An open letter to President Obama from Jon Voight

[Sali]

The immigration process is difficult and expensive but IMO some of it is absolutely necessary. Other parts are just bizarre. For example, I have been married to an American Citizen for 19 years, have two American Citizen children and have previously been a permanent resident when I lived here years ago. Had to go through the procedure all over again. Medicals, visa applications the lot. Even when I qualified they were about to not let me come unless my husband could prove he had assets totalling over $60,000 or I found someone to sponsor me. Somehow we got through all that. Even with all that though I cannot receive public assistance for three years, even though my husband pays taxes etc. (That's not a problem for me). So how people from poorer areas go through this process I do not understand.

One of the important parts of the process I feel, was to prove that I was medically able to come here, and not bring any diseases with me. This did cost a lot of money. What makes me mad, fume etc etc is the fact that just the other month, an illegal brought a child here with Whooping Cough whose relation rides on my son's school bus. We were made to keep our children who rode the school bus out of school, take them to the doctor, pay $30.00 for some antibiotics and get a doctor's note so our children could be allowed to go back to school. It just irks me that I pay thousands and others just choose to ignore the system and we all end up paying. That's my gripe about it. This is why I feel it is important to have Immigration laws.

[marshac]

Our immigration policy is ethnic persecution. It isn't as easy as "Just do it legally!" by filling out a form and getting a plane ticket. It can take many years and thousands of dollars, which many (most?) distressed families don't have. I'm just not a fan of "I was born here. Screw you!" Sorry, I'm touchy...I live in a hotbed of anti-immigrant self-righteousness.

'ethnic persecution' sounds vaguely to me like another way of saying "racist". There is a valid argument for limiting the number of poor uneducated people into this country each year, regardless of ethnic origin- we can only care for so many people on the welfare system before it fails for everyone. Other countries have considerably higher standards for immigration- Canada being one of them- they only want you if you're bringing an in-demand skill set to their economy along with enough money to live on for a period of time- why is it wrong for us to want the same? As for anti-immigrant self-righteousness, I don't think it's the fact that they're immigrants, but the fact that there is a general refusal to assimilate into the US culture, or to even attempt to learn english- when I see Mexican flags being waved around at an immigration rally, or that they're taking back their homeland, what am I supposed to think? That they want to join me in my country and become a fellow American? Seems to me that their loyalty is still with Mexico.

[marshac]

One of the important parts of the process I feel, was to prove that I was medically able to come here, and not bring any diseases with me.

We have a very large immigrant community here, and you're exactly right. TB is one disease that's resurfacing (my latest PPD shows that i've been exposed to TB ), and if you've ever read about multidrug-resistant TB, or even extensively-drug-resistant TB, it's very frightening, and increasingly common among the ranks of the poor in Mexico and South America- the exact same demographic that's crossing the border illegally. If for no other reason, we should secure the border to prevent a resurgence of previously 'exotic' diseases, especially as the trend of parents not vaccinating their children increases. I'll concede that air travel spreads disease as well, but I suspect that since those passengers can afford airline tickets, that they're probably able to afford a doctor.

Edited June 24, 2010 by marshac

[mightynancy]

Assimilate? What are we, the Borg?

I worked for years in the immigrant communities of central California. I worked with many hard-working people who did their best to learn English in their "spare" time. Many worked under assumed/invalid SSN's so while there was tax witholding, there was no tax filing (hence no return). Yes, there were employers who paid under the table, but most of those workers didn't come to my program. Lumping all illegal immigrants in the same drug-dealing, disease-infected, freeloading basket is inaccurate.

I'm not saying that there should be no border and no regulation. I'm saying the system is desperately inefficient and ineffective at accomplishing my aims and yours. And my take on this isn't fuelled by some sort of anti-American guilt. It's fueled by my love of "those people" and sympathy for their plight.

[Voyager]

I was talking to someone who is a nurse teh other day. She said that immigrants from Somolia are generally infected with TB. I know that cases of chagas have gone up in the USA from Latin immigration. I think most of the cases of TB in Europe are from Russian and north African immigration.

At Ellis Island anyone with a communicable disease was sent back.

[Hemidakota]

Assimilate? What are we, the Borg?

I worked for years in the immigrant communities of central California. I worked with many hard-working people who did their best to learn English in their "spare" time. Many worked under assumed/invalid SSN's so while there was tax witholding, there was no tax filing (hence no return). Yes, there were employers who paid under the table, but most of those workers didn't come to my program. Lumping all illegal immigrants in the same drug-dealing, disease-infected, freeloading basket is inaccurate.

I'm not saying that there should be no border and no regulation. I'm saying the system is desperately inefficient and ineffective at accomplishing my aims and yours. And my take on this isn't fuelled by some sort of anti-American guilt. It's fueled by my love of "those people" and sympathy for their plight.

Nancy, I am not advocating I don't love people either. Illegal is just that. It goes to any person entering into any nation unlawfully. There are more problems than those who enter this nation from the south border regards to illegally being here. Look around…how many of people enter this country from around the world illegally?

To be blunt, only plight here is to stay home and fight your cause. Hopefully, the day will come when Zion will become a border-less nation.

[marshac]

Assimilate? What are we, the Borg?

We're a nation of immigrants that shed their old identities such as 'German' and 'Italian' and traded them in for an American identity- this is where the motto "E pluribus unum"- "Out of many, one"- comes from. It has nothing to do with joining the Borg Collective, but simply becoming a part of society and the culture. Just as we say in the LDS tradition "You bring with you all the good that you have, and let us add to it" so it is with the American experience.

I worked for years in the immigrant communities of central California. I worked with many hard-working people who did their best to learn English in their "spare" time. Many worked under assumed/invalid SSN's so while there was tax witholding, there was no tax filing (hence no return). Yes, there were employers who paid under the table, but most of those workers didn't come to my program. Lumping all illegal immigrants in the same drug-dealing, disease-infected, freeloading basket is inaccurate.

Interesting. I worked with the Migrant Education Program, worked with many former and current migrant students- I also worked with SEP (Mexico's dept of Ed) and would meet with representatives from the Mexican government. I think I have as good of an understanding as you about what these people face, as well as the ways we (the US) spend money to support them. I didn't paint with the broad brushstroke of calling them all gang members or freeloaders- I did however say that the United States can't afford to provide services for unlimited numbers of poor and relatively uneducated people. As for carrying disease- it's a simple fact- when you put lots of people close together with lax sanitary conditions, disease spreads.

I'm not saying that there should be no border and no regulation. I'm saying the system is desperately inefficient and ineffective at accomplishing my aims and yours. And my take on this isn't fuelled by some sort of anti-American guilt. It's fueled by my love of "those people" and sympathy for their plight.

You can love them and have sympathy for their problems and circumstances without making the conclusion that they must come and reside here. Billions of people around the world live in poverty- if we allowed them to all come here to the US, the US as we know it would cease to exist. Why then should we give preferential treatment simply because some of these people live south of our open border while others live across an ocean?

Make no mistake- i'm not anti-immigrant, nor am I a racist. I have a friend from China that's working on getting his green card, another friend from France that just became a US Citizen last 4th of July, and others who are second generation from Mexico. I don't care where a person comes from, but what I do care is that they understand our laws, our form of government, our common cultural values, and an honest desire to become a productive member of our society. Having seen what my Chinese has gone through in trying to get his green card, i'll agree- the system sucks- but simply because the system doesn't work well doesn't mean that a select group that managed to get into this country illegally should get a free pass.