Thread: Illegal Alien rights activists wary about President's Plan

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Immigrant rights activists wary about president’s plan
by Susan Ferriss

25 January 2007

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - President Bush’s State of the Union call for assimilation - but not amnesty - for illegal immigrants could present America with conflicting goals if Congress is not careful, some immigrant rights activists fear.

If Americans want immigrants to assimilate, then it doesn’t make sense - as Bush seemed to suggest in his speech Tuesday - to create a system to require millions of residents to wait for a protracted period of time to even be allowed to apply for U.S. citizenship, said Francisco Estrada, director of public policy for the Sacramento office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“It’s a contradiction to say, `We want you to assimilate as fast as possible, but we want you to wait as long as 10 or 15 years before you can even become a citizen,’” said Estrada, whose state - California - has the most to gain or lose with Washington’s decisions on immigration reform.

Illegal immigrants live and work all over the country, but California is home to the biggest concentration, with an estimated 2.5 to 2.7 million undocumented people out of 11 to 12 million nationally.

Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., said he believes Americans might accept a selective legalization requiring foreigners to earn permanent legal residency - or “green card” status - only after a prolonged wait with certain requirements to fill to show they are assimilating. Some Americans would rather the undocumented never be allowed to become citizens, Lungren said.

“I just don’t think that they (Americans) want a cheap path to citizenship,” Lungren said.

Lungren sits on a House of Representatives immigration subcommittee that will have a major role in crafting a proposal.

As a starting point, the new Democratic-controlled Congress will revisit a Senate bill passed last year that would have legalized some illegal immigrants and increased visas for foreign workers to fill labor shortages.

The bill would have required illegal immigrants accepted for legalization to wait another dozen years before they could even qualify to become legal permanent residents. To get a green card, they would have to hold onto jobs here, pay taxes and show they are learning English.

Then, those foreigners would then have to wait about another five years to be allowed to apply for citizenship. That adds up to a 16-year wait.

For one Mexican woman who works in a Sacramento high-rise office as a night janitor, the long wait to vote and fully assimilate is less than ideal. But she would be grateful for any legal status after eight years here in a semi-secretive life.

“This is such a big country and full of such good people,” said the janitor, who requested anonymity because she fears deportation.

“For many of us here now, from Mexico or Central America, there is no future for us back there,” she said. She was not proud to accept an invitation to work illegally here, she said, but was desperate to support her daughter back in Mexico.

In his speech Tuesday, Bush’s was brief on the topic of immigration. But he said enough to show he supports legalizing at least some of the millions of undocumented workers here and changing the U.S. visa system, which provides few avenues for immigrants to legally work here.

“We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new arrivals,” Bush said.

“We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country,” he added, “without animosity and without amnesty.”

Tamar Jacoby of the pro-free-market Manhattan Institute think-tank in Washington - which supports more work-based immigrant visas - said Bush is seeking a middle ground and trying to soothe those who don’t like the idea of granting undocumented workers amnesty.

In 1986, Congress made it a crime to hire undocumented immigrants while allowing beneficiaries of an amnesty to apply for a green card only 18 months after they were granted legal status.

Jacoby said she sees no problem in requiring today’s illegal immigrants to wait longer to obtain green cards. “We should have a system with options,” she said.

Some foreigners might prefer to work here legally, and then return to their country of origin. Those who want to become Americans could use the years of waiting time to learn English and civics, she said.

Eliseo Medina, a Los Angeles-based vice president of the Service Workers International Union, said he would prefer allowing immigrants to naturalize on a faster timeline.

Medina sits with Jacoby on a national business-labor coalition that supports legalization and more visas for foreign workers. A former farmworker, he helped turn his organization into one of the nation’s fastest-growing unions by recruiting immigrant janitors - like the one in Sacramento - and other service workers into the union’s ranks.

“We’ve got all these people here, taking care of kids, taking care of the elderly, cleaning and working on farms, and we even have kids of these people going into the military to try to get citizenship,” Medina said.


© 2007, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).

“We’ve got all these people here, taking care of kids, taking care of the elderly, cleaning and working on farms, and we even have kids of these people going into the military to try to get citizenship,” Medina said.

So whats you point? You have illegally entered this country ...so to freaking bad...Ms. Medina...go home and do it right and then I will care!

“We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new arrivals,” Bush said.

Yeah when they go home and do it the right way we will welcome them...but if they shove it in are face and demand what they think they have a right too...then there will be GREAT ANIMOSITY

Hey I wonder why Texas has not publicized one ICE arrest...when it is like a stirred up fire-ant hill full of illegals....I mean if they just stopped at any rest area on I -35 or watch for moving violation like speeding or no licence tags...I mean the list goes on....but nothing

Unbelievable. They are worried about waiting for something they stole? Huh? What is wrong with this picture. If it were up to me, the only thing they would be waiting for is a plane/bus/donkey ride back to where they came from!

redbadger wrote:

Hey I wonder why Texas has not publicized one ICE arrest...when it is like a stirred up fire-ant hill full of illegals....I mean if they just stopped at any rest area on I -35 or watch for moving violation like speeding or no licence tags...I mean the list goes on....but nothing

That's an excellent question! You're right, I haven't heard much in the way of illegal immigrant raids in Texas.

...everything you all said and then this little question from me.

We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot

We do?! WHY??? What's more important, traditions of generosity or laws of sovereignty? (g-d piece of paper Jorge?) What we need to uphold is the laws of this land!!! LIAR LIAR