CIR: You Can't Always Get What You Want (When You Want It)

I am a strong supporter of Comprehensive Immigraton Reform (CIR).

I have been on both sides of the fence. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was an attorney for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. I spent a couple of years representing the government in deportation proceedings, often conducted in Federal prisons. Are there people in the U.S. who should be deported? Absolutely! I have no regrets.

But even while serving as an INS Attorney, I fully realized that the man that I deported on Friday afternoon would be back in the U.S., working at his job to feed his family probably before I showed up for work the next Monday. What a waste of time and taxpayers' money!

We need a DREAM Act, an AgJobs Act, a Guest Worker program, and a Path to Citizenship. We also need to fix the broken legal immigration system which penalizes people who play by the rules. All of this must be coupled with strong enforcement both at the border and at the workplace.

We also need to be realistic. With double-digit unemployment lowering the living standards of Americans, won't these needed immigration reforms be a hard sell? Look at the contortions that the Administration has been going through to try to achieve health care reform. Look at what happened to Teddy Kennedy's Senate seat yesterday. The 2010 elections are only months away.

If CIR is voted upon in 2010, I do not expect the result to look anything like the Gutierrez bill. It will be a bill that will make a mockery of everything we have fought for. Mandatory E-Verify, local enforcement of heavy-handed immigration restrictions, more detention centers, less rights for immigrants.

I recommend that we consider piecemeal reforms in 2010, and reassess the situation in 2011.

Comments

[nelbee]

I never imagined that after over 17 years of living in America, I'd still be without a greencard. I am now married to an American, have 3 kids, American citizens, have been an RN since 2001, and have been paying my taxes from the first year I came here and started working. I've been through a lot so far, and somehow I'm still hanging in here, raporting to the ICE office every month, waiting day in and day out for a letter that would finally reopen my case and put an end to this sham, waiting for a change in the government's policies, yet nothing is happening. What am I supposed to do with my life? I have pressure from all angles I'm looking at it: my husband wants to move into a new house, due to increase in taxes and in the size of our family, but I can't due to my immigration problem, then he fails to understand the situation and threatens me with divorce, which would ruin my entire immigration case, and with complete certainty, my whole entire life, then my children are growing in stress and anxiety due to parents that are always fighting and seem unable to handle the hardship of this impossible situation... etc. WHEN is this going to change? How can I handle this kind of stress without losing my sanity? My lawyer can't come up with any bright ideas, and it seems that people in government jobs don't give a rat's ass about people like me, which are in the millions and millions, lost among the crowds, and fallen between the cracks. What else is there for us to do but wait and wait and wait some more?

[grace]

I guese you are right.Heres my situation.I came here legally.An American citizen stole my documents before I could hop on a plane and go home,I applie for a religeous visa which was approved only to be revoked with an unreasonable explanation which I latter found could be reversed.Making appeals fell on deaf years as they had decided they didn't want to grant the approval even though the revocation was a mistake on their part but instead gave more insane reasons for denial.In the meantime my country goes into chaos and I have nowhere to go.Whew,Real illegal here but no attorney is willing to help as they say my time to appeal has expired and then to add insult to injury the finala denial had a note that said I was subject to removal, That was in 03.What do you think will happen?

[A.A.A.]

I dont even want to begin with my frustration with this immigration bill and these repulicans nd democrats not to mention our New president(who promised us immigration in the first year) with there hipocrisy & false hopes that they have been feeding the poeple. Do they even realize that how many lives they are affecting, forget the uneducated crowd, but the educated crowd is dragged in this mud and paying taxes sincerely and dont even get a word to say about all this. If its not the economy, its their elections, there is always something there! How long have we been hearing about this immigration bill, comhrehensive bill, today, tommorow...next month, this year!!!!! GOOD LORD!!!! give us a break!!
WE were hopeful that Our new president would be more understanding towards this issue but i guess we were wrong!!!

[Dmpls]

I hear you all!! Sometimes with the natural selfishness of humanity I felt I was the only one dealing with major immigration issues such as the one's mentioned above. Obviously, I know better and believe me when I say I am as frustrated as all of you. I was brought to the U.S. at 11 years of age, I am now 35 and still "undocumented" as we are called, even though all I'm waiting for is a visa number to become available for my country. Mexico!I became an RN here in the U.S and haven't been able to work because I don't even have a WAP. I have three U.S citizen children whose life styles could be so much better if Mommy could only work and help support the family. My husband also Mexican native file his documents with someone who fradulently file documents for hundreds of people, took their money and ran. My husband was deported back to Mexico in 2008. It just seems that we are "HOPELESS" because no one seems to care about us, since we ARE still undocumented. Anyone who wants to support an immigration reform comes under attack from all sides.