Tuesday, March 28, 2006

The Immigrants - the Legal Ones who waited

The debate on regulating immigration has certainly sparked criticism and protest from many minority groups. While I feel for the many poor people that have entered the US illegally, I am deeply divided over the issue largely because I have many friends who have been separated from their loved ones. These are the people who have stuck to the rules - often waiting for years to be with a father or sister who has sponsored them to be able to come to the US. It is these people who are unheard because they have tried to do things the right way in gaining a green card and thus acquiring citizenship in the country. One of my friends had a brother who had to stay in his home country of India, while his parents filed their paper to sponsor him as a family member. Why aren't these same people coming out and protesting when they are the ones who have stood in line the longest - not cut across?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I accidentally stumbled upon your web site and thought I would comment. Think of it as words being spun together by strangers on opposite sides of the world.

I agreed with your ambivalence regarding the immigration issue, I have felt it too, in the past, but then I think...Doesn't every individual have a right to him/herself to fight for a good life? Don't animals seek for greener pastures? Shouldn't people have the right to give their children a better life than they had? Should they let bureaucratic rules and regulations, concepts of nationality stop them, or should they just try to better their conditions because that is all they have...the possibility of an attempt.

I think bureaucratic rules regulations and procedures make sense. I myself adhere to them, but then I think, I'm not in a condition where I have to fight for betterment. And so for me, that system works. For others, being typecast at the immigrant "alien" may be a damaging social stigma, but at least it is in pursuit of betterment, and that is better than suffering in silence.