Sleeping with an ILLEGAL ALIEN

[AztecGringo]

I don't know about the rest of them, but as far as my wife is concerned, I feel like I am having sex with a human woman. When I found out she was an "illegal alien", I thought I was in for some high-powered extraterrestrial love-making. I wasn't sure what I would find down there and if I would explode on impact. But, much to my surprise, she was actually good in the regular way.

I make light, but I am also pissed at how people like her are being scapegoated by right-wing fuckers with no compassion. The fact that the majority of Americans want to treat people like her as felons is very fucked up. I agree, lock up or deport those who commit serious crimes. But the majority are here to eke out a living that they could not do in their native countries. I would presume most people would do the same in a similar situation. By, the way, I guess sharing the bed with an "illegal", under proposed legislation, would make me an accomplice. Jesus, our society is badly screwed up (pun intended).

[Rose Siding]

1. Welcome to DU

Re: "The fact that the majority of Americans want to treat people like her as felons is very fucked up."

Polls show otherwise. Time found that 79% of Americans don't feel that way.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1179117,00.html

[expatriot]

2. well said nt.

[pagam]

3. Immigrants

The US government with there appetite to control the rest of the world by invading sovereign nations , taking lands, supporting dictatorships, taking over natural resources and exploiting workers now has to deal with the consequences. Just look at what was done in Central America. Also, no one is talking about the ilegal immigrants that enter this country with tourist visas and then stay. The Irish, eastern europeans, canadians, africans. It is not only Latinos crossing the borders from Mexico. many other nationalities go to mexico and then cross the border. I know that Mexican are the majority, but if there is going to any tupe of reform, it has to address the other ilegals.

[Gormy Cuss]

13. The reason the other nationalities are rarely mentioned is scale.

Of the 11 million estimated in the country in 2005, the most conservative estimates that I've found are that more than 57% are Mexican and another 24% Latino (9% Asian, 6% Euro or Canadian, 4% African or Other)*. That makes Latinos the most obvious target.

The other issue is that illegal immigrants from other nationalities comprise a smaller fraction of immigrants of that nationality. For example, there are many legal immigrants from India and those who arrive or stay illegally can blend into largely legal communities much more readily, the same way that European illegals can. This used to be true for Mexicans prior to the 1990s, but from the same source cited above, the balance has shifted so that the vast majority of recent Mexican immigrants have arrived without legal status. There is attention to other nationalities in localized areas where there are many illegal immigrants -- Brazilians in eastern Massachusetts for example.

As for enforcement, it can and will be meted out against other nationalities just as it already is. There are press stories of deportation actions against other nationalities. A couple of years ago in the San Francisco area there was a story of a Filipino family deported after living here for so long that all but one of their children had graduated from high school but all were born in the Philippines and came here on a tourist visa. The children had no clue that they were living under this cloud until about two years before they were deported. Recently there was a story of a woman who was deported to Pakistan after living here for more 20 years (sorry I can't find the article, I think it was in the midwest) --she was married to a U.S. citizen and mother of two American children. IIRC she had violated the terms of her student visa, was caught in the early 1980s and agreed to leave voluntarily but never did.


*estimates from Passel,Jeffrey, Pew Hispanic Center, 2005
http://pewhispanic.org/topics/index.php?TopicID=1

[ugarte]

4. Just out of curiosity, how do the two of you plan to deal with her status?

Have you talked to an immigration lawyer, etc.?

[AztecGringo]

9. My Wife's Status

I filed papers for her but was stupid. She overstayed a visa, but left in 1999 for about three months and came back. I was honest on her forms and it turns out that by admitting she left, we were left in limbo. Had I ignored her leaving and then returning, she would have qualified via our marriage. However, due to some law enacted in 1996, her leaving and my being honest means she would have to leave the country for ten years. It is fucked up. I am pissed at myself for being a dick and being honest. I should have consulted a lawyer first who would have told me to lie.

[cynatnite]

16. My father was told if he left the country, he wouldn't be allowed back

He and his mother came over illegally after WWII. He wanted to go visit family in Germany, but was afraid of not being allowed to go home. He never got to see them and died a few years ago.

I sympathize with you and your wife.

[frankly_fedup2]

23. You give lawyers too much credit (nt)

[Cleetus]

5. Look, I agree, but..

I agree with you. I agree 100%. But 12 million undocumented people seems like too much. There has got to be an answer somewhere where we do the right thing by the United States, while at the same time treating the undocumented with dignity and respect.

Illegal immigration is a problem. The same people who hire undocumented aliens (such a bad word) scream about how unfair it is that their kids are getting educated and their injuries are being treated at the local hospital.

Undocumented workers are easily exploited. They do not share any of the protections that you and I do. They are paid "off the books", they so not support our infrastructure, nor do their employers. This isn't fair to the rest of us who do pay (through the fucking nose) into the system. In some areas, dependence on undocumented workers is to the point where many businesses would outright fail if they were forced into hiring employees legally.

America is a land of immigrants. My Great-Grandad was a Polish Jew. I'm all for immigration, it'e exploitation I have a problem with.

There must be a way of integrating these 12 million people into our system. Those who desire citizenship should be offered the privelage, after their wait is complete. I do not think amnesty is a good idea. Seems unfair to those who play by the rules.

Those who desire to work in the States, but who desire to remain Mexican citizens, should be given the opportunity to do so legally.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. I'm confused. You say --

"Those who desire citizenship should be offered the privilege, after their wait is complete."

and

"Those who desire to work in the States, but who desire to remain Mexican citizens, should be given the opportunity to do so legally."

but also say

"I do not think amnesty is a good idea. Seems unfair to those who play by the rules."

What exactly do you mean by 'amnesty' since what you state as being fair is, by my definition, amnesty.

Those who want citizenship are fast-tracked, based on their length of residence; those who do not are granted legal guest-worker status, preventing their exploitation by unscrupulous employers. If they can come here legally, it removes the illegal exploitation of them by both employers and smugglers, putting the smugglers out of business (or returning them to their previous occupation of smuggling pot).

[babylonsister]

6. I also don't think the majority of Americans want to treat

immigrants as felons. And I loathe the term 'illegal alien' about as much as I loathe the term 'Homeland Security'.

[Bridget Burke]

7. "Alien" is obsolete in this context.

I remember the announcements on TV: "All Aliens must appear at their Post Office by February 15th." My sibs & I had fun imagining them materializing--did they use transporters? Did this frighten the other Postal Patrons?

Now--it's not so funny.

[SmokingJacket]

8. Why illegal, if you're married? nt

[Bridget Burke]

10. Marriage alone does not guarantee legal status.

One reason that immigration lawyers get rich.

[SmokingJacket]

19. I ask because my mother is a "legal" alien, here only

because she married my father. I *know* they didn't make any immigration lawyer rich -- they didn't have two nickels to rub together. Of course, that was a few years ago, and maybe times have changed...

[HamdenRice]

11. An Alien! Were you abducted? Probed?

Sorry, I couldn't resist -- but welcome to DU.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. "Illegal Alien" is just a way of dehumanizing people.

It makes them dangerous, criminal, the "enemy" to be feared. The politicians are adept at presenting the public with an endless supply of bogeymen to keep us in line with fear and crying for protection.

They certainly can't allow us to think of your wife, or the other 11 million immigrants as flesh and blood people with individual stories, feelings, needs, personalities. Then we might get to know them and appreciate them as members of the human family.

[Brazenly Liberal]

15. AARGGHH!!! I knew I'd eventually be drawn into this issue.

I've avoided the immigration debate until now because it seemed like such a futile argument. Nobody's changing anyone's mind and the whole thing had such a manufactured quality to it that I expected someone to jump up and yell "SUCKA!!!!" if I took the bait.

But over at Democratic Underground, AztecGringo put an irresistibly human face on it and if someone wants to yell "SUCKA!!!" at me, go ahead, knock yourself out.

Illegal Aliens, Undocumented Workers, Overstaying Guests, call them what you will, America has always had large numbers of people who were here unofficially. Yet the Republic goes on.

http://brazenlyliberal.com/blogs/bl/2006/04/sleeping-with-illegal-alien.html

[Brazenly Liberal]

17. PS: Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[ugarte]

21. PPS: Welcome to DU. And remember as los mexicanos say,

"We didn't cross the frontier. The frontier crossed us."

[annabanana]

18. Just got a great laugh from your 1st paragraph...

I am glad to see all the people in the street today. The Repubs will rue the day they uncorked this corker!

[Cleita]

20. It's easier to blame the victim.

Every totalitarian regime needs scapegoats. Poor immigrants are one of them.

[frankly_fedup2]

22. Wow. I was starting to get excited but then I remembered that I'm

paramenopausal and the hot flash took over from there.