Friday, May 25, 2007

DEFEAT THE FLAWED IMMIGRATION BILL


I believe everyone should have the right to go anywhere he wants to find a job and build a decent life. I don't believe in borders. No country should have the right to physically prevent a person from entering and leaving freely.

But I am totally against the new immigration bill. For one thing, it proposes building more walls between the U.S. and Mexico. The United States is going to join Israel and East Germany in constructing a wall to keep people out and in some cases in. This would be a wall, hated by those on the other side, and its symbolism of U.S. exceptionalism cannot be missed by the millions of people in South and Latin America who would interpret it as American disdain of those who speak another language or who have darker skin.

Secondly, the immigration bill requires that people in the U.S. without documents jump through nigh impossible hoops to obtain permanent residency and a "green card." They must pay fines, the head of household must return to his/her country of origin to make the initial application, and they must wait too long a time for the process to come to fruition.

Thirdly, the bill allows for temporary guest workers, but after every period of two years, the worker must return to his country and wait one full year before returning and securing another temporary work permit. Furthermore six years of working in the U.S. is the maximum. This plan is unworkable. If a person works for six years in the U.S., it would be cruel to say that he/she could never return. The result would be to raise up an inferior class of workers who have little rights and little hope of acquiring property or possessions in the United States.

For all of these reasons, I hope congress defeats this defective attempt at immigration reform.

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