I want to point out that in the US parents who have a child born there do not get US Citizenship themselves automatically (as the cartoon implies). I personally know a number of people in the US who have American-born children but are themselves illegally present. Once their children reach the age of 18 they can apply to legalize their parents and only after that process can the parents apply to become citizens. So the parents can become US citizens but their children will be adults before it can happen. Having kids in the US is not a viable path to citizenship, it's not even a viable path to legal residency. And make no mistake, children born in the US may be US citizens but US Immigration might still deport the parents, and the kids along with them. It happens every day.
Thank you RG, and you are absolutely correct about the bait. I'll add to this discussion about immigration by mentioning that despite the fact we've focused on Mexicans, lots of other nationalities face equal frustrations. My wife, who was born in the East End of London, lived in England, Germany Spain and Italy, is fluent in 4 languages and was a successful business woman, had the most insanely difficult time obtaining a green card and her US citizenship. It seems as though the US immigration quota for educated, English speaking, financially independent people is zero. We had to marry before she could even apply. After arriving in mid 1997, she did not get her papers until October, 2005 and even then, if it were not for the intervention by a friend in the State Department (it ain't what you know, it's who you know) she'd probably still be waiting. My favorite story within that ordeal is the steaming morning at 27 Federal Plaza in Manhattan when a very large and masculine female Homeland Security matron began bellowing at the top of her lungs that my wife should move to the end of the room and sit down. That's when I picked up the ID card hanging from her neck and softly informed her that while she might get away with that behavior, she wasn't going to get away with it when hollering at the wife of a US citizen and veteran. It seemed to have calmed her down, although I wonder if at the end of the day she shreddded my wife's file, adding another couple of years to the wait. My other story, again at 27 Federal Plaza, was the morning we got their early, got a front row seat, and listened to two counter clerks, assuming we spoke no English, talking about the herd of cattle arriving and how they couldn't stand dealing with it. I wonder if the folks on Avenida Nader talk about us that way? Anyhow, the point of all this verbosity is that the US has turned its back on the very thing that contributed to its greatness, namely the melting pot of equal opportunity behind the Golden Door. Starting with the Hart-Cellar Act of 1965, the focus of immigration policies slowly shifted to sharper restrictions on Europeans and a more liberal policy towards Asian and African applicants. And while the Bill's initial purpose was to base admission on skills and abilities, it has morphed to purely geographic reasoning, hence my wife's difficulties while the streets of Manhattan were flooded with Gabonese street merchants selling knock-off Gucci handbags. The company I worked for brought in a very talented person from what was once East Germany on a temporary work permit. When we decided to keep him we had to invest 3 times his salary in immigration lawyers to make it happen. It was worth it, but stupid. Here was a university trained, multi-lingual, very talented, well paid and taxed individual and Uncle Sam didn't want him. Go figure.
Yes, they suck! And then they do insane things and give green cards and citizenship to people who should not have it. I know of a guy in the states who was shot by a SWAT team after they surrounded his house because he was holding his American wife hostage at gunpoint in there. The guy is a junkie and a drug dealer. He was shot by SWAT. And THEN a few months later he had his citizenship interview and was given citizenship. Go figure. I know others who've had fake marriages and been given green cards and citizenship. But people with real marriages have trouble getting a tourist visa. Whenever you see video of immigrants to the US taking the oath when they get their citizenship they are always crying. And you are led to believe that they are crying because they are so happy and so proud to finally be US citizens. But actually they are crying because that whole huge pain in the ass with US immigration is finally OVER, it's just relief, that's all!
U.S. citizenship filings decline after fee hike Number of applications decreases 50 percent as fee increases 69 percent ORANGE, Calif. - Immigrants aren't seeking U.S. citizenship as often these days — not since the American dream became more expensive. Following a 69 percent increase last summer in citizenship fees, about 281,000 immigrants have applied to become U.S. citizens in the first half of 2008 — less than half the number of applicants in the same period last year, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Read the rest at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26639393/ I guess they finally found a way to keep them pesky furreners out.
