Deal reached on immigration

[I'm Gone 60]

This bill is a joke, all carrot and no stick. Fortunately, the House bill is a lot tougher and hopefully they won't get rolled when they go to conference.

[almaty 19]

This bill is a joke, all carrot and no stick. Fortunately, the House bill is a lot tougher and hopefully they won't get rolled when they go to conference.

let's hope so....

[meauxna 15]

This bill is a joke, all carrot and no stick. Fortunately, the House bill is a lot tougher and hopefully they won't get rolled when they go to conference.

What a great civics lesson tho! I love trying to explain all this crazyness to the DAH, but my mom thinks I'm trying to turn him against Republicans.

I think they're doing a great job on their own. And the other ones aren't doing themselves any favors either.

[Peter 0]

This ####### is making me angry is all i'm saying.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

This bill is a joke, all carrot and no stick. Fortunately, the House bill is a lot tougher and hopefully they won't get rolled when they go to conference.

let's hope so....

Let's do more than hope. Let's tell our US Reps that we will not re-elect to Congress those that swore to uphold the law of the land to then turn around and reward those who break it. And let's get our friends and families to do the same. There may be 11 million illegals. But there are many multiples of that in law-abiding, hard-working Americans that are eligible to vote.

Maybe the people still have a voice if they just tried and spoke up.

[keltic 1]

This bill is a joke, all carrot and no stick. Fortunately, the House bill is a lot tougher and hopefully they won't get rolled when they go to conference.

let's hope so....

Let's do more than hope. Let's tell our US Reps that we will not re-elect to Congress those that swore to uphold the law of the land to then turn around and reward those who break it. And let's get our friends and families to do the same. There may be 11 million illegals. But there are many multiples of that in law-abiding, hard-working Americans that are eligible to vote.

Maybe the people still have a voice if they just tried and spoke up.

what if we come up with a standard letter that we can fill in our names and addresses to be able to send to senators/congressmen/the president? there are a lot of ppl that might put their name in and print one out, but not actually compose a letter themselves... i know i have a lot of family in another state that could send to their representatives, but they wouldnt begin to know what to say... we have a big membership here, yes? and all those folks have family and friends that might back them up, yes? it could be a nice number of folks that would oppose... maybe even enough to make a bit of difference and get some of the representatives that are on the fence to go against this bill

[babybunny 2]

No pedro, i don't agree with you.

From my point of view, I think it's special treatment. Pure and simple. And a reward for breaking the law.

[Girona40 0]

This bill is a joke, all carrot and no stick. Fortunately, the House bill is a lot tougher and hopefully they won't get rolled when they go to conference.

let's hope so....

Let's do more than hope. Let's tell our US Reps that we will not re-elect to Congress those that swore to uphold the law of the land to then turn around and reward those who break it. And let's get our friends and families to do the same. There may be 11 million illegals. But there are many multiples of that in law-abiding, hard-working Americans that are eligible to vote.

Maybe the people still have a voice if they just tried and spoke up.

what if we come up with a standard letter that we can fill in our names and addresses to be able to send to senators/congressmen/the president? there are a lot of ppl that might put their name in and print one out, but not actually compose a letter themselves... i know i have a lot of family in another state that could send to their representatives, but they wouldnt begin to know what to say... we have a big membership here, yes? and all those folks have family and friends that might back them up, yes? it could be a nice number of folks that would oppose... maybe even enough to make a bit of difference and get some of the representatives that are on the fence to go against this bill

I was surprised at how many people I know agreed with me and don't want this Bill passed. I drafted a short letter to my senator and I sent it to everyone in my address book. Every single one of them forwarded it on to their senator's and congressmen and added their signatures. I am sure the more our representatives hear from law-abiding residents of the US, the more notice they may take.

I do think this will effect those doing it legally - the system stinks, yes, but it is going to be even worse with this mess to sort out. How long do you think it is going to take to process K-1's or K-3's AND 11 million applications by illegal immigrants, with the same number of caseworkers? Do the math and tell me this isn't going to effect processing times.

[keltic 1]

This bill is a joke, all carrot and no stick. Fortunately, the House bill is a lot tougher and hopefully they won't get rolled when they go to conference.

let's hope so....

Let's do more than hope. Let's tell our US Reps that we will not re-elect to Congress those that swore to uphold the law of the land to then turn around and reward those who break it. And let's get our friends and families to do the same. There may be 11 million illegals. But there are many multiples of that in law-abiding, hard-working Americans that are eligible to vote.

Maybe the people still have a voice if they just tried and spoke up.

what if we come up with a standard letter that we can fill in our names and addresses to be able to send to senators/congressmen/the president? there are a lot of ppl that might put their name in and print one out, but not actually compose a letter themselves... i know i have a lot of family in another state that could send to their representatives, but they wouldnt begin to know what to say... we have a big membership here, yes? and all those folks have family and friends that might back them up, yes? it could be a nice number of folks that would oppose... maybe even enough to make a bit of difference and get some of the representatives that are on the fence to go against this bill

I was surprised at how many people I know agreed with me and don't want this Bill passed. I drafted a short letter to my senator and I sent it to everyone in my address book. Every single one of them forwarded it on to their senator's and congressmen and added their signatures. I am sure the more our representatives hear from law-abiding residents of the US, the more notice they may take.

I do think this will effect those doing it legally - the system stinks, yes, but it is going to be even worse with this mess to sort out. How long do you think it is going to take to process K-1's or K-3's AND 11 million applications by illegal immigrants, with the same number of caseworkers? Do the math and tell me this isn't going to effect processing times.

could you post that draft here? thats what i am asking... that we have a letter or something here that ppl have access to... or better yet, a few different letters that say basically the same thing...

Edited April 7, 2006 by keltic

[Girona40 0]

This bill is a joke, all carrot and no stick. Fortunately, the House bill is a lot tougher and hopefully they won't get rolled when they go to conference.

let's hope so....

Let's do more than hope. Let's tell our US Reps that we will not re-elect to Congress those that swore to uphold the law of the land to then turn around and reward those who break it. And let's get our friends and families to do the same. There may be 11 million illegals. But there are many multiples of that in law-abiding, hard-working Americans that are eligible to vote.

Maybe the people still have a voice if they just tried and spoke up.

what if we come up with a standard letter that we can fill in our names and addresses to be able to send to senators/congressmen/the president? there are a lot of ppl that might put their name in and print one out, but not actually compose a letter themselves... i know i have a lot of family in another state that could send to their representatives, but they wouldnt begin to know what to say... we have a big membership here, yes? and all those folks have family and friends that might back them up, yes? it could be a nice number of folks that would oppose... maybe even enough to make a bit of difference and get some of the representatives that are on the fence to go against this bill

I was surprised at how many people I know agreed with me and don't want this Bill passed. I drafted a short letter to my senator and I sent it to everyone in my address book. Every single one of them forwarded it on to their senator's and congressmen and added their signatures. I am sure the more our representatives hear from law-abiding residents of the US, the more notice they may take.

I do think this will effect those doing it legally - the system stinks, yes, but it is going to be even worse with this mess to sort out. How long do you think it is going to take to process K-1's or K-3's AND 11 million applications by illegal immigrants, with the same number of caseworkers? Do the math and tell me this isn't going to effect processing times.

could you post that draft here? thats what i am asking... that we have a letter or something here that ppl have access to... or better yet, a few different letters that say basically the same thing...

Well, this is what my friends sent to their senators and congressmen. I am sure there are people at VJ that will not agree, but for what it's worth all my friends agreed and used this letter to send to their representatives.

"I oppose the Guest Worker Program and Earned Citizenship Bills that are being circulated in Congress at the present time.

I find it incomprehensible that people that entered without inspection, break laws on a continuing basis, do not pay taxes, are a burden to taxpayers, are being considered for immigration benefits whereas legal immigrants struggle with the current laws being applied correctly.

I can only see one thing resulting from such a Bill being passed, further incentive to enter the US illegally.

A family in West Virginia, who are friends of mine, are faced with their son being deported because the USCIS are not applying the rules correctly. What is being done to help them? A US citizen would be forced to leave the country of his birth to keep his family together - yet they did everything LEGALLY.

Please think carefully before you vote for something that has the potential to INCREASE illegal immigration into this country and deter those doing it legally from doing so. There are enough loopholes as it is now in the Immigration system that need closing, before offering benefits to people that break the law."

[NeonExile 0]

Personally, I think the whole bill is a joke. I also think it'll have a minimal effect on legal immigration. This is a bill to sweep the issue under the carpet, not resolve it. How many illegal immigrants do you honestly think will return home and go through legal channels as a result of this bill? If the percentage get anywhere close to double figures, I'll eat my own face.

My point, I guess, is that this doesn't make it any more difficult for illegals to enter the country (and when I say 'illegals', I mean people who have come here without going through official channels. Where they came from is not the point), and it doesn't encourage anybody to leave. Those people who have talked about it being an overtly political move to satisfy a certain block of voters are absolutely correct. At the same time, it's a lame attempt at being seen to take action against the problem and so avoid the ire of another block. It'll pass, immigration will drop out of the news, and everyone will forget about it until next time.

That's politics, and unless you own a newspaper or a national TV station, there isn't a whole hell of a lot you can do about it.

[/cynicism]

[Amy and Brian 1]

From the Houston Chronicle: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/3774766.html

The bill combines strict border enforcement and tougher employer sanctions with a guest worker program and an 11-year path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.

Among other requirements, the illegal immigrants would have to work continuously and pay fines and back taxes.

Illegal immigrants who arrived between two and five years ago would have to return to any foreign port of entry, such as Juarez, Mexico, or Ontario, Canada, to register for legal status and establish how long they had been in the U.S. They would not have a promise of future citizenship.

Illegal immigrants who arrived more than five years ago would get on the 11-year citizenship path outlined in the McCain-Kennedy plan.

I thought it might be wise to point out that no one is planning on handing illegal immigrants instant citizenship on a silver platter. 11-years for citizenship certainly isn't anywhere near the short three years we will all have to wait eventually.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm in no way supporting this. I just thought some key facts needed to be added. It's absolutely unfair for the government to even suggest such a thing while all of us are being kept apart while we jump through the necessary hoops. When I was 16-19 years old and waiting for my previous AOS to go through down in Texas, this same sort of legislation was in the news and boy did it piss of my step-mother who'd been working her ####### off to get me and my father through all the immigration processes LEGALLY. I didn't have any grasp of it at the time, but now here I am years later in a similar situation and I finally know how she felt (and why).

Everyone who has mentioned making our voices heard to both government representatives as well as media has got the right idea. (My step-mother wrote to our congressman, senator, the vice president AND the president in the previous mentioned case) Yes, this is unfair. Yes, it's not right. But just complaining about it here isn't going to solve the problem either.

Also, a sidenote. I am highly amused by the specific mention of Ontario, Canada (where I am obviously located) in the article Are there really that many illegal immigrants from Canada to warrant the mention of people returning to a POE there? Hell, I'm going through the LEGAL prcoess for the SECOND time coming from this area.

Edited April 7, 2006 by Amy and Brian

[pedroh 21]

but how is this gonna increase illegal immigration if they have to go out? and also there's gonna be a quota on guest visa workers?? i dont see the logic at all..

ah..

i can just say.. why bothering on something that wont hurt or affect u.. but. go ahead.. and write some purty letters.. lol

lol.. so now visajourney is MinuteJourney.. har har har har.. send me nice pics from the border.. and if u go to Tihooana, get a beer

[I'm Gone 60]

but how is this gonna increase illegal immigration if they have to go out? and also there's gonna be a quota on guest visa workers?? i dont see the logic at all..

Yeah, who going to leave? Most will figure #### that I'm already a guest worker.

[iceyspots 0]

How are they going to know how long they have been in the US? Wouldn't everyone just say over 5 yrs to stay?

Exactly.

Well, they'd have to back that up somehow. And they'll have to check. Taxes may play a role in that determination as well. Whatever it is supposed to be, it's going to take time and resources. Meanwhile, if you don't have your fiance(e) or spouse here yet, Good Luck!

And everyone still looking to get something processed, better learn to be patient once again.

Well, hope that we can count on the House to slap the Senate into shape on this one...

Taxes? If they're undocumented they don't pay into income tax.