US immigration: Any hope for a *kinder, gentler* system?

Great Debates
1

My wife is Japanese and immigrated here about two years back. The process and the system were, of course, a nightmare from the beginning–even though we had it easy as we’d been married for two years, applied at the Japanese embassy, and she was from a “nice” country not known for terrorism, etc.

So, the INS is gone and the shebang is part of the illy named Homeland Security ministry, whatever. Here are some questions for answering and comments for debate.

Questions and comments

  1. Has anything changed since it all entered the Fatherland Security borg?

  2. There is an interesting Catch-22. Congress just had to make things more complicated for legal immigrants in 1997 by requiring the I-864 sponsorship form, which basically says that you have a job and will take care of said immigrant and will repay the government if said immigrant uses means-tested benefits, etc. blah. (Why not just make it illegal to get the benefits in the first place?)

Well the Catch-22 was that I needed a job to support her, but of course she was still, thanks to the FedGov, stuck in Japan. So I got a job in Japan. Then they tell me that I needed a job in the US! Oh man. So my mom became a joint sponsor.

Now she’s looped in, and, according to something I just noticed today, has to report any change of address to the Fatherland. Funny thing, though–there is no form to send in in case she dies. What happens then? Then sponsorship aggreement essentially exists in perpetuity (until the immigrant becomes a citizen, leaves the US permanently, or dies).

Opinion: This is just more bullying of legal immigrants and of absolutely no use the government. I bet they waste more resources on paperwork than they had spent on giving out food stamps or cutting welfare checks.

  1. There is a totally different system that the US FedGov doesn’t avail itself of, apparently because it genuinely enjoys keeping families split up and putting honest, responsible people through the ringer. Namely, the marriage visa system that Japan (and I presume other countries somewhere) have.

It’s really very simple. You get married to a Japanese citizen, and you fill out a moderately annoying (perhaps 1/200 of the burden imposed by the US FedGov) amount of paperwork and get your 3-year marriage visa within a few weeks. Then, so long as you stay married, you can live in Japan. If you get divorced, you have to leave (or get a work visa, etc., to replace that).

It’s not a perfect system by any means, but it’s an excellent supplement to the permanent residency system. Why does the US take an all or nothing approach to immigration? Either you’re wrapped in Old Glory and immigrating or you’re not coming into the country to stay. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

  1. Almost every part of the Fatherland’s paperwork does neither the immigrant nor the government itself any good.

Police certificate? Useless.
Medical examination? Sans value.

These things are a pain to do and cost money. In contrast, Japan will give you a visa without such nonsense, and I don’t see the streets of Tokyo full of consumptives and criminals. What a joke.

  1. You leave the US for twelve months–and your permanent residency goes poof! Oh, but you can reapply. :dubious:

Sure, you can get a re-entry permit if you’re going to be gone more than a year, but what is the use of that, again, to the immigrant or government?

  1. Related to point #5 is the fact that the immigration system was clearly designed for an age in which people couldn’t get around on airplanes as they do today. I could easily get a job in Japan at any time, but I would be reluctant to take it since we would no longer be sincerely living in the Fatherland and could be bullied by Customs even if we returned every year. Hey, it happend to us once: We were gone for 8 months and got a really, very, I should say quite frightening talk by the bouncer, I mean, officer we met upon our return. This had the concrete effect of my not taking a job in Japan and coming back to the US within two months for good.

I don’t like having the sword of Damocles over my head; I don’t like being bullied by my own government. I want to work where I please, when I please. It’s called “Freedom,” and I think at one point in time it was something our government professed to hold dear.

  1. And related to #6 is the fact that I don’t think the FedGov really wants you to know how things work, while at the same time it reserves a lot of arbitrary power to itself. You are required to come back to the US once a year, but if Homeland Sec. think you are not really a good and sincere perm-res, well, they might just give you the boot. There is no concrete set of rules by which you can know that you are OK.

Another telling example. The per-person limit on spirits is 1 liter. But do the forms tell you that anywhere? Noooo. Nor do they explain the limits on cigs, etc. Do they care about enforcing that kind of thing? Why don’t they just spell it out.

Naturally, the forms in Japan explain all. The money limits on what you can bring into the country (and the limits on booze, etc.) are all several times higher. I believe the limit on what a foreigner can legally bring into the use as gifts, etc., is $100–it was until recently at least, and at most it’s just a few hundred now.

  1. But make-me-laugh-cause-me-to-cry joke about the whole thing is that we have millions of illegals in this country–who, naturally, are here for solid economic reasons and thus, in a sense, valued by the real citizens of this country. Sure, these people live in fear; they too are bullied. But I heard on NPR the other day that now they can get home loans and live the good life.

Simultaneously, the Fatherland is bullying a few thousand (few tens of thousands?) of people who are married for chrissakes and who, according to the law (IANAL–correct me if I’m wrong) are already legally entitled to live and work in the country: INS/Homeland Security’s rules are merely an arbitrary method of enforcing that law.

I mean, is there any point? God forbid someone should have a fake marriage or fool the government somehow! Such cheaters might be able to populate a small city after a few decades. Meanwhile, we have sieves for borders.

Conclusion
I have long felt a certain way, and on good days, most days, I just forget about it and live my life. But sometimes, as today, when I’m reminded of it, it just boils over.

Namely, US is no longer the country it set out to be in the late 18th century. The government no longer serves the people. Rather, it bullies them, tells them what food to eat in a goofy pyramind, what drugs to take or not to take, and whether or not a spouse can enter the country, and when.

I am a socialist who believes in personal freedom. I think the goverment should regulate business, protect the citizenry from violence and fraud, and prevent too few individuals from gaining too much power. And insofar as the Fed and locals govs are doing that, fine.

But the government needs to get the hell out of our personal lives and treat its citizens with honor. If I marry a foreigner, she’s goddamn coming over here when we want her to do so.

2

Let someone say I don’t have any solutions in mind:

Marriage
When an American and foreigner get married, the FedGov issues a 3-year marriage visa immediately with only basic documentation required (marriage certificate, birth certificate [must be of legal age to marry in US], etc.). Permanent residency or citizenship is given after three years if the person is still married. No funny restrictions, end of chat. If during the three years the person has a child on American soil (who would then be a US citizen), permanent residency or citizenship is granted immediately. If a divorce occurs without children being present, the foreigner can stay until the end of the three-year term and get preferntial treatment for a work visa. End of chat.

Borders
We should have a treaty with all North American countries that, like the EU, allows anyone to live and work anywhere with very minimal restrictions (criminal record, etc.).

Yes, it would be like universal permanent residency within North America.

The key objection to this is that Mexico is too poor and would flood our country with cheap labor, thereby taking jobs from real Americans. I say, however, that the Chinese are already doing that anyway, and that’s what minimum-wage laws are for. Finally, the Mexicans are here anyway, so we might as well tax them and treat them with respect and integrate them into the family, so to speak. Instead of the fear and bullying that currently rule.

3

Wow, I’m surprised that no one has weighed in yet on this. It’s a pretty important topic, don’t you think.

Thanks for any insights.

4

Basically, you want to hope that the bureaucracy will become kinder and nicer or even more upfront and honest? Sorry, It won’t happen unless they’re all fired and new agency made.

5

Thank you, Aeschines, for your story. I lived in Mexico for most of six years, and have brushed up against the INS/DHS several times. Each episode showed me just how constradictory, arbitrary, and unfair the system is, and how much it goes against one of the things which have made the US such a powerful nation – its foundation, and continuing regeneration, on the shoulders of immigrants and their descendants such as myself (and nearly everyone else I know. I recall a great cartoon in which, in the first frame, a conservative white American shouts at some Mexican-looking immigrants “Go back home!” – and in the second frame, a Native American says to to the white American, “I’ll help you pack.”)

Two specific problems I’ve seen my Mexican friends encounter are:

  1. How the system encourages you to lie. That is, if you do the right thing and try to get a tourist visa by being entirely honest about Americans you might know, etc., you are likely to be rejected, perhaps if the INS/DHS interviewer hadn’t had his morning coffee that day – even when you truly had no intention of staying in the U.S. after your visit. So, the next time you try, you have to either lie, or sneak in – just to visit!

  2. Many Mexicans who do intend to work in the U.S. would love to do the right thing and go through the official process, but one of the stipulations is that, once in the U.S., they cannot leave the country until the paperwork is completed – and that can mean years! This, I’m sure (no cite on hand), is one reason that many take the illegal route – it’s the only chance they have of being able to see their loved ones again any time soon.

These and other contradictions show how the laws that determine the system are written by people who are of two minds on the issue – especially, it seems, the Republicans, who have to please their anti-immigrant constituents, while acknowledging (behind closed doors) the reality out there (and its benefits to their business constituents). I expected a little more from President Bush, since he is from a border state – and, to be fair, he was just starting to forge a new relationship with Mexico when Sept. 11 happened.

I hope you don’t consider the above to be a hijack, even though I didn’t address your story directly. Japan’s situation is, of course, different. I just wanted to reassure you that many, many Americans disagree with how the INS/DHS functions.