Pia K. Hansen: It’s a different world for immigrants today
Here we go again – another round in the immigration debate is in full swing. There are few topics other than perhaps gay rights and abortion that can get people as riled up as immigration.
It’s a topic that pulls at the heartstrings of most Americans.
The black-and-white photos of stern-faced European ancestors on American living room walls are as integrated a part of a family’s history as grandma’s plates from the old country.
The stories of great-grandpa’s Atlantic crossing and back-breaking settlement in the big Wild West – of how he escaped sugar beet beetles and the limited opportunity embraced by his grim Scandinavian family – are treasured and retold.
I hear the pride, and sometimes a faint Old World accent, in the voices of older readers who call asking me to translate century-old letters and yellowed newspaper clippings, or to recite the words for a nursery rhyme their grandmother used to sing.
If any country in the world is a country of immigrants, this is it.
And I – of all people – should understand, appreciate and welcome the desire of others who want to immigrate to the United States, because I did so when I left Denmark to move here in ‘91.
But the world has changed, and a person can no longer be proud to be an immigrant.
Someone should change the famous inscription on the Statue of Liberty to say, “Go home to where you came from.”
Immigration is no longer viewed as a benefit to a country; it’s viewed as a problem, a burden and an unfair infringement upon citizens’ rights.
People say immigrants are swarming over the borders.
“They” are taking advantage of our social system.
“They” are criminals.
“They” are having kids so they can stay here.
Those are not uniquely American sentiments: In Europe, legal restrictions on immigration are at an all-time high, as political parties with platforms tiptoeing within millimeters of legalizing racism are gaining huge support.
And now we have a new proposed immigration bill.
We need one, and it can’t be easy to write such a thing.
It’s impossible to know just how many “unauthorized immigrants” we have in the country today – the number ranges from 8 million to 20 million. Illegal immigrants lie low – I mean, you wouldn’t answer a census questionnaire either if you knew it could cost you your livelihood.
And this is where I think there’s a major flaw in the proposed immigration bill:
It would require all illegal workers who want to obtain the proposed visa granting them temporary legal status to register and pay a $1,000 fine. Then, if the visa holder desires to apply for citizenship, the person would have to travel “home,” and another $4,000 would be due along with an application for citizenship, which would have to be approved before the visa holder could return to this country.
Right or wrong, does anyone believe that an illegal alien will voluntarily register with authorities for any reason whatsoever, when it’s likely to limit this person’s ability to scrape together a living?
I doubt it.
I also question if any illegal immigrant is willing (or able) to pay $5,000 to retain the right to continue to be exploited in the lettuce fields and cleaning brigades of this great country.
As someone who followed the rules and went through the great American wringer to obtain a green card, I can’t support amnesty no matter how hard I try.
I wish I could – it sure seems like the cheapest and the easiest way out – but I don’t think it’s fair.
The one good thing about the proposed immigration bill is that it at least attempts to make it possible for illegal immigrants to obtain legal status – and what else could one possibly do with somewhere between 8 million and 20 million people living under the radar in this country? We passed the point where deportation was possible decades ago.
Or perhaps the Bush administration is trying to tackle the immigration issue now, to take our collective attention away from that increasingly controversial war we are engaged in? That was just a random thought at the end of my day.