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I'm not a fan of the "DEMANDS," per se, but I also see the need and the desire for changes to our system. (I was married to a British man, and it took TWO years for him to get his Green Card/Permanant Residency. Our marriage didn't last, and the stress of the immigration process, though not the cause, contributed to our problems.)
They need to rehaul the beurocratic, red tape, bullshit process. When I moved to England, I got my work visa in an hour. It took my ex-husband six months to get his temporary work visa. His mother was dying from cancer, so he had to line up at 4 am in Newark, like cattle, to get "parole" to leave the country. He had to do this EACH time he went to England (from visiting his sick mom to attending her funeral) for the two years that his residency application was being evaluated.
The parole application was an all day process.
Because of the two + year wait, I completely understand why immigrants without many resources wouldn't want to wait. It's frustrating, difficult, and infuriating all wrapped up into one little package!
The government NEEDS to streamline this process. That does not mean throwing more money at it and hiring more people. It almost seems like the more people they hire in this role, the more separate jobs they create, adding MORE time to the process. (I have a friend who works in Connecticut in the Department of Justice, and he's told us of the painful beurocracy that's involved in all their processes.)
That's the first change.
I also lived in Hong Kong, where I was granted a yearly work visa as long as I held a job. The US government should make a few million work visas in various industries available. Make a larger number for our Mexican neighbors, but allow Canadian and Latin American workers to come relatively easily. Not quite an open North American border, but make it easier for our North American neighbors to be able to work here. I had to reapply every year for my visa, and it took about 5 hours or so at the Hong Kong immigration offices to do so. It should be same day here, as well.
We should also provide quotas for Asian and Europeans to come to work in particular industries. As long as a company is willing to sponsor a person, and they have a clean/safe criminal record, why not?
Finally, I suspect that we will grant amnesty, and I don't have a problem with that. But, we must streamline the process greatly THEN enforce our immigration rules in the future. It's necessary.
Illigal work doesn't benefit the worker OR our society in the long run. The people who make out are the companies/hirees who can pay them off the books for cheap.
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