Thread: immigration is a privilege not a right (new member)

Hi,

I immigrated to the US with my family LEGALLY in the late 70's, while I was still a teenager. My family came here from South Africa, and we were English speaking.

I know that I speak for millions of other legal immigrants whose families have now or in the past voluntarily chosen to move to the US for many reasons with always the same desires. The need to assimilate, respect our new country, contribute and be given the opportunity to pursue our dreams was always the belief of legal immigrants from all countries and backgrounds. This was the glue that has always held the fabric of this great country together.
The knowledge that this country OWED NEW IMMIGRANTS NOTHING, except that it respected basic human rights and allowed all its citizens to be safe from persecution and free to pursue their dreams.

In the late 60's my father was invited by the US Air Force (Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio) to demonstrate metallurgical processes he had developed. Soon after that my parents started their applications necessary for legal immigration. We did this the right way even though my father had contacts here who could easily have speeded up the process.
The process was burdensome, costly and took several years. I am sure that many US citizens are not aware of the difficulties and sacrifices needed to be made.
1) First, a detailed police report had to be obtained from the home country, making sure that nobody had any criminal background.
2) A clean bill of health had to be provided with complete medical and immunization records of all immigrants.
3) The most important requirement was to ensure that any new immigrant could financially provide for themselves and have the educational skills necessary to be competitive, lest anyone would be a financial burden on our new host country (what a concept?)
4) We needed a sponsor, another family member already residing legally in the US who would have to step up and be accountable in case of any unforeseen problems. This was an aunt who had emigrated 10 years previously.

Fast forward approximately 28 years. How things have changed.
I now have my own family and two of my own small children, and live in Los Angeles. I have worked hard, and have never asked the federal government for any assistance. I have always played by the rules, and still have the values that my parents have instilled in me.
I am very patriotic, and have a US flag flying outside my house and am constantly appreciative of the opportunities that this country has given me. I cast my first vote ever as a citizen for President Ronald Regan right after I had finished college.

I AM OUTRAGED about the present illegal immigration situation in our country. This is a slap in the face to all legal immigrants whose families have sacrificed so much to be a part of this country.
The duplicity that the federal government is engaging in with regards to turning a blind eye to the illegal immigration problem is appalling.

I, like many true conservatives have always supported the traditional Republican Party. I voted for President Bush on both occasions. I am clearly aghast at his immigration policies which are so disastrous for the well being of our country. (I don’t expect anything better from the new Democrat Party).
Why would our government want to legalize millions of people who have already broken our laws, and have shown clear disregard for anything that this country stands for?
Sure, most illegal immigrants want to work hard to earn money for their families. But this is not the point. The plight of poor people from other countries is not the responsibility of the USA.
Americans have always been generous and have donated more money for needed causes, including food and medicine than any other country. There are approximately two thirds of the world’s 5 billion people living in sub standard conditions. We are in a unique situation that we are the ONLY first world country being contiguous to a third world country, that I know of, anywhere in the world. This obviously poses a very special set of problems and challenges, and we especially need to be up to the task.

It is easy for Europeans and other free border proponents to lecture us on the advantages of regional integration and having countries without borders. People who travel from Belgium to France and then to Italy will not notice much of a change in living standards and values between these countries except the language differences.
This is obviously not true for illegal immigrants, who mostly come here from Mexican as well as Central America. Their educational levels are extremely low, ensuring that they cannot compete for any but the most labor intensive, low skilled jobs.

The resulting social costs that this host country is forced to endure is no longer sustainable. The sheer numbers of people are overwhelming all of our infrastructures, including public schools, hospitals, and becoming an ever increasing burden on taxpayers. This situation will only become worse unless the entire process is reversed. Law and order is breaking down in areas with high illegal immigrant populations. More often now, US citizens are being challenged and their very way of life and living standards they have built in their communities over decades are being threatened. It is ironic that many areas in cities and towns throughout the US are now resembling the same third world countries from where many of these immigrants have come from. High crime rates are endemic and corruption and fear is always prevalent. We all know that the percentage of illegal aliens committing crimes is disproportionally higher than for Americans.

If we do not act soon, before we know it, this country will be so changed for the worse that the very US laws and Constitution which has protected us and made this country the great place it has been for so long will be unrecognizable.
Awareness and speaking out to effect change starts with organizations such as Alipac, whose leadership and members obviously care a great deal about this country. Their message must never be silenced or all will be lost.

Thanks,
dm

Welcome aboard dm - a very nice introduction and backgrounder indeed!

Thanks for jumping in with us, and...(albeit a tad late)...
Welcome to the USA!!! It's nice to have you along as a fellow American.

Welcome to Alipac, dm! Your outrage is certainly understandable. Your family played by the rules, and now you witness the disgraceful invasion facilitated by our greedy government and its corporate masters.

Glad you have joined us.

I've always wondered what the legal immigrants think about this mess. Thanks and welcome.

Welcome to the forum DM. Thank you for that post. I've always said in the past, "how do you think the people who went through the process feel about the illegal immigration problem. Is it fair to them"? I have a good friend who's now wife came from spain and went through the same drawn out process that your family went through. She was college educated and couldn't get a "career" job for the 6 years of the process. Instead she humbled herself to work at Crown gas station in the dunkin donuts that's inside of it.
My feeling is that the illegal migrants don't have the work ethic or common respect that your father did (with exception to some). He was looking to build a life and pave a path for his family. They are basically looking to make as much money as they can so they can send it home for an "early retirement" without contributing to the hand that feeds them.

Again, welcome to the forum.

Welcome to ALIPAC.

Welcome, dm.

The reason the foreign nationals from south of the border don't apply the legal way is because at least one of those stipulations you mention above wouldn't pass muster, and they know it. So they sneak in and force us to put up with them anyway. I'm beginning to believe Mexico opened up it's prison doors and chased them up here until they got across the border, because we are seeing more and more crime.

Welcome dm.
Your post above should be sent as a letter or email to elected officials.
Very well written.
And proud of you and your family!
Please stay with us ok?

Welcome dm!

Very nice post. Thank you.

WELCOME TO THE ALIPAC TEAM "dm" I truly hope you will stick around and join in the fight to save our country.

I can see you are a real patriotic American with the understanding of what it means to be an American, something that has been lost with our President and over half of our congress.

These are sad days for the citizens of the United States of America, but with patriots like you and the members of many organizations like ALIPAC the "LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE " WILL prevail. We will save this country for our children and grandchildren, WHY! because "UNITED WE STAND" and "UNITED WE WILL WIN" we are not going for "DIVIDED WE FALL" it is not an option!!

Please get involved and post often this is our weapon, educating people!!
Again WELCOME from all of us!!