It's back and it seems to be getting close to some kind of a vote in the Senate. Whether it passes in the House is another matter entirely-- the fact that the Farm Bill went down in a shock defeat this week should send a loud, clear message to the House Leadership that they better have their ducks in a row if their going to bring Immigration Reform to the floor.
To be honest, I'm less than optimistic about this becoming law. Doing anything has becoming something of a struggle for the legislative branch these days (though the executive branch isn't exactly covering itself with glory either) and immigration reform is big. It's so big that back in the day when Bush The Younger tried to get something done on this issue, he got nowhere- and he was a GOPer. (And sure enough, it's got a growing chorus of detractors on the Right-- Bill Kristol*, Mickey Kaus and this guy who compares it to the Panama Canal Treaty Redux. Apparently giving the Canal back is another reason to hate Jimmy Carter, I guess.)
Being a legal immigrant myself, I can attest to just how effed up the immigration system actual is. One lovely trip back from the UK it was just us kids transiting back through to the US. The siblings went through the nice, easy, relatively painless US line, while legal immigrant me had to go through the 'foreign and therefore suspicious line' with my UK passport. The convo went something like this:
INS Agent (Who Looked Constipated and Possibly Lobotomized): What is the purpose of your visit to the United States?
Me (Overly Cheerfully): I live here!
INS Agent (I really think their senses of humor are surgically removed): How do you do that?
Me (Overly Cheerful- still- trying to be charming): I'm a legal resident.
Well that's when she flipped through my passport, looked at my Green Card and says the words that every teenager travelling sans parents wants to hear...
INS Agent: Well this isn't valid.
Me (Now Shitting My Pants): Wha-whaaaat?
INS Agent: You should have had this renewed with a new picture when you turned 14.
Me (Poo Now Running Down My Legs, Piss Possibly To Follow): Well nobody told us that.
After some tense moments and eyeballing my siblings now safely on the other side of passport control and giving me quizzical looks like 'what's taking so long, man' the INS Agent reluctantly decides to let me back in, telling me in no uncertain terms that I need to get that taken care of. Happily, my parents decided to take the plunge and get their citizenship a couple of years later, taking my still under 18 freckled behind along with them so I never need to talk to the INS ever again.
But that's how effed up the system is and it's definately in need of reform because when I said that no one had told us to do that, I really meant it. No one had told us to get my picture updated. Had my parents been told that, they would have- and I remember way back in the day taking trips to Omaha to get fingerprinted for our Green Cards and still further back they had some truly assinine rule where you had to get your VISAs renewed at the nearest consulate outside the country- hence the many trips to Montreal we took when we still lived in New Hampshire (and why Mother Cigar still pines for that fair city today- sometimes.)
So to me, the question of reform isn't really an issue. It's pretty fucked up. We should fix it. Where I get queasy/annoyed is that the debate always centers around illegals- usually from Mexico and as Hispanics/Latinos are a large and extremely important voting demographic the question ceases to be about how to make an immigration system that works and becomes a mad dash to try and lock in as many Hispanic/Latino votes as possible. Here's where I come down:
1. As China and India become more prosperous, the best and brightest from those countries- and other countries too but especially those countries are increasingly staying home. Why go through the painful process of trying to get legal status in America when you can increasingly get well paying jobs and a good life at home? Part of our competitive edge as a nation isn't just making the best and brightest shine here at home- it's attracting the best and brightest from around the world. Our effed up immigration system is making us lose the race for innovation. This is a problem.
2. The Illegal Hating Crowd makes me tired. I don't see white Americans lining up to work on a kill floor of a meat packing plant or scrubbing toilets for pittance on the dollar. Illegals are here, they're doing work and whether a bill passes or not, they will still be here. Their lack of status leaves them open to abuses by all kinds of companies. This too, is a problem.
3. It's freaking expensive to become a citizen. Like $1500 or so. It's probably topped $2K by now... if you don't want illegal immigration, you need to incentivize legal immigration. Personally, I think if you get a Green Card (which should be easy to get) and keep your nose clean for eight years (i.e. pay taxes, no felonies, etc, etc) then you should get a postcard in the mail offering you citizenship. Check yes and you get papers to fill out and a citizenship test to take or better yet make the whole damn process paperless and put it online! (If the US Government can find every male turnining 18 and remind them to register with the Selective Service, they can do this.**)
4. If it makes people better to try and secure the border, then fine. Let's build a fence- what the hell, right? It's only thousands of miles long- no way anyone could slip through it. Oh and are we going to do the same to Canada? It's never going to be completely secure. (GOPers: if Homeland Security admits that they can't totally secure the border, will you abolish the Department of Homeland Security? I mean, securing the Homeland is sort of essential to what they do and if they can't do it, then why keep them around? Just asking...)
5. I'm in favor of a guest worker program that provides a pathway to citizenship. It makes sense... again, every time someone foams at the mouth about people taking jobs, I always want to ask just how many white people are out there picking advocados?
Some form of the above five points is what I'd like to see. Do I think I will see it? Probably not... though if it fails, Senator Rubio has just spent an awful lot of political capitol on this. If he can't deliver then while it might be too early to totally write him off for 2016, it won't improve his prospects any.
Undoubtedly then, the status quo will continue. Just like always.
*Apparently this is another one of those bills they want to pass first and then read afterwards. I've decided that if I ever have the pleasure to be elected to Congress and one of these bills comes along I'll try and bury an amendmant declaring some random day to be J. Walter Weatherman Day and making it a Federal Holiday- that way when the gargantuan, unread bill passes and J. Walter Weatherman Day becomes law I can hold a press conference and say: 'And that's why you always read a bill before passing it.' (Sorry. I've been watching a lot of Arrested Development lately.)
**You know for all the talk about marriage equality and ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell and putting women in combat positions, it's still bullshit that only MEN have to register for the Selective Service. Anyone else think its time for the Sisterhood to rise up and smash the patriarchy in the groin a bit? Your move, feminists.
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