I was one of the "legal option" people for many years. That is until recently when the realities of American immigration law have become clear.
Most American's believe that the spirit of the following poem (from the statue of liberty) still lives in our immigration laws:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
I am sorry to tell you that this beautiful poem, which exemplified the welcoming virtues of our republic, is no longer representative of our immigration law.
Today the "poor, tired, huddled masses yearning to be free" are denied any possibility of immigration. To immigrate legally to the United States, an individual MUST be sponsored by an employer, OR have a U.S. Citizen (who is a close blood relative) sponsor their immigration. To have an employer sponsor an immigrant is a time consuming, expensive task. Most employers won't go through the trouble unless it is a high profit / high demand position. Ask an immigration lawyer if you don't believe me.
So, for those of us who throw our hands in the air asking, "why don't they come here legally", hopefully this will give you an answer.
Despite the lack of legality, why do these people risk their lives to come here? The reasons are vast and varied. But for the most part they come to work, make money, and support their families back home. Some actually do want to stay, but there is no legal way of doing so.
As a result, when they arrive they live in the shadows. Illegal immigrants are brutalized and victimized by gangs and thugs on a massive scale compared to citizens. The thugs know they can get away with it because the illegal immigrants won't go to the police for fear of being deported.
I also hear many people complain that illegal immigrants don't pay taxes, which is absolutely false. Click here to read the article discussing taxes for illegal immigrants.
It is true that some of them come and have large families, and the children born in the U.S. are American citizens. I have heard many people complain about this fact. They apparently forget that their ancestors likely benefited from that very same amendment. However, most illegal immigrants live meager lives, and remit their savings to support their families.
Another reason why people come here illegally: there is a need. Certain jobs are hard to fill with American workers (farm labor, housekeeping, janitorial, fast food, etc.). The fact is that these jobs don't pay well, and few provide benefits. Not many Americans want them.
It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect that citizens get jobs first. But if an employer runs an ad and gets no applicants, what are they do to? What if they applicants they get don't fill all their available positions? They could raise prices and offer better wages. But then these same industries have lobbied heavily against minimum wage increases, so that seems like a non-starter.
A few questions that every American has to answer in their own minds:
- When there is a demonstrated need for low wage labor, why do we rail against a migrant worker program?
- When people come here to fill the need, and have NO OTHER LEGAL OPTIONS, why do we then punish and demonize them?
- Why do we treat these hard working people as subhuman?
- Why do we reward our political leaders for either supporting the status quo, or for passing draconian "enforcement only" laws?
- Considering how illegal immigrants are treated, how much better do we treat them than we did slaves before 1864 or blacks before the civil rights act?
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