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My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

mobile.nytimes.com

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Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#171

Post by lupatus »

anigbrowl wrote: post #158
fastfinner wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is he cheating me? His family "cut the line" in building a life in the US, one of the best nations to be in, in the eyes of many on this planet. His chances of winning a Pulitzer would be severely diminished if his family had stayed in the Philippines. So he cheated me by not being subject to the same US immigration rules as I and the rest of the world. He cheated the many other aspiring college students, journal…

Your argument assumes a fixed number of available opportunities. In the work context, this is known as a 'lump of labor' fallacy.

Your 'lump of labor' logical fallacy contradicts the principle of 'the bottom line'. As a journalist, he is not creating work, but performing work assigned to him by a superior. His amount of available work to perform is limited.

Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#172

Post by pyre »

lupatus wrote: post #164
nick-dap wrote: post #51

I'm in the same boat. It's been difficult. I cannot express how grateful I am to Jose Vargas for writing this story. I was brought here as a kid 13 years ago. I'm 24 now. I also graduated from a "top" university -- like that matters. I guess my parents weren't smart enough to get a fake social security card for me back then, I wish they were. I've also been fighting for the Dream Act for what feels like an eternity.…

You are a criminal and not a "homebred American". You should stop punishing yourself and return to your home country. It sounds like you have the skills to be very successful there.

So is 'American' culture or tribe affiliation? If he/she grew up in America then deporting him/her is like sending them to a foreign country for all intents and purposes. What if he/she doesn't even know her/his native language? It's not such a black and white issue, as much as you might want it to be.

Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#173

Post by rglullis »

lupatus wrote: post #171
anigbrowl wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument assumes a fixed number of available opportunities. In the work context, this is known as a 'lump of labor' fallacy.

Your 'lump of labor' logical fallacy contradicts the principle of 'the bottom line'. As a journalist, he is not creating work, but performing work assigned to him by a superior. His amount of available work to perform is limited.

Was he assigned to write this piece?

Being a journalist is much more than being a reporter.

Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#174

Post by [deleted] »

nick-dap wrote: post #51

I'm in the same boat. It's been difficult. I cannot express how grateful I am to Jose Vargas for writing this story. I was brought here as a kid 13 years ago. I'm 24 now. I also graduated from a "top" university -- like that matters. I guess my parents weren't smart enough to get a fake social security card for me back then, I wish they were. I've also been fighting for the Dream Act for what feels like an eternity.…

[deleted]

Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#175

Post by Aloisius »

sdrinf wrote: post #100
Aloisius wrote: post #88

How difficult is it really to have a green card wedding? The only knowledge I have of it is from TV, but surely in a country where a good chunk of the population doesn't take marriage seriously, finding someone to marry you for citizenship wouldn't be difficult. You could even build a startup out of it... USMailOrderSpouses.com.

Might wanna have a look at the list of questions asked during a marriage fraud interview here: http://www.immihelp.com/greencard/familybasedimmigration/mar...

Hmm. Well I suppose you'd have to live together in order to pass that kind of exam, but you should be able to answer most of those questions after a few weeks. Odd though that a lot of those questions assume quite a bit of time has gone by.

Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#176

Post by woodrow »

phillmv wrote: post #144
BadassFractal wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa, what's this thing about gaining permanent residency in Canada if you're skilled? You make it sound too easy. Define skilled?

Eh, it's not THAT easy. For skilled workers, you're in if belong to a narrow category of professions and have worked for a year in the field[0], or you have a job offer. Otherwise, you need to score enough points[1] on this semi asinine questionnaire. Things that work in your favour: Knowledge of French alongside English, a bachelor's degree, having studied in canada, being 21-49 years old, having lots of work experi…

It's not employers that prevent doctors and engineers from working -- it's provincial licensing organizations that base their certification at least in part on Canadian education. Some provinces have programs that allow foreign-trained professionals to quickly shore up their qualifications, but it takes time.

Personally, I'd take this approach over letting anyone who claims to have an engineering or medical degree practice obtain certification and practice accordingly.

Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#177

Post by philwelch »

lupatus wrote: post #167
jshen wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be assuming that something is right because it is the law. I'm inclined to question that assumption. I could also make the usual snarky comment and say that by the letter of the "law" we owe native americans a whole bunch of land. Maybe even the land your house is on.

The Native Americans lost it fair-and-square through force of arms. Moreover, much of North America was unoccupied, unorganized territory open for colonization by Western Civilization. Whatever tribes were able to hold out are today richly compensated - see the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service.

I really can't tell if you're trolling or if you're serious, because I guarantee there's barely an Indian alive today who sees it the way you do.

Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#178

Post by qusiba »

nick-dap wrote: post #51

I'm in the same boat. It's been difficult. I cannot express how grateful I am to Jose Vargas for writing this story. I was brought here as a kid 13 years ago. I'm 24 now. I also graduated from a "top" university -- like that matters. I guess my parents weren't smart enough to get a fake social security card for me back then, I wish they were. I've also been fighting for the Dream Act for what feels like an eternity.…

Why not try to immigrate to Canada?

Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#179

Post by philwelch »

lutorm wrote: post #77
jeffreymcmanus wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the fallacies about immigration is that anybody can become a permanent resident by marrying a citizen. This path to permanent residency was basically choked off in the 1980s by requiring that the newlywed couple leave the country for a few years before they're allowed to come back to the US to live, and even then, it's not certain that the government will let it happen. This means that if I happen to fall in l…

Huh? "Anybody" (i.e. excluding terrorists, nazis, communists, HIV-positives, and other comparatively small segments of the population) can become a US permanent resident by marrying a US citizen unless they are present in the US illegally. Then the case is more complicated, but in many cases you are still eligible.

Wait, the US excludes people from residency for their political beliefs?

Re: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant

#180

Post by pmb »

lupatus wrote: post #166
davepage wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, here we have a philosophical issue: tribe or meritocracy. Considering the historically horrible results with tribalism, meritocracy is best. Which means, open the borders. If some lazy spoiled Americans lose their jobs to better skilled immigrants, all the better. That's what this country is about.

The USA has an orderly and, from what I understand from my immigrant friends and coworkers, not too difficult immigration process already. The meritocracy is here already. The article's author decided to cheat the system and be a criminal.

"Not too difficult". Hah. http://immigrationroad.com/green-card/immigration-flowchart-...

The shortest route is 10 years.

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