Thousands of High School students in every state have no idea they are illegal immigrants.\u00a0 Typically they find out when they want to get a job or a driver\u2019s license. \u00a0They find out that they do not have a social security number.\u00a0 They cannot work or drive even when they reach the age that all their friends and classmates begin working and driving.\u00a0 They cannot join the military, and they have no way, no how to become \u201clegal\u201d.<\/p>\n

Forty seven percent of undocumented or \u201cillegal\u201d immigrants entered the country legally but overstayed their Visas. \u00a0In this area of the country the percentage is a lot higher. \u00a0Nationwide 58% are Mexican nationals and the new border security has made it much more difficult for people to cross our Mexican border.\u00a0 Ironically that has increased the likelihood that those in the United States will remain here undocumented rather than return home with no chance to ever come back legally.<\/p>\n

There is no small irony in the fact that we all seem to just accept these people are \u201cillegal\u201d while many have broken no laws.\u00a0 In fact it is not illegal to be undocumented.\u00a0 Overstaying a visa means you are deportable, but there is no law against it.\u00a0 One cannot be illegal for \u201cbeing\u201d in America.\u00a0 The law against crossing a border \u201cunexamined\u201d is punishable by a fine of $50 to $250, like a speeding ticket.\u00a0 But there is no one to take your money, and even if you did pay it you would not be \u201clegal\u201d and you would still be deportable.<\/p>\n

Undocumented children, when they reach age 16 or so feel as American as I am, having gone through our school system.\u00a0 But when they are asked for a social security number they find out they will not be eligible for loans or grants for College in-state tuition in the states they may have resided most of their lives. All of them know a lot more about this country and the English language than the country and language of their citizenship.\u00a0 But here they can\u2019t work, drive, go to college or enter our military.<\/p>\n

Most are idealistic, many stand up and declare publicly they are \u201cdreamers\u201d because of their hope that an immigration bill that passed Congress (but not the Senate mainly due to efforts from Senator McCain) will one day allow them a path to citizenship.\u00a0 This is a courageous act, obviously, because their immigration status makes them \u201cillegal\u201d ostracizing them and putting their families in danger of deportation.\u00a0 But they probably have never broken any law, and certainly have broken no immigration law.<\/p>\n

You probably think these people can now just \u201cdo it the right way\u201d and apply for citizenship.\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 According to US immigration law, the only way to become legal is to return to their country of citizenship, wait ten years, and apply for a return Visa.\u00a0 Or get married to a citizen.\u00a0 All the immigrants I know agree that immigration should be difficult, but US immigration under present laws is just impossible.<\/p>\n

Our immigration laws, or lack thereof, then forces 20 million people to work in a shadow economy.\u00a0 They can make up a social security number to use.\u00a0 Or there is a legal Tax ID number they can use in place of a social security number, but an employer who knowingly hires undocumented workers is liable for severe penalties.\u00a0 If their employer takes a chance on them then the undocumented workers are allowed to pay taxes.\u00a0 The vast majority in that situation never receive any refund of taxes paid because they never file for a tax refund, which would be illegal.\u00a0 And none of them are eligible for any benefits from the Social Security or Medicare they pay. It is generally accepted that the undocumented segment of the population pays more than its fair share of taxes.<\/p>\n

Most estimates say undocumented aliens make up as much 6% of the people in the United States, but being undocumented means we just don\u2019t know.\u00a0 The check cashing stores that sprang up around the country a decade or so ago evidence the fact that the undocumented usually work for cash.\u00a0 They work cheaper than most Americans, live cheaper, save money, and contribute a great deal to the economy with their labors.<\/p>\n

There are two ways an economy can grow:\u00a0\u00a0 One is to add productive people who work and spend within that economy.\u00a0 The other is to produce more for a cheaper rate.\u00a0 For our economy to grow we either need more people or we need to be more productive.\u00a0 The only ways to add people to our economy is through immigration, to increase our birth rate, or to expand into other countries or populations.<\/p>\n

Conservative estimates report 20 million people are undocumented or \u201cillegals\u201d.\u00a0 Considering the cost alone deportation is out of the question.\u00a0 No one is untouched by this huge segment of the population.\u00a0 These people work here, build lives here, raise children, and they are better behaved than the rest of the population so as not to draw attention to themselves.<\/p>\n

According to US immigration law the only reasonable path to citizenship is to marry an American.\u00a0 To marry \u201cfor papers\u201d is very definitely and completely illegal punishable by fines, imprisonment and deportation.\u00a0 But is it really that different from marrying for health insurance benefits or to legitimize children?\u00a0 It certainly cheapens the institution of marriage and undermines the foundation of involved families.\u00a0 And in any case, the immigration services take it very seriously when an undocumented marries an American and often checks out the situation thoroughly.<\/p>\n

According to our immigration policy those who marry must live together as husband and wife for three years.\u00a0 Immigration authorities may check pictures of weddings and celebrations, ask personal questions about living arrangements etc.\u00a0 Every such marriage I have heard about has been a real marriage and only a few I know of have ended in divorce.\u00a0 The only difference I see between marrying for papers and other marriages is that the non-American offers money to the American for the marriage.\u00a0 I have heard that figure from $5 thousand to $15 thousand but obviously that is all negotiated in complete privacy between the only two people involved.\u00a0 If either marriage partner ever confesses the marriage is for immigration purposes the foreigner is deported and the American will pay fines and\/or go to prison.<\/p>\n

The only life options available to \u201cDREAMer\u201d undocumented youths puts them in the strange position of having to break a law in order to stay in their home country.\u00a0\u00a0 Their parents may have broken some laws, but these people have not.\u00a0 So they must work under the table or marry illegally in order to stay in their home country.\u00a0 Or perhaps they will fall in love and marry, but regardless the pressure is on these people, but none of the fault.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thousands of High School students in every state have no idea they are illegal immigrants.\u00a0 Typically they find out when they want to get a job or a driver\u2019s license. \u00a0They find out that they do not have a social security number.\u00a0 They cannot work or drive even when they reach the age that all … Continue reading What Americans don\u2019t know about Immigration<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rantings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s8FSV9-51","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}