I Am A Legal Alien

In November 1990 I officially came to the U.S. from Canada via an I-94 work Visa.

I showed up at the U.S. customs and Immigration desk in Toronto international airport with a letter of Employment from a hospital here in San Antonio, my Canadian Passport and $55.00 US in cash. Every year, I drove to the U.S.-Mexico Border Station at Del Rio and walked or took a Taxi across the bridge into Mexico, had lunch, did some shopping and then crossed back over the bridge and went to join the rest of the non-citizens in the Immigration Office. We all were waiting our turn with the Immigration Agents to, in my case, present my Canadian passport, a letter of employment and $50.00 US; for which I received a new I-94 visa good for 1 year.

This went on through 2001, until I finally ended up working for a company willing to sponsor me for my Application for Legal Residency in the U.S. There are dozens of hospitals throughout Texas who are happy to recruit and hire Canadian RN’s using the I-94 work visa… but seldom are they willing to sponsor those same RN’s for permanent residency.

In 2001 I applied for the initial step of the process which involved a form which basically required my employer to prove that there were no American RN’s willing to perform the duties for which I had been hired… there’s a chronic shortage of nurses everywhere so that was easily taken care of. Once that change of status was granted I then had to complete several tasks including an Immigration Physical from an approved Physician, proof that I had no criminal record, a Certificate from a group called the CGFNS, or Council Governing Foreign Nurses as well as applying for a different type of work permit ($120.00 each year for the first 2 years) and ‘Travel documents’ so that I could leave the US and return without having to do the whole visa application each time I crossed the border. I put that application in in May of 2002. Then began the wait… every year for the next three years I had to apply for the work permit ($120-$175 by year 3) and the Travel Documents ($110-$140 or there about)* until May of 2005 when I was finally granted permanent resident status. Between lawyer fees, application fees, CGFNS certification exam fees, and Medical fees I had spent somewhere between $3000-$4000.

Now I have to wait until 2010 to be able to apply for US citizenship. Throughout this whole process I have been employed, paid income, social security and Medicare taxes and watched elections of politicians that I am unable to vote for or against due to my lack of Citizenship.

I am writing this because I am reading a lot of people writing impassioned treatises against illegal immigration and I am concerned at the level of viciousness I am reading from some of these people. Now I do not believe in Illegal Immigration , but neither do I believe it’s a viable option to round up all of those who are here illegally. I understand the concerns about paying for healthcare and welfare for these people and their families and it does anger me that so many are able to bypass the whole process that I went through and be granted legal status after just 18 months, but we will never be able to deport them all so I think we need to figure out an alternative. First though we need to stop further illegal entry into the US… a wall is impractical, can’t we spend the money earmarked for that wall on hiring, training and equipping more Border Patrol Agents. Allow those Border Patrol Agents to defend themselves, with guns or Tasers, from the illegals who are conducting felonious crimes, like trafficking either drugs, firearms or people. Enforce our existing laws by charging and fining those who employ illegal aliens and those who house them. Prosecute those who provide these people with false documentation to the fullest extent of the law… no more slapped wrists. Deport those that are already “guests” of the criminal justice system before or after they serve their jail/prison sentence.

Do not persecute those who you call Anchor babies, they didn’t make the decision to be born here and they have the potential to become productive, tax paying citizens if we let them… if they then decide to follow a life of crime… then maybe we could revoke their citizenship.

Even though I have found it expedient to learn some Spanish (about 50% of my patients don’t speak/understand much English) we need to make these people learn English (well American actually), it’s our National language. If we were to go to a non- English speaking country to live we would be expected to learn the common market language of the region, whether it’s Chinese, Spanish or Swahili. Even in Toronto, where there are neighborhoods and restaurants representing almost every Ethnicity/Nationality those people learn to speak basic English. If they wish to follow their native cultural customs and, tech their children the ‘mother tongue’ they do so in after school and community programs not at the expense of the taxpayers.

{* I don’t remember the exact fees charged for these documents so am giving the minimum that I remember paying the first 2 years… all fees went up considerably in the third year}

  I edited this so I could add it to my spotlight section as somebody recently asked why I could not vote in this election... I think this should be sufficient explanation ;>P

 BTW I should be able to vote by the time the next election comes around... I hope.