Thread: The price of being legal

The price of being legal
Tuesday, March 6, 2007

By MIKE KELLY
RECORD COLUMNIST



As protests go, the one that took place in Newark last week did not make much noise.

Fewer than 100 people showed up with handmade signs outside the federal building on Broad Street. Many did not speak English.

But most asked a vitally important question that could have a major impact on life in New Jersey:

Why charge legal immigrants so much money to obey the law?

At issue is a little-publicized federal proposal to increase fees twofold – in some cases, threefold -- for almost every step in the legal immigration process, from a basic application for permanent-residency "Green Cards" to citizenship itself.

The bureaucrats behind this proposal say they have no other choice – they have bills to pay to upgrade services for which Congress will not appropriate funding. As Shawn Saucier, the Northeast regional spokesman for the office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said: "It's a matter of economics."

But critics say this is just another way of encouraging undocumented immigrants to go into hiding and never emerge.

For New Jersey, the news of higher fees could not be worse. From hundreds of restaurants to scores of construction sites, the state is awash in illegal immigrants. Many do not pay taxes. Most do not have health care. Far too many live in substandard conditions in homes where construction codes are routinely ignored as bedrooms and basements are carved up into small sleeping berths.

The federal government should aim to encourage illegal immigrants to become legal – and legitimate contributors to society. But these new fees essentially punish immigrants who obey the law.

Consider the basic application for a Green Card. The current cost is $325. If the new fee structure is approved, the cost will jump to $905. Meanwhile, the fee to process a final citizenship application would rise from $330 to $595.

If you throw in the additional applications many immigrants file to remove their so-called "conditional" status, the basic cost of coming to America would rise from $1,050 to $2,320.

That's what federal immigration officials say the price hike will be. The staff of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez calculated that the final tally could rise to a whopping $3,125.

But neither estimate takes into account applications by legal immigrants to invite other family members to join them in America. And they don't include extra fees for lawyers, translators, or other advisers that many immigrants end up paying on the path to citizenship.

"There are many extra costs," said Menendez's staff director of immigration, Kerlyn Espinal.

In other words, the price to become a legal American – or even just a legal visitor – is getting far too expensive, possibly out of reach for the poorest immigrants who make up the vast number of illegals.

To understand this, try to imagine that you enter America legally with a work visa. Unless you are a physician or a computer programmer, you probably have to settle for a low-paying job, maybe at minimum wage.

Now try to imagine what it's like to pay northern New Jersey's high rents while also trying to save the $3,000 that you'll need to actually become a citizen.

Besides the new fees, federal immigration offices ought to post a new sign with this message:

Welcome to America.

Shut up and pay.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qst ... FlZUVFeXk5

Any immigrant who wants to come to america should pay their own way. NOT THE US TAXPAYERS. It is bad enough that they get small business loans at reduced rates, while americans must pay a higher rate. Immigrants should want to be americans and be willing to earn it.