Thread: Parents' citizenship is son's joy

"Parents' citizenship is son's joy

Intricacies of U.S. immigration laws work in favor of Venezuelan couple
BY KRISTIN COLLINS - Staff Writer
Published: Sun, Jun. 21, 2009 02:00AMModified Sat, Jun. 20, 2009

CARRBORO -- Ronald Bilbao will remember his 21st birthday not for gifts that he received, but for one that he gave.

This year on his birthday, Bilbao, a rising senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, sponsored his parents for legal residency in the United States -- 25 years after they left their native Venezuela for Miami.

His parents had been among this nation's estimated 12million illegal immigrants, with no way to rectify their immigration status, since 1984. But several years ago, they discovered that they were among a small group of illegal immigrants who have a path to citizenship.

In the nation's complex web of immigration laws, there is a provision that allows people who entered the country on legal visas and remained after the visas expired to apply for permanent residency -- but only if they have an immediate family member who is a U.S. citizen and at least 21 years old. Ronald, a U.S. citizen born in Florida, was their ticket.

He signed the forms on his birthday, Jan. 8, and in March, Bilbao's parents received green cards that allow them to live permanently in the United States.

It was a joyful occasion for his family. It was also a lesson in the arbitrary nature of U.S. immigration laws, which forgive some illegal immigrants and provide no remedies for others, Bilbao said.

Because he was born in Florida, the U.S. immigration system gave Ronald Bilbao all the rights of a U.S. citizen and allowed him to get a full scholarship to UNC-CH. It left his family, including his brother, who came to this country when he was a baby, on the margins of society for more than two decades before excusing their violations.

"I didn't do anything differently," Bilbao says. "I'm just lucky. And I had to wait 21 years so I could finally do something to help my family."

Law will help few

The law that helped Bilbao's family works for only a small number of immigrants. It applies only to people who entered the country on legal visas, an estimated 45 percent of the nation's illegal immigrants. It excludes those who crossed the border without a visa or committed any legal infraction, such as using false documents to get a job. Arcane provisions of the law bar still more people, on the basis of criteria such as the year they entered the country.

It will not help the majority of North Carolina's illegal immigrants from Mexico, many of whom sneaked across the border by swimming across the Rio Grande River or hiking through the desert.

Cases such as Bilbao's give fuel to both sides of the nation's contentious immigration debate.

Some anti-illegal immigration activists point to them as a reason to cut back on family-based immigration, and to deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. They say that violating the law shouldn't be rewarded with the chance to gain legal status.

Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, which pushes for stricter immigration enforcement, said the case shows the need for tighter laws that punish people who over-stay visas just as they punish border jumpers. "We need to deal with the illegal immigrants who are here the same way, regardless of how they got here," he said.

Immigrant advocates agree that cases such as Bilbao's point to a fundamental unfairness in the law. They argue that the nation needs immigration reform that would give all illegal immigrants equal opportunity to earn legal status.

Jack Pinnix, a Raleigh immigration lawyer, called current law "an irrational patchwork ofhappenstances that divides families."

Visas expired

Bilbao's parents, Lucia Romero and Henry Bilbao, moved to Florida in 1984 with their infant son, Robert. All had visas that allowed them to come legally, but the documents eventually expired.

kristin.collins@ newsobserver .com or 919-829-4881"

http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/1577509.html

Please follow the link and include your opinion in the comments section!

Also.....

If you're a North Carolina resident, please follow the below link and send your opinion on the subject to the N&O. Illegal aliens should never be rewarded! Thank you.

http://www.newsobserver.com/484/story/433256.html

This year on his birthday, Bilbao, a rising senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, sponsored his parents for legal residency in the United States -- 25 years after they left their native Venezuela for Miami.

25 years

Congratulations, you beat the system for 25 years. Here's your prize. This is disgusting.

25 years? why didn't they just use the Reagan Amnesty?

The Reagan amnesty covered farm workers the Bilbaos probably did not work on a farm and did not bother to have fraudulent papers drawn up for submission as was done by a million other people.

It excludes those who crossed the border without a visa or committed any legal infraction, such as using false documents to get a job

So how, exactly, were his parents supporting him and his brother after their visas expired? Or did they not have to prove before being given green cards where the money to feed, house, clothe, and provide medical care for the 2 kids and themselves came from, in addition to money needed for basics such as soap, toothpaste, dish detergent, laundry, electricity, a vehicle or two, etc came from if they weren't working under phony documents?
One more question: The title to this article claims his parents now have "citizenship", but the article states they now have "legal residency". Do they believe that means "citizenship"? Will they be voting in our next presidential election, after swearing to the registrar of voters, or someone at the Motor Vehicle Department, or one of those people who hang around outside of Walmart registering CITIZENS to vote that yes, they are now citizens? Who is confused here, the anchor baby, his parents, or the reporter who claimed legal residency is now the same as citizenship?

I found an article about the Anchor Baby in the original story utilized by his ILLEGAL parents to Abuse the 14th Amendment in securing their citizenship. This Anchor has community organizer written all over him.

Bilbao emphasizes service to students
Gabby Pinto, Staff Writer


Print this article
Share this article Published: Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Updated: Wednesday, January 28, 2009


DTH/Colleen Cook

Junior Ron Bilbao is one of six candidates running for student body president, including Thomas Edwards, Ashley Klein, Jasmin Jones and Matt Wohlford.
The name Ronald Fitzgerald Bilbao has a presidential ring to it.

Named after Presidents Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, the Miami native now aims to put president in front of his own name — student body president, that is.

Bilbao, who attends UNC for free as a Carolina Covenant Scholar, said he sees the student body president position as an opportunity to give back.

“The office should be filled with someone who can represent all the cross sections of the student body,â€

cayla99 wrote:

25 years? why didn't they just use the Reagan Amnesty?

Perhaps visa violaters weren't eligible for the 1986 amnesty.