America's Immigration Resolution

I think that, as you look at my beautiful wife, my position on Immigration speaks for itself. My wife came over legally with her permanent resident green card on Jun 6th 2000. She arrived in Salt Lake City, Fox News filmed her arrival, and Sandy Riesgraf covered the story from the beginning. Three years after arriving here, my wife renewed her green card and I was removed as her financial sponsor. In 2007, She applied for her US Citizenship and was sworn in as a US Citizen on December 4th of 2007. I met her exactly 13 years prior to that in Belo Horizonte when I arrived in Brasil. My wife stands as a living example that we DID it right in terms of her immigrating legally here AND that it CAN and should be done in the same way that we did. At no point did her visa lapse. At no point was she considered illegal. She never had to worry about her Social Security being anything less than legal and she has had all of her rights as a permanent resident and now she has every right that any other American has.

Those who have come in illegally, should return and do it the right way. The US Mexican war has occurred. Whether people choose to deny this or not does not mean that it did not occur. The holocaust has also occurred and yet it is not taught in German history. We may disagree with an event, we can deny or ignore these events all that we would like, but it does not change the fact that they occurred. People who have broken the law must understand that when laws are broken (again regardless whether they believe in the wars of the past or not) there are always GOING to be consequences and resolutions to laws that have been broken. over 200,000 prisoners will be deported back to their respective countries. and 170,000+ prisoners were deported last year. You break the law, you deserve the consequences of your actions regardless of whether your intentions are good or bad. You did not only break the law by coming in illegally or overstaying your visa, but then you began working without the proper paperwork, some of you have cost your employers thousands, all of you have cost the economy thousands of dollars. You cannot vote, you are always looking over your back, you always have to deal with horrible health care options, why would you do that voluntarily when you can do it all legally?

Loitering near Home Depots, Lowes, and other places should also be considered as it is, loitering on private property. Since you are NOT American citizens nor are you permanent residents, then I would have no problem assuring that all illegals who DO get work, that you be paid a comparable wage with what you were paid in your respective country. it is NOT about being inhumane, as it is about removing your incentives for being here.

Please understand, that I DO know what it is to go through the USCIS system and what it is like to be on the phone for hours on end to get anyone else on the opposite end. I am clearly aware after SEVERAL mornings outside of INS offices in order to be seen by an INS officer which before appointments became the norm, was comparable with winning the California Lottery. I was vehemently opposed to the fact that it took as long as it did for the INS to get papers processed. It is abhorrent that it takes over 9 months for someone's wife to be able to be legally admitted into this country. So while I understand that it is frustrating and expensive to bring your family here, as obvious as it may seem that this country discourages immigration, please know that while there are hoops to go through to get here, please know that one of the happiest days of my life, was when my wife walked off of that plane in Salt Lake City. Our marriage and the birth of our children were happier but all 4 of those days were incredible. The most important part, was doing the process the right way and winning!

Please do not misconstrue what I am saying, I am all for legal immigration. I am all for the immigration country and the land of immigrants where it all started at Ellis Island. Those people arrived legally. There were no fines, they did it as it ought to be done. There is no reason why illegal immigrants cannot return and do the same.