There are 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. as of 2007.
Unemployment is at an all time low of 4.5%.
Somehow the statement that illegal immigrants are stealing American jobs, does not really seem to be in any statistics I have seen. Nor have I ever met someone who said they were fired and replaced by an illegal immigrant. A job will probably go overseas before stolen by an immigrant and labor jobs seem to be abundant for whomever is willing to work. But, somehow the illegal immigrant is the villain. Not the companies who supply the jobs, help get them into the country, and treat them as slave labor. Not the companies who move the jobs overseas and then take no responsibility of how the products are not safe (China toys) or how the employees overseas are treated.
I agree we need an efficient way to monitor who comes into the country. We should not accept people who could be a danger to our society. We just need to focus on it across party lines and realize we all were immigrants at one time or another. Except if your native American (that's another story). It is unfortunate that currently the system is setup in a way that most immigrants have to be fluent, educated, and with money to gain legal entry.
Why do we have so many illegal immigrants?
In the old days of our great grandparents, from what I understand immigration was very different. They would come over to the country, fill out some paperwork with no need for lawyers, and look for work. Within a year they would obtain citizenship and build financial and family stability.
I did some research and found out that currently to enter the country you must have a green card which takes up to 3 years to obtain and legally cannot be in the states to do so. It is also recommended you get a lawyer to assure everything is completed on time and correct. Applications can be difficult for most citizens, let alone an immigrant from another country. Last year 3 million out of 8 million applications were rejected for not being completed fully or correctly. Also, there is a 1 month window when all the paper work has to be in. It cannot come in prior or after that month. Then applications are drawn from piles and reviewed. There is no standard turn around time and can be years. If more information is required, more paper work, lawyers, and money is needed. Once a green card is given, citizenship takes up to 10 years.
It really seems very different then in the past and appears only the economically viable candidates can afford to follow the proper process and wait to enter legally.
The rest have to decide to try to follow the legal path with little hope or come in illegally and then try to gain citizenship for them or their children once in the country.
I have read specifically about immigrants from Mexico. In Mexico many work full time for $4 per week. The living situations are bad but dreams are high when they see that coming into America they can make at least $4 per hour. They are building communities, supporting each other, sending money to their families in Mexico, and raising children here. All in hopes to embrace the same American dream our families desired. They want a better life for their children and want dreams to be larger then theirs. If I were in their shoes, I would run over the border and risk it for a better future for my family.....
Coming from Texas I think George Bush understands the situation and has tried to slowly make change. He is trying to balance the political machine, so the monster does not turn on him and because this compromise is needed it appears little will be done.
It seems like we all need a villain to make us feel good and it seems like if it is not another country, we tend to pick the weakest group. Black as slaves, child labor, women, and now illegal immigrants particularly from Mexico.
What amazes me is some of the evangelical community that preaches love and the need to live more like Christ, turns their backs on these immigrants. Hebrew 13:2 talks about entertaining strangers, which translates to open your home to aliens/immigrants. Matthew 25:31-36, talks about how we should treat "strangers" again the translation is immigrant. This passage freaks me out because he stresses the accountability of loving and caring for the poor, strangers, voiceless. I know we can take scripture out of context and find a verse to support any side we want. But for me it comes down to Christ's actions. He loved to the point of death and knew it was coming. I guess Christianity is not a wimp religion if you are expected to love even if your afraid or not sure of the outcome. What is even harder is to be a Christian first, then a citizen of the state (America for me) . This is asked of us and is VERY hard to do since we are shaped as American citizens and even our Christianity is shaped in some sort of Americanized fashion.
If we follow this principle, does it change our perspective on illegal immigration?
For me my post does not resolve anything and raises more questions. But, I felt like I needed to express my thoughts.
Post your comments, I would love to know others thoughts. There are strong feelings on such topics and it has become a political catch phrase for candidates. These are the type of issue that are not black and white and causes lots of emotion and struggle. I wish it were simple.
We are traveling to Florida for Christmas and decided to write Santa to see if he could come early this year. The kids did not know till Friday night that Santa was coming early. They went to bed so fast it was amazing. It is so fun to see Christmas through their eyes.....
I remember being 16 or 17, like Caitlyn and feeling bad because I was excited but it seemed like the excitement was short lived. The innocence when your younger and excitement is something when you hit a certain age it just stops cold turkey.
Ok, so enough about Santa and presents. I am more excited then ever for Christmas. Our church emphasized Advent and it made a difference. In another post I really need to explain some of my thoughts around faith. Long story short, I feel like I found a part of faith that has been missing and I am excited to find a church home that will help me connect and be apart of a true church community. Merry Christmas........
Here is a Christmas video clip. The video has 3 video clips and the rest are photos you will see in the family photo page.
