Legal immigration/ amnesty for illegal immigration

[Al and Patricia 23]

I just wanted to get this off of my chest and to get some feedback from all the VJ’ers out there. This is about amnesty for illegal immigrants. Here we are, trying to do the right thing and do it the legal way to bring our loved ones to this country. It is a long and somewhat expensive process. Now and in the past few years, we hear some politicians trying to circumvent this process and offer citizenship to people that have broken the law, are sometimes a drain on our medical infrastructure and often do not pay taxes or pay into social security. And I think, what bothers me most is the fact that this is not about humanity but mostly for votes.

I do not want to color all illegal immigrants with this broad brush and there are many that come here for the right reasons but in the wrong way. I know, most only want a better life for themselves and their families. Do I think the process we now have for this is terrible and needs to be reworked..hell yes, but to me, if you come here as an illegal immigrant, there should be no amnesty. It is a slap in the face for ALL citizens that are trying to do this the legal way. This is not a political statement but if you want immigrant workers then issue a visa for work to all that want to come and make it for 6 months, then they must go home for a time and apply again for another work visa. This would allow people to come here and make some money legally and to help their families, pay taxes and hopefully if they really like this country, try to get citizenship or legal status the right way.

The process we are now under is slow and arduous. It does need to be changed for ALL visas.. We, the citizens that are trying to do this the right way, have to PROVE over and over again that we are not in a fraudulent relationship, we jump thru the bureaucratic hurdles only to be ignored or given bad information by the employees that are paid for by the fees that are collected from our applications. When you call, most times they read from a script and give NO real information about where we are in the process. In this modern day we live in, there is NO reason the petitions are not updated to the computers they obviously have. This cannot be a money saving ploy, it must take much more time to read this script then to just give us a ball park time frame as to where the petitions are at in the process.

Do I think we need to be vigilant for the bad people that want to come here to hurt us.. absolutely !! Do I mind paying these fees and have our petitions be scrutinized .., NOT if it helps to keep this country safe but, I do not think this is the reason for the fees, not when we have a policy that allows people to just walk here with little or no accountability.

I have read on here denial of the petitions for whatever reason, I have read where a man’s baby dies because the visa wasn’t processed in a timely manner. I have also read some of the stories of immigrants taking advantage of the USC and their love, to get immigration so, I am going to assume the process we now have is still flawed. How can someone tell on a computer, sometimes thousands of miles from you, if you really have a bone fide relationship or not? For now, we are all stuck waiting to be approved and the sad thing is, we have NO way to know when this will happen..5 months?? MAYBE..6 months, still maybe…7 or 8 months??? Meanwhile, we read if you have enough money to buy a home for $250,000 you can just step to the head of the line. MY GOD, why is this?

I am not sure how many of you will read this and I want to be clear, I am only looking for some consistency,respect and civil treatment and real information and of course for immigration laws and time-lines that makes sense to all of this.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

The Dream Act (amnesty for illegals) is nothing more than a sell out for votes. It awards people who willingly and knowingly broke the laws of this country when they chose to enter it illegally. Tens of millions of illegals in this country that we know nothing about...background, criminal history...nothing. What we do know is that many of them here are using stolen SSN's and identities.

[BishopM 114]

I don't think its that difficult of a scenario:

1) Keep legal immigration about like as it is...its not that tough...we all make it through it and it is a pretty good screening.

2) Enforce the laws we currently have in place regarding illegal immigration.

If we did those two things...without any new legislation...I guess we'd be in pretty good shape.

Blessings - BishopM

[Al and Patricia 23]

don't think its that difficult of a scenario:

1) Keep legal immigration about like as it is...its not that tough...we all make it through it and it is a pretty good screening.

2) Enforce the laws we currently have in place regarding illegal immigration.

If we did those two things...without any new legislation...I guess we'd be in pretty good shape.

Blessings - BishopM

This is the problem, many of us DO follow the law and have no or little complaints......mostly we complain about lack of current info and no definitive time line and YES,, DO follow the law on illegal immigration, this is what we would like to see....why is it that many come to this country illegally with little or no punishment and the possibilty of amnesty and there are many with loved ones that have to jump thru hoops..

[BishopM 114]

don't think its that difficult of a scenario:

1) Keep legal immigration about like as it is...its not that tough...we all make it through it and it is a pretty good screening.

2) Enforce the laws we currently have in place regarding illegal immigration.

If we did those two things...without any new legislation...I guess we'd be in pretty good shape.

Blessings - BishopM

This is the problem, many of us DO follow the law and have no or little complaints......mostly we complain about lack of current info and no definitive time line and YES,, DO follow the law on illegal immigration, this is what we would like to see....why is it that many come to this country illegally with little or no punishment and the possibilty of amnesty and there are many with loved ones that have to jump thru hoops..

Ya...your's is a good question. However, I never felt like I had to 'jump through hoops'. All I had to do was follow the legal process...thats it! I actually thought it was pretty simple...or else I couldn't have done it Papers...and time...that was the only requirement, it doesn't get much simpler than that...in my opinion.

I can't sweat the illegal immigrants, which is why I say if we enforced the rules we have, we'd probably all be alright with the outcome. I can't blame them for wanting to come here, but I think they should only come here legally.

Amnesty...tough topic...I really am on the fence on that one...but I'd lean to sending all home.

Blessings to you!

M

[GVMack 9]

Al and Patricia, I totally feel the same way on this issue.

All of us on here are trying and fighting so hard to be reunited with our families, and going about it the "right" way.

Waiting patiently, and having to prove our relationships, and marriages are real.

Although its frusterating and your hurting cos your miserable with out your partner, believe that your time will soon come. Good things don't come easy, but good things happen to good people

These illegals may get amnesty, but they came about it the wrong way.

I have much more to say about this issue but do not say something not nice, although true

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

There is no proposal of an amnesty out there anywhere. The Republican Cowboy Actor Ronald Reagan was the last one who pushed this through Congress and it didn't work, now, did it?

What's proposed and what will happen is that some version of the DREAM Act will become law in late 2013 or early 2014. The reasons behind this are quite clear to me:

1) Cost.

Although there are only guestimates out there and nobody really knows how many illegal immigrants are currently living in the United States, even a conservative number would be 11,000,000,000. We also know, for a fact, that the average cost to deport a single person is now a whopping $11,500. That's because of the cost of the ICE agents, the detainment centers, but, most off all, because of the for-profit costs to house those folks. A single day in a detainment center costs almost as much as a day in a fine hotel. Since illegal immigrants have the right to fight deportation, a date with a judge needs to be set. Those judges cost money as well and they are filled up with appointments about 3 months ahead. That's what costs money.

Now multiply 11,000,000 times $11,500.00 and tell me what the cost for the American people is to deport all of the illegal immigrants.

That's correct. The number is so high that most calculators cannot show it to you. It's so high that I cannot pronounce it. It dwarfs the GPDs of many countries.

Thus, we need to reduce this at the weak end where it makes the most sense. Of course we need to remove all of the bad guys, and some of the normal guys, many of the normal guys, actually, but if we can exclude one group of people, it would be the children that are going to school. So therefore the DREAM Act provides much needed financial relief for us, the folks who pay income taxes.

Now add the time component to this. Even with the world-record deportation numbers we have since Obama took office, it would take 27-1/2 years to deport them all. Over twenty-seven years, if no new illegal immigrants enter the country. Want to deport even more? That costs more money! Where do you find that kind of money? And so the circle closes!

2) Humanitarian Reasons

Children have no say where parents take them, and since U.S. law requires children to attend school anyway, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, we may as well take advantage of the fruits of our money and keep those who are going to college and those who are willing to die as cannon food for this country. Those would be the ones who could get a path to lawful residency in the U.S., and I support this fully. I'm not sure if we should cut off the age of eligibility at age 18 or 21, but the main reason why the current proposals have a much higher age is purely for financial reasons. The age that will eventually be considered is not written in stone yet.

3) Political Reasons:

A large number of Americans have family ties that reach into the illegal alien community. Yes, the overwhelming majority of illegal aliens are Mexicans, and if you ignore the Mexican-Americans (I hate that term!) as potential voters, that would be political suicide for any candidate. For that very reasons it's only talk, talk, talk right now, and what will come out at the other end remains to be seen come 2013. Nobody will promise anything right now, only hot air is coming over from those hopeful appeasers.

At this stage of the primary, the Reptilian candidates have to appeal to registered Reptilian voters only. So they for the most part take a strong right-wing stance, but once they have chosen a nominee for the Presidential race, they need to get votes from proponents of a more liberal approach, and the flag will turn around in the wind, as always.

[웃 910]

Now multiply 11,000,000 times $11,500.00 and tell me what the cost for the American people is to deport all of the illegal immigrants.

That's correct. The number is so high that most calculators cannot show it to you. It's so high that I cannot pronounce it. It dwarfs the GPDs of many countries.

When you say $11,500.00 are you saying $11,500 or $1,150,000? Cause if it's $11,500 then the answer is a very small number:

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I'm all for mass deportation.

[Darnell 8,478]

i thought this was partisan, with the Dems really wanting it, so they'll have 1 to 6 million new registered DEMOCRATIC voters?

That's my take on it, from May Day Celebrations in NYC, broadcast on c-span, circa 2010.

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

1) Cost.

Although there are only guestimates out there and nobody really knows how many illegal immigrants are currently living in the United States, even a conservative number would be 11,000,000,000. We also know, for a fact, that the average cost to deport a single person is now a whopping $11,500. That's because of the cost of the ICE agents, the detainment centers, but, most off all, because of the for-profit costs to house those folks. A single day in a detainment center costs almost as much as a day in a fine hotel. Since illegal immigrants have the right to fight deportation, a date with a judge needs to be set. Those judges cost money as well and they are filled up with appointments about 3 months ahead. That's what costs money.

Now multiply 11,000,000 times $11,500.00 and tell me what the cost for the American people is to deport all of the illegal immigrants.

That's correct. The number is so high that most calculators cannot show it to you. It's so high that I cannot pronounce it. It dwarfs the GPDs of many countries.

Thus, we need to reduce this at the weak end where it makes the most sense. Of course we need to remove all of the bad guys, and some of the normal guys, many of the normal guys, actually, but if we can exclude one group of people, it would be the children that are going to school. So therefore the DREAM Act provides much needed financial relief for us, the folks who pay income taxes.

Now add the time component to this. Even with the world-record deportation numbers we have since Obama took office, it would take 27-1/2 years to deport them all. Over twenty-seven years, if no new illegal immigrants enter the country. Want to deport even more? That costs more money! Where do you find that kind of money? And so the circle closes!

11,000,000 x 11,500 is 126.5 Billion (I am pretty sure you can pronounce it) though the cost and time arguments are complete bogus.. If the decision is that "they need to be gone" you make it untenable for them to remain and a large subset will leave on their own.. You make it untenable by severely punishing corporations and people that hire them or give them aid (shelter, medical, etc) in any way... The cost to the taxpayer is then the same as it was for them to get into the country in the first place: zero...

This could also be done if it is decided to give them all amnesty... I would trade amnesty for all 11,000,000 in a heartbeat for changes in the law to allow *zero* tolerance for farmers and the like to use illegal labor in the future. There would be some temporary problems as prices adjusted to account for higher labor costs but it would also push efforts to streamline some of these industries that are getting by by paying people next to nothing.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

I say we all leave and let the illegals stay. I'm heading for Mexico so I can be an illegal American living in Mexico. I'll set up a meth lab and make millions. Who's with me?

[Used to be broken 147]

I just wanted to get this off of my chest and to get some feedback from all the VJ’ers out there. This is about amnesty for illegal immigrants. Here we are, trying to do the right thing and do it the legal way to bring our loved ones to this country. It is a long and somewhat expensive process. Now and in the past few years, we hear some politicians trying to circumvent this process and offer citizenship to people that have broken the law, are sometimes a drain on our medical infrastructure and often do not pay taxes or pay into social security. And I think, what bothers me most is the fact that this is not about humanity but mostly for votes.

Take the money paid into SS by those who are paying into SS with the wrong SS# and put it right into the enforcement budget. Take the farm subsidies away from US Farmers and quit decimating the Mexican economy. small but effective fixes. Put a couple hundred high level CEO's into jail for using

illegal labor for 3-10 years like you do with the illegal bars with NO waiver or time for good behavior.

I do not want to color all illegal immigrants with this broad brush and there are many that come here for the right reasons but in the wrong way. I know, most only want a better life for themselves and their families. Do I think the process we now have for this is terrible and needs to be reworked..hell yes, but to me, if you come here as an illegal immigrant, there should be no amnesty. It is a slap in the face for ALL citizens that are trying to do this the legal way. This is not a political statement but if you want immigrant workers then issue a visa for work to all that want to come and make it for 6 months, then they must go home for a time and apply again for another work visa. This would allow people to come here and make some money legally and to help their families, pay taxes and hopefully if they really like this country, try to get citizenship or legal status the right way.

when we had worker VISA's for farm labor sufficient to meet demand we had circular migration, but in current climate ANY Immigration law reform is painted as "amnesty" and will not get through Congress, so illegals make one trip and stay now without a VISA because they cannot get one.

The process we are now under is slow and arduous. It does need to be changed for ALL visas.. We, the citizens that are trying to do this the right way, have to PROVE over and over again that we are not in a fraudulent relationship, we jump thru the bureaucratic hurdles only to be ignored or given bad information by the employees that are paid for by the fees that are collected from our applications. When you call, most times they read from a script and give NO real information about where we are in the process. In this modern day we live in, there is NO reason the petitions are not updated to the computers they obviously have. This cannot be a money saving ploy, it must take much more time to read this script then to just give us a ball park time frame as to where the petitions are at in the process.

Do I think we need to be vigilant for the bad people that want to come here to hurt us.. absolutely !! Do I mind paying these fees and have our petitions be scrutinized .., NOT if it helps to keep this country safe but, I do not think this is the reason for the fees, not when we have a policy that allows people to just walk here with little or no accountability.

Not changing immigration law leaves us with our head in the sand about who is here. A documentation program at least lets us sift the good from the bad. The status quo of not wanting to know who is here for good reasons leaves us chasing dishwashers instead of terrorists and gang members.

I have read on here denial of the petitions for whatever reason, I have read where a man’s baby dies because the visa wasn’t processed in a timely manner. I have also read some of the stories of immigrants taking advantage of the USC and their love, to get immigration so, I am going to assume the process we now have is still flawed. How can someone tell on a computer, sometimes thousands of miles from you, if you really have a bone fide relationship or not? For now, we are all stuck waiting to be approved and the sad thing is, we have NO way to know when this will happen..5 months?? MAYBE..6 months, still maybe…7 or 8 months??? Meanwhile, we read if you have enough money to buy a home for $250,000 you can just step to the head of the line. MY GOD, why is this?

Investor VISA's EB5 you can buy your way in the American Way !

I am not sure how many of you will read this and I want to be clear, I am only looking for some consistency,respect and civil treatment and real information and of course for immigration laws and time-lines that makes sense to all of this.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

i thought this was partisan, with the Dems really wanting it, so they'll have 1 to 6 million new registered DEMOCRATIC voters?

That's my take on it, from May Day Celebrations in NYC, broadcast on c-span, circa 2010.

Gotta thank the libs like the ones in California and DC for turning this country into a third world ####### hole all for a few more votes.

[Ready to do it 101]

Seems silly to me that you titled your post "Legal immigration/amnsesty for illegal immigration" Why?

Your entire post pretty much is just one big complaint about the legal immigration process, and then you ask why is amnesty an option? Your complaints about the legal headache you go through are understandable. Perhaps if there was no such thing as illegal immigration and everyone was simply "legal" than all your complaints about the immigration process would go away. It's ok to complain about the process and it's ok to complain about illegal immigrants. But your post is all over the map, and the theme of it revolves around your disliking of the "legal" immigration process. So why in the world have you thrown a few sentences and a title about amnesty when that's not really the issue that disturbs you.

I just wanted to get this off of my chest and to get some feedback from all the VJ’ers out there. This is about amnesty for illegal immigrants. Here we are, trying to do the right thing and do it the legal way to bring our loved ones to this country. It is a long and somewhat expensive process. Now and in the past few years, we hear some politicians trying to circumvent this process and offer citizenship to people that have broken the law, are sometimes a drain on our medical infrastructure and often do not pay taxes or pay into social security. And I think, what bothers me most is the fact that this is not about humanity but mostly for votes.

I do not want to color all illegal immigrants with this broad brush and there are many that come here for the right reasons but in the wrong way. I know, most only want a better life for themselves and their families. Do I think the process we now have for this is terrible and needs to be reworked..hell yes, but to me, if you come here as an illegal immigrant, there should be no amnesty. It is a slap in the face for ALL citizens that are trying to do this the legal way. This is not a political statement but if you want immigrant workers then issue a visa for work to all that want to come and make it for 6 months, then they must go home for a time and apply again for another work visa. This would allow people to come here and make some money legally and to help their families, pay taxes and hopefully if they really like this country, try to get citizenship or legal status the right way.

The process we are now under is slow and arduous. It does need to be changed for ALL visas.. We, the citizens that are trying to do this the right way, have to PROVE over and over again that we are not in a fraudulent relationship, we jump thru the bureaucratic hurdles only to be ignored or given bad information by the employees that are paid for by the fees that are collected from our applications. When you call, most times they read from a script and give NO real information about where we are in the process. In this modern day we live in, there is NO reason the petitions are not updated to the computers they obviously have. This cannot be a money saving ploy, it must take much more time to read this script then to just give us a ball park time frame as to where the petitions are at in the process.

Do I think we need to be vigilant for the bad people that want to come here to hurt us.. absolutely !! Do I mind paying these fees and have our petitions be scrutinized .., NOT if it helps to keep this country safe but, I do not think this is the reason for the fees, not when we have a policy that allows people to just walk here with little or no accountability.

I have read on here denial of the petitions for whatever reason, I have read where a man’s baby dies because the visa wasn’t processed in a timely manner. I have also read some of the stories of immigrants taking advantage of the USC and their love, to get immigration so, I am going to assume the process we now have is still flawed. How can someone tell on a computer, sometimes thousands of miles from you, if you really have a bone fide relationship or not? For now, we are all stuck waiting to be approved and the sad thing is, we have NO way to know when this will happen..5 months?? MAYBE..6 months, still maybe…7 or 8 months??? Meanwhile, we read if you have enough money to buy a home for $250,000 you can just step to the head of the line. MY GOD, why is this?

I am not sure how many of you will read this and I want to be clear, I am only looking for some consistency,respect and civil treatment and real information and of course for immigration laws and time-lines that makes sense to all of this.