Thread: U.S. policy fails to meet needs of immigrants, Americans

U.S. policy fails to meet needs of immigrants, Americans

Updated 6m ago

I read with amazement that, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, "U.S. citizens trying to bring a spouse or young child to the USA can get visas for them almost immediately." He must have a different understanding of the word "immediately" than most of us ("Immigration has grown more complicated," News, Sept. 28).

READ ARTICLE: Immigration has grown more complicated

An American friend of mine sponsored the immigration of her British husband, and the process entailed six trips to the embassy, thousands of dollars in fees and travel costs, and months of paperwork.

I sat in a consular services meeting this year in which officials plainly stated that it is, in fact, more difficult for a foreign-born spouse of an American to get a tourist visa than someone who is not related to an American. I am looking forward to my own marriage and realize what I face. I cannot realistically get my foreign-born fiancée a tourist visa to have her travel to meet my family before the wedding. Any application for an immigrant visa likely will take months. And unless I quit my job in the midst of this horrid economy and move back to the USA, we cannot begin the process of applying for an immigrant visa.

America is in dire need of immigration reform. Laws that keep spouses apart do not support the goals of U.S. immigration policy. Failure to control illegal immigration results in an overwhelmed system, which fails to meet the needs of American families, too.

Andrew Wilmoth; Cayman Islands
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Improve conditions elsewhere

In articles about illegal immigrants and their travails in arriving here, why is the USA made out to be the bad guy? Why are some of these illegal immigrants complaining to us about lack of opportunities, poverty and poor education in their homeland? Shouldn't they direct these questions to the government of their countries?

Why have Mexico, Guatemala and other countries south of the Rio Grande escaped hostility for the continued economic oppression of their citizenry? It seems as if the sole recipient of anger is the United States.

Doesn't it make good sense for the USA to aid work within those countries to improve the lot of their people, rather than trying desperately to absorb these unskilled, poorly educated peoples year after year?

I am tired of being on the receiving end of this anger. I am weary of being accused of being racist and a bigot simply because I want better for my country. If you love your native land, stay there and work to improve it. Don't come here and complain about us.

Janice Kushner; Severn, Md.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/le ... 5_ST_N.htm

What we need to do is enforce ALL of our immigration laws.