America Beckons

As some of you know, I am assisting my brother-in-law, Myke, in his effort to migrate to the U.S. from Canada. Myke is a great guy, who is well educated and ready to work hard at starting a new life for himself and his future family (he recently got engaged to be married to a lovely young lady named Dara) here in America. Unfortunately, it is not an easy process, even for a guy that would appear eminently qualified like Myke. I won't bore you with descriptions of the seemingly endless number of rules and regulations involved just to figure out which are the appropriate applications to file. To say that the naturalization process is difficult and agonizingly slow is like saying Chuck Norris is a badass.

For instance, a few months ago I applied for a work visa for Myke. After about a week, I received a correspondence from the INS--a rather quick response, I thought. The letter confirmed receipt of my application and stated that, due to laws that have been passed since 9/11 and the existing backlog, they'd begin processing my request in...oh...9 to 10 months.

I understand and appreciate that we are living in the post-9/11 era, which requires much greater scrutiny of individuals' backgrounds for security purposes. But, the massive amount of bureaucratic red tape does not make it easy for people like us who want to honor the system and follow our immigration laws properly. After going through the process, one begins to understand why so many people migrate illegally.

In any event, in doing some research for this post, I happened upon this article in the Denver Post, which I found of interest. According to the article,

The nation's foreign-born population has topped 35 million after five years of the fastest immigration growth on record, much of it illegal, according to a study released Monday. The Center for Immigration Studies based its study on U.S. Census Bureau data. Today, the report said, 12.1 percent of U.S. residents were born abroad, up from 5 percent in the 1970s and approaching the peak of 14.7 percent in 1910.

The study confirmed what most people already know--that we have a signficant problem with illegal immigration in this country (this is particularly noticeable in Southern California where I reside). But the study also struck me as remarkable, considering the fact that we live in an era in which it is fashionable to be anti-American, even for some of our historical allies. I must admit to being mildly surprised that people are migrating to the U.S. in such large numbers. What is it that makes so many people want to leave their homelands and come to a country that some of our own political leaders view as a snake pit of fascism? I don't know...I guess I'll have to ask Myke.