Thread: Put legal immigration on the front burner

New Voices: Put legal immigration on the front burner
By Jessica Hewkin | Special to the Sentinel

12:00 a.m. EDT, July 9, 2011

It is not news to anyone that the immigration system in this country is broken. We hear opinions from politicians and activists, neighbors and friends, but what is the main topic of their discussion? It is illegal immigration.

Which poses the question: What about all of the immigrants who came to this country legally, and much like their illegal counterparts cannot find a way to citizenship or even permanent residency?

I can speak personally as a member of this group. Born in England, I came to the United States legally with my family when I was 10 years old as a dependent on their Treaty Investor (E-2) visa, attended public school all of my life, and received a Bright Futures Scholarship to attend the University of Central Florida.

However, now upon graduation I face the likelihood of having to leave the U.S. if I cannot find a job that will support my work visa before my student status expires.

I find this extremely ironic, given the arguments that insist we need to keep our talent at home. The state of Florida has provided for my public education, yet the federal government is more than willing to see me leave and use my degree to better the work force of another country — due to a lack of appropriate immigration legislation.

Though there are quite a few ways to obtain a Green Card (status as a permanent resident), unfortunately an investors visa, such as an E-2, is not one of them. This is despite the fact that according to E2Reform.org, these investors have brought in over $40 billion to the U.S. economy and created nearly 1 million jobs.

We are worried about the lack of jobs in our state and the fact that jobs are being sent overseas, yet we sit back and ignore (as well as potentially export) an entire population of immigrants who provide jobs to American citizens.

The fact of the matter is that right now the job market is tough for everyone but almost impossible for children of investor visa holders. There are onerous restrictions that go into finding a job that meets the criteria for work visas, never mind being able to pay the exorbitant fees that go along with the paperwork.

Many people may have heard of the DREAM Act — a piece of legislation concerning the children of immigrants that has garnered a lot of media attention. The bipartisan measure would provide a six-year pathway to citizenship for many undocumented children that requires earning a college degree or serving two years in the armed forces.

However the proposed bill would not embrace the children of investors simply because they are in this country legally.

If passed this bill would provide a path to citizenship through conditional permanent residency to illegal immigrants and illegal immigrants only.

I support the DREAM Act because I can identify with the young people it will affect. However we cannot ignore that, much like their illegal counterparts, children of investors came to this country through no choice of their own and have the same dreams to stay in the country in which they grew up.

Therefore, as a supporter of the intent behind the legislation, I do not understand why it cannot also include legal immigrants.

Investors give up everything to come to this country, yet their children are being punished under immigration reform legislation simply because they did everything according to the law.

My hope for the upcoming election in 2012 is that these faults in our legal immigration system will be brought to the table.

We have to make fixing them a priority. If we don't we will not only lose the talent we are currently neglecting, but we also will discourage investors and students from coming to this country in the future.

Email submissions of about 600 words to newvoices@orlandosentinel.com. Include a high-resolution JPEG image of yourself.

Jessica Hewkin, 21, of Orlando, graduated this year from the University of Central Florida.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opi ... 6054.story

Umm, utter nonsense. So on a student visa there is no path to gaining citizenship (besides a work visa if can find one)? Or more to the truth no path to citizenship that the writer is willing to take.

I served in the US Army and in my time had 2 comrades in my unit both who were NOT Americans. One was a Canadian and another a Filipino both were in the US on Student Visa's. However both took an option to gain US Citizenship through service which is available to those on Student Visa's. Serve 8 years in the US Military and you gain citizenship. The program to my knowledge is still running and fully available, and to boot being in the Military will also pay your college and even reimburse your college through the GI Bill and a few other programs.

So whats so hard with that? Serve the country (not the government) you want to be a part of and EARN that citizenship. But of course we're supposed to simply educate immigrants and then give them citizenship for free and make sure that their American Dream comes to true any personal sacrifice or hard work....