Where do you stand?

[lizbud]

Richard,

We all earn our citizenship every day by staying involved with what
goes on in the political arena in our name. By voting & speaking up we
may well prove lucky enough to live in a free society.

[smokey the elder]

IMO we earn our citizenship by complying with the laws of the land, paying taxes, voting, performing civic duties like jury duty, volunteering, becoming politically active, exercising our freedoms. But I'll admit we are definitely at an advantage because our ancestors did the legwork of becoming naturalized US citizens. During all eras of American history there were immigrant groups at the bottom of the social totem pole. In the antebellum East and South it was the Irish. In the post-Civil War West it was the Chinese railroad workers. They worked hard, were abused, but sucked it up, and made a better life for their kids. 'Nuff said...

[Edwina's Secretary]

I still have my FM3 from when I worked in Mexico. Oddly, I did not have
\to go through such an onerous process as described.

Read this thread..."those people" is not a phrase of respect....

My grandparents came here for the same reason. But...and I am just asking to further the discussion....what WERE the requirements then? Does anyone know? I know the health one, but other than $$$ what did you have to do?

[lizbud]

I was curious also. I found this link that contains general & specific
requirements for immigrants. It also has a history of the immigration
laws & requirements. In the general requirements is one that requires
the person to be able to read, write & speak english. I think that one
alone would cut out a lot of people.


http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/index.htm

[BOBS DAD]

I think that many of the posts here miss the point! Americans - Old and newly immigrated came here "legally" for a better life for themselves, but mostly their kids. And of course, there has always been some level of illegality or questionable admittance, but those who came here under those conditions (along with those who came legally) "DEMANDED" nothing.

They felt lucky enough to be here and did whatever they could to stay and gain eventual citizenship. They demanded nothing because they felt they were owed nothing. It irks me to see so many people who are here illegally to stand up and demand to be recognised (??? - one might think they would want to keep a low profile) and be given the rights (in some instances, exceed the rights) of naturalized citizens!

[Edwina's Secretary]

I think that many of the posts here miss the point! Americans - Old and newly immigrated came here "legally" for a better life for themselves, but mostly their kids. And of course, there has always been some level of illegality or questionable admittance, but those who came here under those conditions (along with those who came legally) "DEMANDED" nothing.

They felt lucky enough to be here and did whatever they could to stay and gain eventual citizenship. They demanded nothing because they felt they were owed nothing. It irks me to see so many people who are here illegally to stand up and demand to be recognised (??? - one might think they would want to keep a low profile) and be given the rights (in some instances, exceed the rights) of naturalized citizens!

But..."demanding" is something everyone does more of than in the good old days....whenever that was. But to your point....what about Emma Goldman for example? In the early 1900's there were many politically active immigrants.

It is interesting to read in the link Lizbud posted, the process has never been "pure." And of course, those rules are for citizenship not immigration.

I thought the point of the thread to be....immigration reform. It has become a discussion of the behavior of "those people."

[gini]

In a New York Times article today about immigration the Border Patrol stated that there were 1,189,067 apprehensions (arrests) in 2005. What needs to be said is that there may be repeat apprehensions included in this number.

The Border Patrol also said that for every apprehension 2 - 3 people make it through.

Since October in San Diego alone, 90,843 people have been apprehended.
Does that mean that 180,000 or 270,000 made it through? That isn't known.

No one denies anyone basic human rights - a place to live - a job to hold - food on the table.

But just looking at these numbers - how many jobs do we have - to provide these basic human rights? How many can we absorb?

Then it is necessary to discuss health care and education.

There is also the horrific number of 50% of children in Los Angeles County alone that drop out of high school - never get their diploma. Is this the future for our country?

Immigration and how to deal with it is a very difficult question, but it is one we have been giving bandaids to for a long time.