"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