Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] International Legal Advice?

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Fri, 7 Jun 2002, Mikhail Kovalenko wrote:

> I certainly didn't mean to oversimplify, but my point was that
> illegal immigration makes things harder for legal immigrants and
> citizens alike (let alone terrorism worries).

There's no question that having a quiet acceptance of what might
best be called the "shadow status" of people here illegally is
absolutely not the way to go.  I think what the current debates are
at least useful in making clear to some people what the issues are.  
On the one hand, some people do clearly benefit from the presence of
a large, unskilled, and unlikely to "rock the boat" labor pool.  
For that matter, I really can't forget the fact that this is almost
exactly the situation my grandparents were in.  (OK, not quite
exactly; it was illegal for some of them to leave Lithuania/Russia
but legal to enter the U.S. if they came in indentured, er,
employed.)

> And then one may think, why should *I* follow INS rules for
> years when the next guy is not going to *and* get benefits? You
> may not agree with many of their rules but don't you think they
> are there for a reason?

I think the only fair thing to say is that the whole system is
completely whacked out and needs to be re-thought pretty much
completely.  I have no stong ideas about what the right system would
look like, however.

I do have a feeling that it is almost a completely losing battle to
attempt to stop illegal immigration from (say)  Mexico when the
economic incentive to cross the border is just so strong even in the
absence of benefits and even with the presence of some fairly harsh
penalties.  (In San Diego, I was on many a city bus that got stopped
by the INS, and neither the immediate nor the eventual consequences
of this were pretty at all.)  And then there's the games played with
student visas, which are just as remarkable in their own way.

jking


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