There are some new logistical details for Monday’s Immigrant Rights March. These are posted at http://www.miracoalition.org, but I figured I’d post them here as well–they were news to me! I hope that you’ll come out and join others, both your fellow marchers in Boston and others marching across the country (see http://www.april10.org for a list of cities).
Monday April 10th
4:00 PM, Boston Common
5:15 PM, March to Copley Square
6:00 PM, Copley Square
~Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote~
Please share widely!
Don’t let yourselves be a pawn to big business. This is about letting greedy corporations expolit people in our country nothing more. I can’t believe so many immgrants rights groups are falling for this crap hook line and sinker. Wake up you are shooting yourselves in the foot!
That this may in the short run help big business is perhaps true. But what you seem to be forgetting is that there are still 11 to 12 million people in this country who are working hard and who want nothing more than a path to citizenship. That “so many immigrants rights groups are falling” for this makes total sense because it’s about rights and people’s lives.
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Like fieldscornerguy said in an earlier post where he responded to a similar comment you made, if these 11-12 million people had an actual path to citizenship and there were enough chances for those who want to come here to do so legally (and yes, we tighten up the borders, no one is arguing against that I think), this would drive UP wages as there would be less marginalized people that big business can take advantage of. So really, as per your own argument (don’t let big business get away with driving down wages) you should agree with the plan for immigration reform that McCain/Kennedy support.
They chose to come over illegally and now they are stuck with having to take sub standard wages all while driving down wages for working Americans (this according to the Sunday NY Times). They already have a path to citizenships its called coming over legally!!! If we grant them citizenship now we are slapping every law abiding immigrant who was patient and played by the rules in the face. This issue is total killer for democrats and there will be a huge backlash from middle America if we donât get it together.
When our grandparents or great-grandparents entered this country the laws for gaining citizenship were alot less complicated, and not as expensive. If my grandfather tried to come over from Germany today, he probably wouldn’t have been able to get into the country legally. Infact many people did use fake papers during WWII to get into U.S. and other countries.
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I have worked with immigrants who are trying to gain citizenship, and it is a long complicated process. First one must have a family member who is a citizen sponsor them, or they need to prove how long they have been present in the country (which makes the process longer). Then they apply for permanent residence, along with employment authorization. And once that is officially approved then they apply for Citizenship. This process can take 6+ years. And each application ranges in cost from $200-400. Imagine trying to apply for citizenship for a family of five. Immigrants tend to space when they apply for residence or citizenship, for when the can best cover the costs. In addition, there are attorney’s fees.
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Most immigrants are law abiding members of our communities. They pay taxes, and their bills. There is no reason the process to citizenship shouldn’t be expedited to an extent. And the idea that anyone who has been in the country for less than 5 years should be deported is ridiculous and cruel. Many of these individuals have families here in the US. Most immigrant families have members that are citizens, permanent residents and illegal due to the circumstances I listed above.
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Try keeping this in mind next time you decide to be a Xenophobe.
I’m anything but a xenophobe I just think people need to respect our laws. If you read my post you would have saw that I’m sticking up for LEGAL immigrants. These reason we have controls on how many people we allow into our country is because our social system can’t support the 11 million we have now. Go to any border town and ask them how good their school systems are, ask them how much money their hospitals are losing each year? It’s easy to say let all the illegals in from the comfort of New England when don’t really face the problems of the border states.
But we don’t. And right now we don’t even have a way for most of the 11 million to become legal. The fact is that they’re here. What exactly do you propose we do right now with them? Status quo is clearly not working.
why are these 11 million above the law? If I brake the law I go to jail. If these 11 million want to become citizens then they need to go through the proper channels. If we reward illegal behavor we will be talking about 20 million in a few years. You’re right its not working now because we have let business and illegal immigrant brake the law for far to long.
So you are saying that trying to find prosperity or attempting to live the American Dream is now “illegal?” People who try to come here to make a better life for themselves, don’t have all the options some “legal” immigrants had, who are here on Worker or Student VISAs. Most of these “Legal” immigrants come from wealthy families in other countries and are given the opportunity to study in America or received a good education abroad and were recruited to work in businesses in the US. “Illegal” immigrants usually come from poverty and see the U.S. as a way to escape and build a better life. Yes, our country has these definitions of an illegal and legal immigrant, but they are clearly class biased.
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We are in no way rewarding illegal behavior. The process of gaining citizenship in this country is no cat walk. You don’t just get a piece of paper in the mail. It is a long step by step process that can be quite expensive.
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The 11 million illegal immigrants in this country are not above the law, most of them pay taxes and have mixed families. Meaning their families are made up of Citizens, Permanent Residents and illegal immigrants. Some illegal immigrants have children who are born citizens. So are we going to deport mothers & fathers, and put their children in foster care, or force their children by defualt to move to a country that is foreign to them?
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*By the way “brake” is actually spelled “break.” And if you were to break the law and were thrown in jail it would be because you committed a serious crime like robbery, rape, drug possession, murder, drunk driving, etc. Please tell me how that compares to a 17 year old (or 40 yr old) crossing the border to flee from a life of sweatshop labor & rape/abuse. Or a young man crossing the border to join his other family members who may have been in the country for 5+ years.
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Its not as simple as you want to make it out to me. This is not a black & white issue. There is alot of gray.
By your logic any law we have on the books that enough people break we should just ignore.
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I don’t doubt that people sneak over here because they come from hard backgrounds, but we can’t help everyone. We have the immgration policies in place for a reason. I mean if he let these 11 million become citizens now we are going to have to keep letting more and more and it is already out of hand. A better solution would be working with their native countries to help build up their homes so they don’t have to go down a life of crime and shadows by coming here.
I agree with you. Ideally, we should be fixing what we’ve broken in other countries so that people don’t feel that their only option is coming here (though the majority are not in a “life of crime”, they are hardworking and pay taxes). If we did that, truly did that then people wouldn’t want to come to this country. However, what are we going to do with the 11 million who have kids that have been born here or who came here so young they’ve never seen their native country?
When our grandparents or great-grandparents entered this country the laws for gaining citizenship were alot less complicated, and not as expensive. If my grandfather tried to come over from Germany today, he probably wouldn’t have been able to get into the country legally. Infact many people did use fake papers during WWII to get into U.S. and other countries.
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I have worked with immigrants who are trying to gain citizenship, and it is a long complicated process. First one must have a family member who is a citizen sponsor them, or they need to prove how long they have been present in the country (which makes the process longer). Then they apply for permanent residence, along with employment authorization. And once that is officially approved then they apply for Citizenship. This process can take 6+ years. And each application ranges in cost from $200-400. Imagine trying to apply for citizenship for a family of five. Immigrants tend to space when they apply for residence or citizenship, for when the can best cover the costs. In addition, there are attorney’s fees.
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Most immigrants are law abiding members of our communities. They pay taxes, and their bills. There is no reason the process to citizenship shouldn’t be expedited to an extent. And the idea that anyone who has been in the country for less than 5 years should be deported is ridiculous and cruel. Many of these individuals have families here in the US. Most immigrant families have members that are citizens, permanent residents and illegal due to the circumstances I listed above.
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Try keeping this in mind next time you decide to be a Xenophobe.
This is a very personal issue for some of us. Actual people, actual friends, actual families are affected by this.
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For me it is about what America is–or claims to be. We claim to be the land of opportunity. We claim to take your tired, your hungry, your poor. I never believed that was just marketing. I want it to be true. It was for my ancestors. I should be for the new immigrants too.
In case you’re interested, here are some pictures from today’s immigrants’ rights rally, where I would estimate there were over 5,000 people present. I only saw a small minority (about 8 people, see the pictures) with anti-immigration signs.