Unless Peter Pan happens to be in the House when it votes for comprehensive immigration reform, it’s questionable whether or not the bill on the floor will actually pass by Labor Day.
There are still so many fractured points of view on immigration and what to do with illegal aliens or undocumented workers that it’s truly a flight of fancy to imagine the House all being on the same song sheet when they vote on whether or not to pass it. There is media coverage daily about this politician’s opinion versus that politician’s opinion, and none of them seem to consistently stick to their views. This is extremely frustrating for a skilled immigration lawyer in Miami who goes to bat for immigrants to get through the horrendous maze of the present immigration system.
Most politicians, and indeed the average Joe and Joan America, are against illegal immigration and for legal immigration. Many feel border enforcement is the answer to keeping out illegal immigrants. However getting over the fence is seemingly a way of life. It’s how things go at the border. If it’s a six foot fence, the ladder to breach it will be six and a half feet tall.
The devil in this issue is and always has been, just precisely how do you get illegal aliens to register their presence with the U.S. government and start paying taxes? Given the way many of them have been treated over the years, what would make anyone think they’d willingly rush to government offices and admit they are here so they can start shelling out income tax? There would certainly be a number of people who would register, but there will continue to be those who prefer to enter the U.S. “other” ways because that is just human nature. Many an immigration lawyer in Miami knows this to be true.
The vast amount of money being funneled to the Department of Homeland Security to build more fortifications and boost the Border Patrol from ten thousand agents to twenty thousand agents would boggle the imagination. All this for a fence that conceivably may never be finished and certainly not within the “year.” Will Americans shell out tax dollars for sensors, light towers, directional listening devices, remote video surveillance, mobile night vision scopes and other “spy” technology that may never be used?
The tools of the border enforcement aficionados are referred to as force multipliers, meaning their presence would reduce the number of live agents needed on site. If that’s the case, then why are they voting for more money for more agents that won’t be needed because modern technology will handle the patrol? This whole issue of comprehensive immigration reform is simply rife with issues that would raise the hair on any civil libertarian’s neck. The most controversial issue that everyone seems to overlook here, including the media, is basic human rights.
While those crossing the border illegally may be working in the U.S. and not be “recognized” in the same way a U.S. citizen is, they are nonetheless entitled to human rights. It’s just that simple. So far we haven’t seen much debate on that issue, a critical one to illegal aliens and the immigration attorneys who strive to assist immigrants become part of this great nation.
What we have seen is a lot of rhetoric that sounds mighty fine in theory, but those “fine” ideas don’t necessarily have something to back them up in practice. There are no easy solutions to immigration reform; however, continuing on the road we’re traveling on now may easily wind up being a dead end.
Sally Odell – Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more about immigration lawyer in miami, immigration lawyer in orlando, immigration lawyer in florida, visit Rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.
