Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Immigration: My take on it

As a liberal conservative and an immigrant of this country, my points of view on immigration could be conflicting at times. I believe one of the strong appeals of the U.S. is their welcoming of foreigners. And of course as any country, not only do they have to regulate their immigration laws but also need to enforce them as well. Most illegal immigrants have not come here illegally, many come with a visitor status then decide to stay or get a student visa then forgo school. Thus finding themselves in very compromising situations.
There are many aspects on immigration that remain somehow "obscured" and lots of prowesses that Illegal immigrants deploy to "fix" their status. I know of one particular poignant, see disastrous story of such kind, it will feature in one my upcoming posts. Nevertheless, I'd like to bring to light a new kind of immigration path that, if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would implement it, could truly enhance the quality of immigrants in this country. I've often times thought about it when I was completing my undergrad degree, thought of me as a genius til I read a similar suggestion from Thomas Friedman last year (great minds think alike, uh). In his post, Friedman reports that he was at a commencement ceremony at one of America greatest Science and Technology school and as the students' names (Ph.D students) were read, he noticed all of them had foreign consonance “Hong Lu, Xu Xie, Tao Yuan, Fu Tang”, had he been at Park university, it would be "Peter Mwangi, Patricia Kengne, Michael Aboagye, Feneal Kromah", all of them from African ascents and titular of computer science degree. On the 55,000 immigrant visas that DHS distributes through its Diversity Visa Lottery, if only half of it could be granted to current international students who have completed their studies, this would guarantee an imperishable amount of human resources in Science & Technology and many others areas where there's shortage. Friedman even goes as far as suggesting that an Immigration Officer should sit during one of those ceremonies and affix those students' diplomas with a U.S Citizen status.
Now, what about cherries' pickers, cleaning engineers or grass cutters? Yes, what about all those blue collar workers who contribute so greatly to our economy? And no, they're not taking away jobs from Americans, they're filling up jobs that Americans do not want. They take of our elderly in nursing homes, they clean up our offices after business hours, they cut off our grasses, they serve us fast food at check out windows, they pay taxes by sending money to their family using American companies such as: Western Union or MoneyGram. I believe the American government should find a way to let them stay here, they should augment the number of H2B visas, and give taxes subsidies to company that recruit and sponsor them.
And yes, if an illegal immigrant commits a crime, they should be deported no question asked. If a legal immigrant commits a crime, they should be tried squared and fairly.

5 comments:

Prince Hamilton said...

Those Americans who complain foreigners are taking their jobs are mere whiners and failures. No real successful person would be crying that foreingers are taking their jobs. However, America should deport all illegal immigrants and only those with valid visas: student or visitors be allowed in the country. Their smartness does not exempt the fact that they are breaking the law.

Oliver said...

If the US automatically grant the US citizenship or residency to a foreign student, it will be accused of favoring brain drain in less developped countries. It will unquestionnably raise some moral questions.I think no country in the world (apart from Australia, but hell, who'd want to go to Australia) grants the resident status automatically. The applicant always needs to provide proofs why he/she wants to stay.If it's for a job, the company will need to prove that there's no citizen available for this job. It's the case in nearly every developed nation (Canada is an exception, immigrants are needed there to fill the country. Just like the US, a couple of centuries ago).

Tresor De Beaute said...

Oliver -- Moral questions? Which ones for instance? The US is already "favoring brain drain" with his H1B program, and there's still a shortage of human resources in Science & Technology. All I'm offering is a different way to tackle the problem. Besides, Residence status would be granted given that the petitioner has willingly accepted to live and work in this country.
Prince Hamilton -- You stated that "America Should deport all illegal immigrants", and my question how would they proceed? We don't have the resources to do that, therefore why not turning a disastrous/out of control situation into our advantage? A solution could be:
- to triage and deport with no hesitation any illegal immigrant that has committed a crime under the federal/state law
- to give a temporary renewable working permit to those who have already been employed: this will considerably limit identity theft, false tax reports and employer's exploitation of their illegal employees.

Anonymous said...

Could you tell me what a liberla conservative is? I have never heard the term before.

Tresor De Beaute said...

Gunfighter, I would define s.o as a liberal conservative who at the base sees themselves as a liberal, thus would agree to, for instance, giving driver licenses to Illegal Immigrants while in the other hand, embraces a more conservative point of view such as deporting the troublemakers.

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