Posted on 06/07/2007 1:23:45 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
As heated as the debate over the immigration overhaul is on Capitol Hill, the divisions may run even deeper among immigrants themselves.
The measure is pitting computer-science Ph.D.s against strawberry pickers, legal immigrants against illegal ones, and those who want it all against those who are grateful for whatever the bill offers.
"Our only hope is immigration reform," said Connie Yoon, a Korean immigrant living illegally with her parents and sister in Chicago. "The chance of legalization - it means everything to us."
The legislation before the Senate could lead to the most sweeping changes in U.S. immigration policy in decades. But America's immigrants do not speak with one voice.
The nation's 35 million foreign-born residents hail from more than 100 countries. Some are illiterate, and some hold advanced degrees. They live amid the bustle of New York City, and in sleepy rural backwaters. Some sneaked across the border, others followed all the rules to get here.
Even the approximately 12 million here illegally - who arguably have the most to gain - are split.
The bill contains a provision that would allow them to stay and work, and eventually become residents. But for that, they have to pay thousands of dollars in fees and fines, learn English, and return to their home countries while immigration officials clear a backlog of residency applications, a process expected to take eight years.
These demands are pushing people who once marched side by side for immigration reform into opposite camps. Some consider the bill woefully inadequate. Others support any route to legal residency, however arduous.
"Right now, we have nothing - just immigration sweeps and deportations," said Nora Sandigo, a Nicaraguan immigrant who is in Miami legally and helps newcomers without documents who are afraid to speak out. "It doesn't matter if they impose conditions. Anything is better than nothing."
But El Salvador native Reina Isabel Flamenco took a day off from working as a home health care aide for the elderly to join a crowd of immigrants gathered outside the San Francisco office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein to call for the bill's defeat.
"Who will take care of my children if I go back to my country to wait for years for my turn to become legal?" said Flamenco, who has not seen her sister and parents since she crossed the border illegally 16 years ago. "They don't understand our reality."
Other illegal immigrants said registering with the Homeland Security Department, as the bill requires, would mean exposing themselves and risking the measure of stability they have found working here.
Frantz, a 24-year-old Haitian immigrant who has been living in the United States illegally since he was 9, sends his grandparents $200 a month from his bartending job in Miami. He is one year away from finishing a degree in business administration and hotel management and is afraid returning to Haiti's political turmoil to await his turn in the long legalization line will derail his career and hurt his grandparents.
"There's no food for them to eat if me and my family don't send them something," said Frantz, who did not want his last name used for fear of being deported.
Among other things, the bill would make it harder for immigrants to bring over family members. Instead, the government would rely on a point system that rewards job skills and education when deciding who should be allowed to enter.
Well-educated professionals are, of course, pleased with that provision, which would replace a system in which employers sponsor would-be immigrants for admission to this country.
"The point system - overall it's great," said Gautam Aggarwal, a software engineer from India working for a Silicon Valley start-up. "Employers won't be able to exploit employees anymore, because skilled persons could apply for a visa on their own."
But Rita Zabala, who has picked grapes and oranges in California's San Joaquin Valley since she was 15, said a point system would be unjust for people like her.
"These are very hard jobs that we are doing out here," said Zabala, 35. But she does support the bill's guest worker program, which would allow immigrants to work temporarily in the United States.
"I have a lot of faith that something fair will happen as far as immigration," she said. "I have a lot of hope."
El Salvador native Reina Isabel Flamenco took a day off from working as a home health care aide for the elderly to join a crowd of immigrants gathered outside the San Francisco office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein to call for the bill’s defeat.
“Who will take care of my children if I go back to my country to wait for years for my turn to become legal?” said Flamenco, who has not seen her sister and parents since she crossed the border illegally 16 years ago. “They don’t understand our reality.”
self ping for more time
Pure propaganda.
But But But..
You don’t understand “the reality”. :-}
Unbelieveable. Bush and the rest of his One-World sellouts are giving these people the keys to the kingdom, and its still not enough for them. It’ll never be enough. Give them a dollar they’ll want two.
ping
Problem is...the kingdom belongs to US. Aren’t we supposed to be the government? Aren’t our voices supposed to count?
This “immigration” bill looks like it is just about on life support already.
Do the decent thing, Senators, and bury this bill. Then take the individual provisions and pass them or modify them so they could POSSIBLY be made to work.
There was absolutely no need to stick all the contradictions and land mines into one bill.
The irony of all this Senate floor theater is ..
None of this is necessary.
Just enforce what laws we have on the books , build what we proposed to build fence-wise,
Another place to find the illegals along with the meat packers: Home Health care.!!
Why would I want someone administering meds to a member of my family or to me if they cannot be excellant with the English language???
Just say NO to Amnesty!! Before it’s too late!!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
I’ve been doing a lot of travelling, tagging along with my husband on his business trips. I’ve been asking everyone what they thought of the immigration bill as it stands, or stood before the Senate and the responses were overwhelmingly negative. The biggest concern that I hear from everyone is that the illegals are already voting and it will just be worse if they are given any kind of amnesty. Some of the people said that they just became aware that the illegal were voting and were very upset by it.
Others mentioned the nasty attitude of many of the illegals, as if they were victims, much like the young Black Panthers of the sixties. If these people don’t like White people, what are they doing here? While waiting for the plane to return from So Cal, my husband remarked that he could never return to California to live, that too much has changed, and not for the better.
Take your children with you Reina......no, really.
Home Health care.!!
Just another one of those jobs that Americans aren’t doing.
bleh
bump for later
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