You Get What We Pay For?
Uh, sorry, that's not the way it works. Or not the way it should, anyway: You can't pay the price of admission, you can't get into the fair, okay?
Nevertheless, in San Francisco, city officials are trying to make citizens subsidize immigrants' green cards and citizenship!
Supervisor Chris Daly, reacting to the new and significantly higher federal fee structure for immigrants seeking citizenship, imposed last week by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, complained that the fee hikes raise concerns that immigrants "cannot obtain safe pathways to legal immigrant status and citizenship" and "further exacerbates pressures on families, increasing stress," according to the San Francisco Examiner.Under the new fee structure, the cost to apply for a green card is now $930, up $605 from the old fee. Citizenship applications went from $330 to $595. On Tuesday, Daly asked the city attorney to draw up legislation that would subsidize immigrants applying for citizenship, green cards and petitions for relatives and workers.
If you can't afford the price of being allowed the privilege of working here or possibly becoming a citizen here...stay the fuck where you were.
Does anybody here think the subsidization will stop with green cards?
via Maia Lazar
[sarcasm]Oh sure! Just tell them all to come to New Haven and get their (free) ID cards here![/sarcasm]
If you can't afford the price of being allowed the privilege of working here or possibly becoming a citizen here...stay the fuck where you were.
I've been saying this for years. Problem is, the business people who keep on hiring the illegal immigrants are the ones who are keeping the whole thing in play. Arresting and fining these people, and keep doing it until they get the message might be a short term solution, but the bigger problem is keeping the illegals from entering the country in the first place. Any suggestions? o_O
Flynne at August 24, 2007 6:54 AM
More evidence that what government does best is give away other people's money.
doombuggy at August 24, 2007 8:51 AM
"Something that has always puzzled me all my life is why, when I am in special need of help, the good deed is usually done by somebody on whom I have no claim."
-William Feather, The Business of Life
I don't think there should be any charge for a law abiding person to become an American citizen. Not a penny. "Give us your poor, your tired..." is what made this country great. We as a people are richer for our diversity, and should take pride in creating a society that offers opportunity to those born less fortunate.
That being said, I do wish we would enforce the laws already in place and secure our borders.
eric at August 24, 2007 9:09 AM
"Not a penny. "Give us your poor, your tired..." is what made this country great."
Yes, hard working people DID make this country great and still do. But shouldn't they at least pay to cover some of the expense incurred just by processing their paperwork? I have a feeling, given the fact that it most likely takes a month longer than it has to (thanks to all the bureaucrap), that the man hours dedicated to processing each request is high.
It's not like the government is trying to make money off citizenship applicants...that's a really generous statement coming from me, as I assume the government is generally a gigantic rip off.
Gretchen at August 24, 2007 10:06 AM
Speaking as a former (thank god!) San Franciscan, totally not surprised. That city is quickly approaching Berkeley and Santa Cruz for wacky leftie ordinances...
Bloody guilt ridden white liberals...
André-Tascha at August 24, 2007 10:39 AM
Should we charge people to vote as well, because election cost money?
These people will become taxpayers, and help to pay for those welcomed into the country in the future. The costs are minimal for our society as a whole, but the benefits will grow in perpetuity. Many first generation immigrants struggle to make ends meet, and raising the fees may prevent them from becoming citizens. This will prevent them from participating in the voting process, simply because they may not have a thousand dollars or so to throw at the system.
My parents came here from England / Scotland, made a good life for their family, and I would rather see my taxes go to investing in our own society versus an unwelcoming society thousands of miles away.
eric at August 24, 2007 10:53 AM
We publicly fund elections, which we need our citizenry to participate in to maintain a democracy.
Becoming a citizen is a privilege, and if you want citizenship, you fund it. I think not being able to scrape together the funds for the price of admission suggests you're not a good credit risk for admission -- beyond the fact that people should be personally responsible for their own expenses, not expect others to sweat at work so they can have it easier.
Amy Alkon at August 24, 2007 11:06 AM
The American dream should not be tied to your FICO score. I bet we spend less on creating new citizens in this country each year than we spend in Iraq in a day.
eric at August 24, 2007 11:32 AM
Sorry, you have to shoulder the bureaucratic costs before you get to be an American and thus up for "the American dream," which, to my knowledge, involves hard work and "making it," not getting handouts from Americans.
Amy Alkon at August 24, 2007 11:49 AM
I'm gonna melt that cold heart someday Amy!
eric at August 24, 2007 12:14 PM
Eric, could you tell me how, as an American trying to immigrate to Mexico, I will be treated? What issues I will face? I assure you, as a non-native I would face treatment by the government w/ which I'd disagree. I could sell my car and afford beach front property - only, as a non native I wouldn't be allowed to buy it.
An eye for an eye isn't really the best approach in life, I'll agree with you before you even make that point. Yet it really irks me that people like yourself act as if Americans owe something to the incredibly poor citizens of South America.
By no means am I suggesting that, b/c they're poor, they're less worthy of entrance into the U.S. But, as a tax payer, it seems like economic suicide to only further increase the number of poor. The shrinking middle class is an issue at the forefront right now. To further add to the burden of this vital class is idiotic.
We need SOME immigrants. But we don't need 12 million being let through the flood gates w/ a coupon.
Gretchen at August 24, 2007 12:19 PM
Check this out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Mexico
An excerpt from the very fair, very "equality oriented" Mexican immigration policy:
"In cases of flagrant delicts, such as a person declaring they entered the country illegally, any citizen may make a citizen's arrest on the offender and his accomplices, turning them over without delay to the nearest authorities. Only Mexicans by birth or naturalization and Mexican companies have the right to acquire ownership of lands, waters, and their appartenances, or to obtain concessions for the exploitation of mines or of waters. [1] Mexicans have priority over foreigners under equality of circumstances for all classes of concessions and for all employment, positions, or commissions of the Government in which the status of citizenship is not indispensable. Foreigners can serve in the military only during wartime.[2]"
Gretchen at August 24, 2007 12:23 PM
I'm gonna melt that cold heart someday Amy!
I do like that you keep trying!
And actually, I'm a very warm person, but coldly rational: I understand that a friend to all is very little friend to anyone, least of all him or herself.
Amy Alkon at August 24, 2007 12:48 PM
The problem is, $903 is a lot of money. I would be happy with a middle ground: Either cough up the the cash or pay it off to society in another way, such as community service. Both methods make them contribute something to the society they hope to become part of.
Monica at August 24, 2007 1:06 PM
$903 is a lot of money? Well, if it means a lot to you to be a citizen you'll get it together.
Amy Alkon at August 24, 2007 1:13 PM
Hmm. I actually had to get my Dad to sponsor my wife when she immigrated here.
We married, in Japan, about 3 months before I got out of the service, so I technically had no job when I returned. (I really had no desire to reenlist, and the paperwork to get married over there took months. This was pre-internet days and it wasn't really possible to find a job remotely. Poor planning, I should have met her sooner, but I digress.)
The government needed a guarantee that she would not end up on public assistance. I still think this was and is reasonable.
So why should current taxpayers not enjoy the same level of protection? The system is not for the benefit of the immigrants, it's for the benefit of the citizens.
MarkD at August 24, 2007 1:50 PM
Exactly.
Amy Alkon at August 24, 2007 2:06 PM
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