American's Immigration Process Explained

If I had a nickel for every time that an immigration opponent struggling to appear openminded told me that they have "no problem" with immigration as long as it's done legally, I'd have died by now of some kind of copper-nickle alloy poisoning. It's an old trope but I'm sure that the people who say it really believe it.

Never mind the fact that neocons who don't really get too worked up about lawbreaking suddenly find this border dispute terribly important, the one law that must never, ever be broken, under penalty of deportation. Those who don't feel that illegal immigrants should be deported at least want to make their life a living hell for a long, long time; even McCain's waffling on the issue, pretending to worry about brown people to keep his base comfortable. Remember, it's okay to burden the lives of Americans, as long as you do it while speaking English. If we celebrate "legal" immigration while keeping it a very, very difficult and time-intensive activity, all while throwing out illegals, we get the benefits of looking open-minded while keeping People Who Are Different far, far away from our homes. And what's more All-American than a little good, old-fashioned doubletalk?

All while our leaders are attempting to implement the most socialist, authoritarian, freedom-hating thing that has ever been done in my country. I had a casual respect for the Republicans back when they were all about cruel economic efficiency, but totalitarianism just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But never mind that (actually, mind that very much, but let's move on for now).

Jumping back to the immigration issue, this nice flowchart from Reason.com gives you a good look at just how easy and humane our immigration process really is. Take a look at the amply-titled What Part of Legal Immigration Don't You Understand? and maybe shed a little light on the issue in future debates. Remember, a lie repeated enough times becomes truth and eventually common knowledge. . . unless you reject it.

Flowchart: What Part of Legal Immigration Don't You Understand? (reason.com via BoingBoing)

Immigration Part 2: Immigration and the Election

I've mentioned immigration before on my blog, but Orson Scott Card's recent comments on immigration and the upcoming election have really, really caught my eye. In a recent post on his WorldWatch column, Card smartly skewers this year's candidates for their stances and ties the whole thing into the future of American politics. I've neglected Card's politics in the past due to a perceived naivete on his movie reviews, but I may have been mistaken.

I won't post highlights here because the column needs to be read in its entirety:

Please Don't Throw Away This Election

Airport Security Madness

Airport Security agents often have more power and less accountability than just about any other organization imaginable. I'd like to draw attentions to a few recent particularly-egregious examples.

* A Polish immigrant dies in police custody in a Vancouver airport after being kept in a sealed room for ten hours and then tasered twice, as his mother waits across the security line. LINK


* Finnish folk band falsely accused, abused and violated by beady-eyed, moron security:

". . . an ICE agent approached the long-haired male musician and began jabbing his finger into the poor guy’s face and screaming, "You’re a criminal! Don’t deny it! We know you’re a criminal!" The musician, whose English is limited, tried to explain what he was doing in the country, but to no avail. The agent went on with the tantrum.

Before long, the entire group was accosted by agents – eventually eight ICE agents in all were involved in the incident -- all screaming and carrying on like a military patrol kicking in doors in Anbar Province. Before long the group’s luggage had been dumped in the center of the room and, while other passengers waited to get through Immigration and Customs, searched.

Failing to discover any contraband, the ICE agents - -rather than releasing the group with an apology – changed tack and decided that its real offense was to try to enter the country under false pretenses. Because the artists were not being paid to tour – the University was covering its expenses – they did not all have work visas, just passports. LINK

* Woman detained after becoming angry for a missed flight, and eventually choked to death by her own handcuffs (the imaginative, official story is that she choked herself with the two-inch chain). LINK


This is literally just the tip of the iceberg. The first people that travelers into America meet are often the most horrible, paranoid, cruel and ignorant representatives of our citizenry. We are often merely exporting the worst attributes of us around the world. The problem isn't particular to America, but as one of the busiest travel areas in the world, we see far too many violations of trust.

Getting angry or upset at airport security puts you under their mercy. When the power of arrest is used for personal revenge and satisfaction, you have no recourse - your only representatives to the outside world are your tormenters. When the innocence of these victims is inevitably proven, do authorities back off their charges? No - they pursue them out of embarrassment.

Let's professionalize our airport security and eliminate that rotten 10%. It will be well worth the investment and dignify the rest.

Immigration

Scott Adams often states my opinions more eloquently than I can myself. I can no longer question the intellectual benefits of running a restaurant and comic strip.

Anything other than a link to the blog would be unfair. Here is my stance on immigration, more or less:

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/immigration.html

In other news, Cracking My Knuckles in Public will now consist entirely of links to other blogs. Until my Metablog achieves W* domination, that is.


*That's the "W" from "World" Wide Web in case you didn't catch it.