Thank you, NPR

[serinde]

So NPR's Morning Edition, topical folks that they are, have been running stories this week about the immigration hoo-hah. This morning, they ran a bit on a topic near and dear to my heart, wherein a gentleman from India who's been waiting ten years for his green card spoke on How Very Nice That All You Illegal People Have Advocates But What About Us Who Have Been Doing It All The Right Way, Getting Screwed Anyways, And Are Now Going To Get Fucked Even Harder Because You Are Going To Get It On A Silver Platter And We Will Get Flooded Out Of INS.

Only he was much more eloquent and without the naughty words.

And that's exactly where I am: Yes, the whole illegal immigration thing is a giant mess. Yes, many of them get treated very ill indeed, and the system requires a serious bloody overhaul. However, I don't find that I have many tears for people who are deliberately ignoring the law and seem to expect to be handed a green card Just Cuz when people like sweh are still moiling at the back of the queue, watching the process getting shipwrecked again, with the continual threat of overstaying their visa & getting sent back, having gained nothing and wasted years,hanging over their heads.

Comments

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

Ayup.

When I march for immigrant rights, I'm marching for *all* immigrants. Legal ones, too. I have too many friends who are living on the edge here.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to hear that. I haven't made an extensive research of it, I do confess, but most of what People Are Talking About and what's covered in the media and the concentration of a lot of the advocacy groups seems to be about the illegals, hence my vexation.

(And I still have this fear that, when it all eventually trickles through into some form of government action, that it will end up being about the illegals and the legals will get lost in the shuffle--but I'm glad to know that they're at least on the movement's radar.)

[reddragdiva]

Divide and conquer.

[tactisle.livejournal.com]

And meanwhile, with the Sides(tm) screaming over the aisles at each other about whether the illegal immigrants should be declared Felons! or Victims! but either way, targeting the Illegal Immigrants for all the special attention...

...the real issue, which is the fact that so many contractors and factory farms and slaughterhouses are getting hooked on the idea that they can circumvent minimum-wage and worker-protection laws by hiring illegals, is quietly swept back under the rug.

[nancaurelia.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who's a judge in immigration court. Her opinion is that we don't need new laws; we need to better enforce the laws we already have. She constantly sees illegals that she convicted many years ago, back in her courtroom. Instead of deportation, they are released on bail, which they jump. And wind up back in her court 10 years later, still illegal with an additional conviction.

While people like Sweh are being jerked around for following the rules.

My sister who is a school teacher in Denver points out that the US government requires that all minor children receive a free education in the public schools -- even if they are not in the country legally -- even if they don't speak English -- even though their parents are paying no taxes, can't be drafted, etc.

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

Solution? Relocate!

Our immigration system is only fucked up if you're not a well-off white person. Actually, it's reasonably nice to well-off people of all colours. Just don't have the temerity to be scared for your life and show up without doing the paperwork in advance and you'll be fine.

(More seriously, I suspect a key part of the problem in the US is that the illegals, unlike the H1Bs, are pretty much vital to the US economy. They're doing the shit the locals don't want to do. Even without voting-bloc considerations that's still a big reason to tiptoe around the whole issue.)