Immigration Reform

Presedent Obama is in the border town of El Paso today, stressing Immigration Reform. The border towns of Texas has recently felt the violence of the drug war on the other side. They have seen the deaths of relatives on the other side as well. And Americans, afraid of the drug war spilling over, attribute all crimes to Mexican illegal immigrants. They call for border controls.

The Republican, in the Bush era bandied along the idea of building a wall along the border. But walls like the Berlin wall do not prevent immigrants spilling over. The human species is ingrained with the survival instinct, and if there are jobs on this side, they will come. And thus the 11 million illegal immigrants stay. They have jobs. They are not given driver's license, they can be picked up and deported, they often undergo their bosses paying them next to nothing. Yet they stay. And they have children. Those children gets educated. They fall sick. They get treated at our emergencies. They have no driver's license, and hence no insurance. They hit our cars, we pay for the repair. They make money, yet dont have to pay taxes. Just doesn't make fiscal sense.

The other segment that breaks my heart are the children of these illegal immigrants. We educate them, yet we dont allow them the opportunity to work. Bills to legalize them, called the "Dream Act" routinely gets shot down in the Congress. Recently Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, (R Tex) said she did not want to legalize these people, who will ultimately become citizens and then bring over their parents. Ok, so lets educate them, and then let them sit. And their mothers are already here. Lets keep them illegal. Why let them be productive and contribute to the economy. Ratioonalization has never been a Texas trait.

However, to be fair, the Republicans do look out for business immigration. Nancy Pelosi (D, Ca) had once said, that she would legalize all illegal people, but let H-1B employers pay for them with additional fees. The H-1B small enmployers (those employing less than 25 employees) pay $ 1285/- per H-1B immigrant. They employ legal non immigrants. These small businesses would not pay this amount if they got American people who could do the job. Requiring them to pay more would simply shut many of these small businesses down. Also, many legal non immigrant, particularly those born in India and China are standing in line for years to get the immigration. Its simply not fair to grant illegal people immigration over these non illegal people as the Democrats propose.

Hopefully there will be comprehensive immigration reform, and thankfully it will not be as one sided as the health care bill.

For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee