Legal vs. Illegal Immigration:

[popgun]

A Different Viewpoint on (LEGAL) Immigration:

or Another Point to Ponder:

I have read comments time and time again on this, and other forums, about the real problem we have with illegal immigration.

I agree that we have a real problem.

Most, including myself, feel like, “Bring them in as long as it is legal.”

“Just don’t sneak across the borders and expect any rights, when entry into the United States was illegal to begin with.”

Did you know that shortly after 9/11 the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was discontinued?

That’s right; the INS became the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services and was moved to the jurisdiction of The Department of Homeland Security.

So…If you were to wear a black ball cap with INS on it, and venture into a farm field or chicken processing plant, you probably wouldn’t even get a second glance from most of the illegal aliens working there. Even the illegal employers would laugh you right out the door.

I will admit that my perspective may be different than most Americans.

I happen to deal with the present situation every day.

I have been married to the greatest woman God ever could bless me with, for over 37 years. I met and married my wife while stationed in the Philippines from 1967 to 1970. The fact that I married a woman from the Philippines is in no way the fault of, nor the responsibility of the US Government or the US Taxpayers.

In 1974 my wife became a Citizen of the USA.

Together we have paid our taxes (thousands and thousands of dollars), voted in elections, and taken our responsibilities as US Citizens should.

Ronald Reagan was pushing for it relentlessly, and while he was President of the US, got a bill passed called the Family Reunification Act. It allowed for more lenient restrictions of family members of US Citizens to immigrate into the country their parents love.

We applied for, and were granted a petition for a 3rd preference immigrant visa on

Dec. 12, 1994.

This date is significant because it is called the “priority date”.

Whenever the priority date arrives, the applicant will be issued the visa. The applicant will not be issued a visa nor can he or she immigrate to the US until this “priority date”.

Normally the priority dates advance a few months, monthly when the new visa priority date list is released.

Now this is where things get complicated.

The visa priority list is so far behind, that when we applied and were approved, there was an average 9-12 year wait.

The dates were advancing at a slow rate until January of this year.

In January, the date was 02-08-91. By June, the priority date had slid backwards to

07-01-88. The August priority dates were just released, and the date has been pushed back again to 12-01-85.

Now these dates were for the Philippines, but look what happens when we take a look at the same dates applied to Mexico. In January the Mexico priority date was 10-08-94; In June it was 03-01-93; now in August it is 01-01-81.

Now, I ask you; If you were waiting to come into the United States legally, could you wait that long?

I’m telling you; if my wife’s family lived in Mexico, I probably could be persuaded to try and help them across the Rio Grande.

In all reality, the Pacific Ocean is too deep to wade, and too far to swim.

Next time you have to go through a lot of red tape to get an out of state hunting license, or wait to be drawn for a permit; I just ask you to be patient. Someday when your number starts to get close, how would you feel to see it get pushed back a few years?

We could probably wait for that special deer permit because we aren’t starving.

If you think that getting a Wildlife Officer to listen to your problems is tough, try getting someone from the US Department of State, US Homeland Security, or the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services to answer your questions.

There are indeed “Big Problems” with illegal immigration, but I think we need some “real work” on the legal process.

The forgotten taxpayers

….popgun and the Mrs.

[wtnhunt]

Re: Legal vs. Illegal Immigration:

Thanks for enlightening us on the processes popgun, no doubt these problems need some work.

[stevebeilgard]

Re: Legal vs. Illegal Immigration:

we've got problems for sure. but, nothing we can't overcome