Illegal Immigration hurts Legal Immigrants!

Democrats want Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants. Republicans would prefer having Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants. They have different reasons to support Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants, none of which are the good of the nation or WE THE PEOPLE. Illegal Immigration hurts Legal Immigrants more than anyone else.

Most Americans would like to stop hearing about Illegal Immigrants. Most Americans know that Illegal Immigration drops wages across the economy. Some Americans believe Illegal Immigrants reduce the cost of goods. Some Americans believe that there are jobs Americans will not do. This last point I find absurd considering the 300 million population and 45% of adults not working (yes 45%). Billions of dollars are spent on Illegal Immigrants but many do not realize that Legal Immigrants pay a heavy price.

My wife Raffaella is a Legal Immigrant. Last year her green card was expiring. In accordance with regulations and directions of Homeland Security, she sent her renewal paperwork 90 day before the expiration. Her first green card arrived about 6 weeks after her biometric appointment. This time 6 weeks later a letter arrived indicating that her current green card was automatically renewed for one year after the previous date. I was tranquil. Homeland Security had some problems with the new passport requests and I knew they were a bit behind. The US Government would catch up, I thought. We can put a man on the Moon. We can land a bomb in the 2nd floor corner office from 150 miles away we can surely print a renewal card.

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Raffaella decided to get her US driver’s license. Thoughts of the DMV, incredible lines and rude people filled my nightmares. The day finally came when she felt she was prepared.

We arrived early in the morning. Strangely there were no lines; the office was disturbingly empty. I accompanied Raffaella to the counter and pulled out the binder full of documentation, passport, green card and letter from DHS. The clerk looked at the documentation and called the state trooper standing in the corner. Officer Watkins carefully read the documents. After about five minutes he walked out into the public area, handed back the documents and pulled out a page of instructions. Quietly he stated that the DMV accepted only the documents listed on the sheet.

I looked at him, not understanding. The green card, valid passport, social security card were all considered valid documents. He explained that the green card was no longer valid. I showed him the letter.

He looked at the document number at the top of the letter and responded, “We only accept the documents listed on the paper.”

I explained that these were the documents and he again responded, “We only accept the documents listed on the paper.”

I slowly began to understand and asked, “You are telling me you do not accept documents from the Department of Homeland Security?”

He again responded, “We only accept the documents listed on the paper.”

The adrenaline was flowing; my hands began to shake, and the volume of my voice became more intense.

He again responded, “We only accept the documents listed on the paper.”

He clearly was saying, “Look you idiot. The letter extending the validity is not on my sheet. I am not going to admit that DMV does not recognize DHS documents. Leave!”

I looked at him and asked why he was treating me like an idiot. I had been cordial. I did not make any negative comments about him, police officers, government or any other public officials. If he would not allow the documents from DHS, why not come clean and admit it?

The room was now filling up. Fifty people or so were more interested in understanding why the DMW would not accept documents from DHS than getting their license renewed. A small group was moving to my assistance. They could not believe that the DMV would not accept documents from DHS.

He asked us to come to his office. He continued in his normal tone telling me that he could only accept the documents listed on the paper. I asked to talk to his supervisor. He decided to make a phone call.

The supervisor asked for the documents via Fax and they sent us home with a promise of the phone call. Sure to their word, “We cannot accept the documents because the letter is not valid for a long enough period of time.”

Those who have had the privilege of doing things with the government know that there is no resolution when the government returns a blank stare. I called DHS to no avail. I went to the DHS web site to see that the renewal would have been processed within 6 months and no other information available. I sent a request only to receive a response that the renewal was “in the works” and if any further documentation were necessary I would receive a written request.

Time passed and I became concerned. Perhaps DHS had sent a request and it got lost in the mail (you know, another governmental agency which we should have faith in).

Enlightenment came while reading the Dallas morning news. DHS is opening two new regional processing facilities in North Texas. It seems that normal processing times have lengthened from about 3 months to 18 months. Following the recent crackdown more Illegal Immigrants decided to ask for residency. Yes, the crackdown is working. If required people will actually follow the law. In the first quarter of 2007 the number of applications went to just over 1.2 million overloading the system. Just think if all 24 million Illegal Immigrants actually requested residency. The application time would be over 10 years.

To this date I have no clue of when the renewal green card will arrive. Raffaella cannot get a Texas driver’s license. We have no recourse and no one to talk. We have spent over $5,000 in various fees, lawyer costs, and documents. Still a Legal Immigrant cannot do what law grants her the right to do. If she were like the 24 million Illegal Immigrants she would simply drive without a license or go to one of the sanctuary states but we believe in following the law.

If the Amnesty bill were to go forward the results would be disastrous for Legal Immigrants and for DHS. It would be impossible to execute the applications without increasing 100 fold the number of DHS employees including infrastructures, buildings and the like. Before any type of Immigration Reform can be discussed the influx of new illegal immigrants must be stopped and DHS must have sufficient manpower to handle the work. Anything else would result in anarchy. DHS could not handle the applications. Immigrants would be granted legal status without background checks. DHS could not even make sure that the appropriate fees for the applications would be paid.

Many people want to say that the poor Illegal Immigrants are suffering and they deserve special treatment. No one is defending the Legal Immigrants who are paying a high price for obeying current law. The lesson is follow the rules and get screwed. Break the law and everything will be fine. Illegal Immigration hurts Legal Immigrants more than anyone else.