Now this is kind of frightening...This story appeared on CNN.com yesterday, and reading it kind of freaked me out. It seems, in a nutshell, that there are bills up for consideration by Congress that would make it a felony to be in the US illegally. At first I thought, well that's not unusual, being in the country illegally is already against the law, they're just making the penalties stiffer. It turns out that in one case, the bill would require all illegal immigrants, of which there are thousands upon thousands apparently, to leave the country within five years. At the end of the five years, any illegals could be arrested on felony charges. In some states, three felony convictions means life in prison. Another bill advocates denying state services to illegals. I assume that means medical services. So some people, who may have been living peacefully down there for years and years would have to choose between leaving immediately, or waiting until they need to leave to get medical treatment or risk imprisonment. It is messed up down there right now.
On a happier note, soccer starts again tonight. The Incredibles first pre-season game kicks off at 6PM against an unknown, but surely inferior opponent.
Friday 24 March 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
If it's any consolation this one will be in for a significant fight in Congress. Even the Republicans are split on this issue. Certainly the legal and immigration systems would stagger under the load of so many instant "felons" if this scenario came to pass. Additionally, illegal immigrants contribute immensely to the American workforce and the economy would probably be seriously damaged if they were all deported. On the other hand, when Reagan granted amnesty to illegals it increased the number of illegal immigrants subsequently coming into the country. Are there no easy answers in life?
It certainly is "messed up down there right now". But I think the question that needs to asked is what exactly is an "illegal immigrant". As I understand it, these are people who did not go through the proper channels to gain entry into the U.S., and are therefore working and living tax free. From a census point-of-view we are talking about the faceless and nameless. Since there is no "official" record of who these people are there is no accurate way of knowing just how many of these folks exist. Surely, we're all aware that any sort of "not knowing" scares the hell out of a lot of people these days. So here's the BIG question: could the threat of being kicked out of the U.S. compel illegals already in country to request refugee status or to apply for "proper" immigrant nomenclature? Of course, I think the answer is clearly "yes" and I think the proposal is more-or-less an attempt to turn the anonymous into properly documented numbers.
I think a lot of people have this scenario all wrong: popular spin would have you believe that what's been proposed is meant to put a wall around the U.S. to keep the baddies out. Really though, I think it's more of a case of the government wanting to keep tabs on the people living and working inside its borders. If this thing goes through, the U.S. is going to be sifting through applications for years. As laborious as that may seem, from the U.S.'s point-of-view a paper-trail allows them to keep watch. The original article Jesse linked to suggests that a "temporary guest-worker program" is in the works. They're pretty much saying that the iron gate to the kingdom has been expanded and is more easily accessible, but please enter only through the gate during normal business hours. Clearly, if entering through the gate is made easier, perhaps there will be fewer attempts at going under or over the fence.
It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out.
Post a Comment