose that method, not that I actually supported it. If you had the choice of being left to feel like a criminal from the outset and having to possibly wait YEARS to support your family who desperately needed money for food and clothing or taking a chance at maybe getting caught then treated like a criminal, which would you choose? I ask that you keep your two girls whom you say you care for and love so much in mind and think about just how far you would go to get them their basic needs.
Granted border patrol isn't what it should be, however, by going after the companies offering the jobs (and YES, they are doing that. My mother worked with someone whose husband came in that way), it's a more nip it in the bud way of doing things. There are tons of places willing to hire illegal immigrants because they know they can get away with paying them less and in return increase their profits. THIS is actually why many of them are sneaking in rather than just doing it on a whim and hoping for something better as your words would imply. If you don't think this happens, then you are very naive to the corporate world.
My comment about Chi and I staying here really was not to imply that the US is the greatest country in the world. Jobs and economic opportunities do tend to be better (at least if you are educated and skilled), however, the US like every other country does have its problems and there are some places which actually lead us in some areas.
Let me tell you a little something about LEGAL immigration into this country that you think is SO wonderful based on the K-1 (fiance visa) that Chi came over on. In order for us to get the process going, I had to get a bunch of forms to fill out and let me tell you that in itself is a trick because some of them will say you need a particular form that goes with it and others will tell you that you don't. Just figuring out what you do need is a pain and it's not something where you can just pick up the phone to call and ask someone either. I also couldn't just walk into the INS office downtown to ask. If you call the hotline, you may have to wait in a que for an hour or more because you aren't just competing with people in your area but more like the whole country. If you walk in, you have to take a number and wait. If they don't get to you before it's time to shut up shop, you're out of luck. What makes it even "better" is that the hours are VERY limited and only during the week when most people are at work. At the time it was something like 8 - 2 M,T,Th,F - Wednesdays were reserved for greencard interviews only and I believe part of the day on Tuesdays was for fingerprinting. There's now a website that is more informative than anything that was available at the time I filed but that doesn't mean there still won't be questions that come up which it doesn't answer.
So now after the week or so it took to get all the forms that were needed, it took a good few hours to fill them out. That didn't even account for the time to get all the extra support you have to send with them gathered up. That includes the following assuming it's filed by a US citizen who meets the initial requirements and has never been married:
1.) Statement from an officer of the bank or other financial institution in which you have deposits given the following details:
- Date account opened.
- Total amount deposited for the past year.
- Present balance.
2.) Statement from your employer on business stationary showing:
- Date and nature of employment.
- Salary paid.
- Whether position is temporary or permanent.
You have to be able to prove you make 120% of poverty level. At the time the requirement was something like $12000/year. If you couldn't, you had to get a co-sponsor and provide the bank and employment information for them too.
3.) Birth certificate
4.) One color photo of petitioner and one color photo of your fiance(e) taken within 30 days of the petition date. They must be glossy, un-retouched, and not mounted. The dimension of the facial image should be about 1 inch from chin to top of hair in 3/4 frontal view, showing the right side of the face with the right ear visible. Let me tell you this is something photogs don't usually do so most don't get it right the first time. I had a pro do mine and he had to take three sets before it met the specific requirements.
5.) Proof of relationship. This includes:
Once I got all this together, the packet was sent off with a check for $95 (now $170) which was non-refundable should the visa not be granted. After that, all that was left to do was wait. I think it took at least two weeks just to get a letter back saying that the stuff had been received. It was then something like a month before I was given word that the application was approved and sent to England for processing. Once it got there, Chi received a letter from the Embassy telling him when to come for his "interview" which consisted of a doctor's check up, some questioning and then issuance of his visa which gave him 90 days to be married once he stepped foot in the US.
When Chi got here, he was given a 90 day work authorization. When that was up, we had to file for another one which I think was good until he got his greencard. That was another $100 (now $180). In addition, we had to file the papers so he could become a resident alien. That was $220 (now $325) and then there was the $70 (remains at $70) fingerprint fee. On top of that, if we wanted to be able to travel out of the country before he received his greencard, we had to file yet another form and fork over $95 for what they call advanced parole (now $170). If you don't already feel like a criminal in this process, this would do it for many people.
From that point, the wait was two years. We got a letter in the mail telling us to bring all of our relationship "support" along with bank and tax records to the downtown office for an interview. Luckily the guy we dealt with was fairly pleasant. Of course I would say having all our papers and Chi being from England rather than some place like Mexico helped - They tend to get very impatient with people who don't speak fluent English. After that approval, it was another month or so before we were told to report to the Omaha office to get the greencard. That's good for 10 years and then must be renewed. Cost of renewal $260.
If you add all the fees up and include the fees for the photos and sending the stuff in, it was just over $500 in 1998. It now pushes $1000. The fees for people wishing to come here as an immigrant or non-immigrant worker are even higher. Assume you are talking about a family of 4. You're looking at something like $4000 for them to all come here legally. Now you tell me how people who don't even have enough money to feed themselves are supposed to get that kind of cash. Oh and also tell me how that isn't a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit aimed at those who have money and at making the US government a ton of cash. Of course if you are financially well to do, more than likely the government will just turn it's head on making you file the forms and pay the fees because it knows the wealth you are bringing in.
Otay...that's all on this subject for now.
Til next time...
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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