Immigration Law: Utterly Dysfunctional

Posted by Hans Bader

American immigration law is utterly dysfunctional. Legal immigrants who fight for America in Iraq and Afghanistan wait years to become citizens. Skilled workers needed by the high-tech industry and hospitals are blocked from entering the country. The economy suffers.

Yet, at the same time, “local governments are stupidly providing welfare for illegal aliens, such as taxpayer subsidies for day-laborer centers for unskilled illegal aliens who cannot even lawfully work in the country. And politically-correct newspapers believe that illegal aliens have a constitutional right to such welfare, and that they should receive preferential treatment at state colleges” over legal immigrants.

It now costs someone already in the country legally over $1,000 to apply for a green card to remain in the country. My wife, a legal immigrant who already has a green card, will have to pay another $650 to apply for yet another state in the immigration process (naturalization).

Yet in last year’s senate amnesty deal, illegal aliens could get stay in the country and get a renewable “Z” visa for just $2,000 (and non-working dependents could be sponsored by an illegal alien taking advantage of the amnesty).

What incentive is there to come legally?

My wife, a legal immigration, began her time in America as a “legal alien” whose restricted visa only permitted her to work for embassies or international organization (she started work for the Gabonese Embassy at $12,000 per year). She could have made far more money coming illegally and working on the black market. (The average illegal-alien household in the Washington, D.C. area has an annual income of about $60,000 — lower than most natives, but far higher than the minimum wage).

Yet there are silly people who claim that illegal aliens are so oppressed that they deserve to receive “tax-paid government benefits” even if they “don’t pay taxes,” as letter-writer Nicholas Holsen-Smith did in the February 22 edition of the Washington Examiner.

 Email This Post  Print This Post

02/25/2008 @ 2:14 pm | Constitutional & Legal, Economic Liberty, International, Mobility, Personal Liberty | Comments

5 Responses to “Immigration Law: Utterly Dysfunctional”

  1. Posted by: Opposing Genocidal Anti-American Dictator Is Deportable Offense, Say Immigration Bureaucrats | OpenMarket.org - 03/24/2008

    [...] wrote earlier about America’s dysfunctional immigration system, and how some left-wing politicians in Congress favor anti-American dictators over [...]

  2. Posted by: Immigration Policies Keep Out Scientists and Heroes, While Welcoming Convicts | OpenMarket.org - 03/25/2008

    [...] many in Congress want to amnesty most of the 12 million illegal aliens in this country, and many left-wing politicians and activists want to give them welfare and affirmative action to boot.  In the eyes of the politicians, it’s better to be an illegal alien than a [...]

  3. Posted by: Immigration Lawyers Sydney - 07/03/2008

    It’s pretty ironic how they want to strictly implement immigration laws to decrease illegal aliens coming in yet still manage to provide these illegal aliens welfare..

  4. Posted by: Baffling Immigration Policy Keeps Out the Skilled, Welcomes the Costly | OpenMarket.org - 07/17/2008

    [...] Congress, which will have a bigger liberal majority than the current one.  And some states already give illegal aliens in-state tuition, even while denying in-state tuition to some deserving U.S. citizens, like the children of U.S. [...]

  5. Posted by: immigration lawyers sydney - 07/17/2008

    To come legally surely is pricier than staying underground..

    Peace of mind is becoming costly nowadays..if you get what I mean..^^

Leave a Reply of Your Own