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Easy, fella. I don't support illegal immigration either. It is admirable that you went through the proper channels to earn your citizenship. My mother in law did the same thing, immigrating here from Austria. How long did it take you, what was the cost, and how difficult was it?Originally Posted by Canuckistani
"America is at that awkward stage: It's too late to work within the system, and too early to shoot the bastards."
-Claire Wolfe
"I got a shotgun, rifle, and a four-wheel drive, and a country boy can survive."
-Hank Williams Jr.
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You know damn well I just like stirring up shit. Most people here are very like-minded and these threads either don't go anywhere when everyone agrees with each other, or they eventually degrade into some nonsensical kill-'em-all-bring-out-the-pitchforks-and-torches frenzy. Just trying to keep the "discussion" in "General Discussion."
"America is at that awkward stage: It's too late to work within the system, and too early to shoot the bastards."
-Claire Wolfe
"I got a shotgun, rifle, and a four-wheel drive, and a country boy can survive."
-Hank Williams Jr.
Feedback
First off, just to clarify, I am not a U.S. citizen. I'm not implying that being a citizen is bad (quite the opposite), I just don't want anyone to have any sort of false impressions about me or my status. Just as someone who wears camo pants isn't a soldier, just because I live here doesn't make me a citizen. My immigrant status is "Permanent Resident Alien". I live & work in the United States under completely legal circumstances.
I immigrated pre-9/11, and it's my understanding that my process was significantly easier than those who wish to go through things nowadays. Security has been increased in huge amounts since then, making the immigration process more involved & even more thorough. I completely support these additional levels of security, as I believe it's in America's best interest to not just let anyone & everyone into the country.
If memory serves me correctly, it took me around 18 months to gain Permanent Resident status. Cost was somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000 with lawyers fees & filing costs altogether. As far as difficulty is concerned, it was actually fairly simple process for me, but you have to be patient. Some people choose to try & go through the paperwork themselves, but I was advised against that as the slightest error on your forms anywhere in the process can send you back to square one. I chose to hire an immigration attorney to prepare all my paperwork. For me, this greatly simplified things, but still was no guarantee that I would be approved.
My case was about as straightforward as they come though - young guy, married to an American citizen, with zero criminal background or nefarious ties. The process is fairly simple, but it's incredibly thorough. Both my wife & I were personally interviewed (interrogated might be a better term) about our motives for my immigration. We had to provide all sorts of documentation (photographs, account statements, etc) showing that we were living together and being a married couple. If you're truly trying to be 100% legal, the days of "well just marry an American" are over. The INS folks are hip to that stuff, just as any good detective would be.
Though my status is Permanent Resident, I actually had to renew my Green Card last year. In order to do so, I had to pay another $300 and have "biometric screening" performed. Every 10 years I'll have to go through that process to make sure I don't come up on any 'lists'.
Immigration was a very involved & eye-opening experience for me, and it was 100% worth it in order to live in such a great country. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I do believe though, that it needs to remain a thorough and arduous process. If it's too easy, the floodgates will open with hordes of people crossing into America, detracting from the caliber of people you have living here.
By "sealing the borders", I was referring to completely & totally eliminating any means of crossing onto American soil, except at those points which the government & people of the United States choose to let people enter. That goes for all borders, not just the southern one. I can just about guarantee you that if a terrorist wanted to come into the United States, the northern border with Canada is a much easier one to cross than the southern one with Mexico. They both should be sealed, in my opinion. You have great things here in America, I think it behooves you to protect them by any & all means necessary.
If anyone has any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them in order to maybe give a better idea of what it's like to be an immigrant living in the U.S.
ARFCOM is full of 250lb operators that couldn't complete an IPSC course without stopping for a breather. Unless they can do the shooting from a remote terminal in their bathroom, they won't be getting it done.
And it is against the Constitution for the military to be armed and mobilized within our borders. And the police don't have the funding to respond to calls in the cities. How the hell are they going to watch thousands of square miles of featureless desert?
Thank you for the information in your thorough reply. Your first-hand account made more and better points about the difficulty and cost of legal immigration than I ever could have. I think most would agree the financial burden and prerequisites for legal admission contained in our current system are well beyond the means of most.. . .
Thank you again for coming here and staying legally; I'm glad the system worked for you. We are lucky to have you, but I still believe your path should have been easier and less costly.
"America is at that awkward stage: It's too late to work within the system, and too early to shoot the bastards."
-Claire Wolfe
"I got a shotgun, rifle, and a four-wheel drive, and a country boy can survive."
-Hank Williams Jr.
Feedback
Fair enough - trust me, I like having more money in my pocket as much as the next guy.We are lucky to have you, but I still believe your path should have been easier and less costly.
Let me ask you this though, if $5,000 is too much to pay to live for the rest of your life in the greatest country on earth, what would be a fair price?
Good question. Knowing what I have, I would gladly pay that amount and more. I don't think it's always a question of what someone is willing to do as it is what they are capable of doing. If someone is penniless coming here, should they be denied the opportunities you and I have?
"America is at that awkward stage: It's too late to work within the system, and too early to shoot the bastards."
-Claire Wolfe
"I got a shotgun, rifle, and a four-wheel drive, and a country boy can survive."
-Hank Williams Jr.
Feedback
Nothing in the Constitution, you're thinking of the Posse Comitatus Act:
Its intent was to limit the powers of local governments and law enforcement agencies in using federal military personnel to enforce the laws of the land. Contrary to popular belief, the Act does not prohibit members of the Army from exercising state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain "law and order"; it simply requires that any authority to do so must exist with the United States Constitution or Act of Congress. In this way, most use of the Army and the Air Force at the direction of the President does not offend the statute, even though it may be problematic for political reasons.
The statute only addresses the US Army and, since 1956, the US Air Force. It does not refer to, and thus does not restrict or apply to, the National Guard under state authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state's governor (in its federal capacity, the National Guard forms part of the Army or Air Force of the United States). The Navy and Marine Corps are prohibited by a Department of Defense directive (self-regulation), but not by the Act itself. Although it is a military force,the U.S. Coast Guard, which now operates under the Department of Homeland Security, is also not covered by the Posse Comitatus Act, primarily because the Coast Guard has both a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission.
"There is no news in the truth, and no truth in the news."
"The revolution will not be televised... Instead it will be filmed from multiple angles via cell phone cameras, promptly uploaded to YouTube, Tweeted about, and then shared on Facebook, pending a Wi-Fi connection."
Well, perhaps there is some misconception happening here. The $5,000 I paid was not a lump sum payment. My lawyer's fees at the time (which have no doubt gone up a lot) were only like $1,000. That got the ball rolling. The remaining $4,000 came in smaller increments, that had to be paid as certain documents & applications were filed.
There was only a small window where I was legally not permitted to work while I was here. To that end, I don't think it's too much to have to come up with $1,000 to get things started, and then get a productive job, save up as you go along, and go through the process. Is it tough? Absolutely. Is it impossible? No way.
I don't think the immigration process is the problem here. Border security & the flood of illegal immigrants who create a burden on the American system is.
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