On Independence Day, Musings on Immigration and Things that make you go hmm

"We are a nation founded by immigrants."

The quote, "…founded by immigrants." is interesting. According to American history, our nation was founded on July 4, 1776. On this date, our founders signed the Declaration of Independence and were officially recognized as a nation. The first immigration laws did not appear on the books until the Immigration Act of 1875.

This "was the first immigration law that excluded groups of people from the United States…" If we were not established as a country until 1776, then could not the founders, those who arrived before 7/4/1776, be considered settlers? An immigrant comes to a country to take up permanent residence.  Just follow me.  In order to be an immigrant, you must have a recognized country to take up residence. Would you be considered an immigrant if your future residence is not a country?

Our immigration system is broken.

We hear this phrase used frequently as a reason to "fix" our immigration system. What part of the system is broken? Is the method used to grant visas or is it the lack of finances to monitor all the borders (land & water)?  Could the brokenness be in the documentation needed to become a citizen?  It would be nice to know which part or parts of the system are in need of repair. When we find that out, we can focus our efforts on fixing that area to the benefit of the entire system.  However, when politicians and pundits alike say the "system" is broken, it gives rise to fixing the "system" without realizing that the “system” has parts and that fixing the “system” requires understanding the moving parts. In addition, to call it the “system” absolves those responsible for the “system” of their duties to ensure the “system” works.

"Immigrants want Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR).

An immigrant is one who joins the American family according to the laws of our nation; over one million immigrants join each year. They go through the process which can range from months to years to complete. The cost to become a citizen starts at $700.This amount does not include costs to the immigrant to go back and forth between their home country and the US. An illegal alien is a non-citizen who remains in our country contrary to our immigration laws. An immigrant is not an illegal alien.

To assume that immigrants are in favor of CIR is an erroneous assumption.  Immigrants made numerous sacrifices of time and money to become a citizen. As of late, illegal aliens have marched on our nation’s street demanding they be granted citizenship. Why does the pro-illegal immigration lobby dump immigrants and illegal aliens in the same ideological bucket?

In this fast-paced, data overload world, it pays to stop and think about the information you are being fed.