Thread: New citizens favor amnesty for illegal arrivals

http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/142936.html

Almost forgotten in the debate over fixing the nation's broken immigration system are the millions of immigrants who waited patiently outside America to legally walk through its doors.

It's people like Claudia Mellado, who waited six years in her native Peru for a U.S. visa. Or Kent Padmore, who emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago 16 years ago as a green-cardholder. And there's Patricia Mendes Noriega who legally came to this country as a child from Brazil with her parents.

These immigrants took the final step in becoming naturalized U.S. citizens on Thursday when they joined more than 6,000 immigrants who swore allegiance to the United States during two mass citizenship ceremonies at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Despite their long bureaucratic journey to get to the United States, these newly naturalized citizens and others voiced no objections to legalizing the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants who broke U.S. immigration laws.

The views expressed by these new Americans comes at a time when Congress is poised to resume debate on a stalled immigration reform bill. The legislation, soon to be reintroduced in the Senate, includes a controversial provision that would give millions of undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, yanked the bill from the Senate floor June 7 when Republican senators refused to limit debate. Late last week, at the urging of President Bush, senators agreed to bring back the bill -- perhaps as early as this week.

The finer points of the legislation were not in dispute at last week's naturalization ceremonies in Miami Beach.

''If people have earned the right to be here, they should be given the opportunity to be here,'' said Padmore, Marine of the Year last year after being wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq and serving two tours of combat duty. ``If people are going to make positive contributions to the nation, if they don't have any pertinent negatives in their background, they should be given the opportunity.''

Padmore, a 40-year-old Miami firefighter, recited the pledge of allegiance during the afternoon naturalization ceremony and sat at the dais with Michael P. Jackson, deputy secretary of Homeland Security, and Emilio González, head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Padmore's sentiments were echoed by other new Americans interviewed at random after the ceremonies. Their views reflect the results of recent polls conducted nationwide and statewide. A poll of 801 likely Florida voters conducted for The Miami Herald and other Florida media outlets two weeks ago showed that 60 percent of those surveyed endorsed legalization for undocumented immigrants.

Each of the new citizens interviewed Thursday had a different view on why the undocumented should get status. But all agreed the bipartisan Senate bill was something they could support. Fears the legislation will encourage more illegal immigration, a factor cited by bill opponents, were not raised by the new citizens.

The closest any of them came to expressing concern was Mellado, the 25-year-old Peruvian. She said border controls should be tightened to end illegal immigration once and for all.

''The people who are already here, inside the country, should be given an opportunity to stay, but they should reinforce the border, so the same problem [of illegal immigration] doesn't happen again,'' said Mellado, a computer technology student at Miami Dade College.

All the others expressed no reservations about the undocumented.

''I'm glad we are addressing it because we do need [immigration] reform,'' said Mendes Noriega, 39, a Fort Lauderdale financial services executive.

But she said the high fines and fees contemplated in the bill could bar many poor migrants from obtaining status.

Under the plan, an illegal worker would pay $1,000 to obtain a Z visa and then pay an additional $4,000 to apply for permanent residence. A family of four could end up spending $20,000. Z visa holders, however, would not be required to apply for permanent residence in case they don't want to become citizens.

''We have a very large, very poor [migrant] population,'' Noriega said. ``A lot of the migrant workers that we have here in South Florida, in Homestead, make minimum wage. So how can they really afford it?.''

Genevieve Delisma, a 32-year-old Haiti-born social worker, said legalization ''would be a great opportunity'' for the undocumented.

''This is a country of opportunity,'' she said. Delisma obtained a green card after marrying a U.S. citizen.

Teresa Ghilardi, a 46-year-old Peruvian-born translator, was so excited about becoming an American that she went up to González, the Cuban-born director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and asked him to pose for a picture with her. He gladly obliged.

''I'm so proud to be an American today,'' she said, waving the small U.S. flag she was holding in her right hand. ``Every immigrant, like I am, has a right to have an opportunity like I had, and this is certainly the land of opportunity. They should be given an opportunity.''

Turning to González, who was next to her, she quoted a passage in his speech to the new citizens in the morning ceremony.

'As he said, `This is a country that gives you an opportunity. It doesn't guarantee you any success, but it gives an opportunity. And if you take it, you can go as far as the sky.' ''

González told The Miami Herald after the morning ceremony that the proposed immigration changes are not dead.

''I'm very optimistic that we still have an opportunity for immigration reform this year,'' he said. ``Obviously, we would have preferred to have gotten something out a couple of weeks ago. The fact the Senate is going to take a step back, take a respite, is going to be very positive.''

Jackson, the deputy homeland security secretary, echoed Gonzalez's view in an interview after the afternoon ceremony.

''I think the debate will continue,'' he said. ``I'm hopeful that they'll find a way to converge in the middle and find a bill that is sensible and acceptable to enough of the Congress to be able to pass.''

Almost forgotten in the debate over fixing the nation's broken immigration system are the millions of immigrants who waited patiently outside America to legally walk through its doors.

...almost but not quite forgotten as opposed to native born Americans who don't even count at all!!!

It's people like Claudia Mellado, who waited six years in her native Peru for a U.S. visa.

OH! The humanity!!! These people act like we are the cause of their 'long-suffering'!

The views expressed by these new Americans

is obviously much more important than any other Americans!

''If people have earned the right to be here, they should be given the opportunity to be here,''

Where did 'earn the right' garbage become the criteria? SAYS WHO???
Americans , we are not being spoon fed, this stuff has got to be shoveled!

Finally found a group to poll that supports illegal alien amnesty, have they???