Immigration ? Trying On A New Lifestyle

The lure of riches in a foreign land, the potential of awesome new opportunities, dreams of what might be ? all these sometimes entice people to immigrate to a different country. Being reunited with a loved one or just longing for adventure are also strong reasons for immigrating. Sometimes, rather than being drawn to a new country, one is pushed: religious persecution, starvation when the crops have failed, escaping unbearable family situations. Certainly wars, revolutions and political unrest have caused thousands to try to find a peaceful existence elsewhere. And decades ago, many were forced against their will to live in a new country as slaves or as prisoners.

For all who move on, pulling up roots from their homeland can be traumatic. It truly is not an easy decision to make, and today about 15% of those who leave their native country choose to return, finding that adjusting to a new society is too difficult.

The easiest transitions occur when the immigrants can find a community made up of people from their native home. They can keep a lot of their old customs while integrating the new country?s language, values and culture. Experience seems to indicate that to be happy they need to wholeheartedly try to assimilate the new ways and not begrudge the environment being different. Home is where the heart is! Home needs to be wherever we are!

While planning to remain permanently in the new country, most find work and strive to own a home of their own. They learn the new language (sometimes laughingly) and educate their children in the new ways, without having the children cut the bonds that tie them to their native roots. To honor both countries with love is the goal!

Immigrants have made enormous contributions to the economies and cultures of their new countries, yet these are often made with tremendous difficulty. Newcomers face many challenges in being accepted, and when they arrive from being ?pushed? to the new country, rather than ?longing? for it, the transition is even harder. Sometimes those original dreams just don?t come true.

The immigrants who make a very good living in the new country and are able to send money home to relatives in the native country are usually glad they made the transition. Some are able to establish business links with the businesses back home, helping to ease the problems that are faced there. Other immigrants finally retire and return to their native land for their old age, only to find that it, too, has changed.

Ultimately we each have to learn to cherish where we are. The old saying, ?Where ever I go, I go, too!? still rings true.

Paul Babs is the owner of Citizens Stopshop which tackles all immigration issues. For more information, go to: http://www.yesimmigration.com

 

How Important Is It To Choose The Right Immigration Lawyer For Your Case?

If you do not choose the right immigration lawyer you could find yourself getting thrown out of the country, whatever country that may be. In order to be allowed to stay you need to have a good immigration lawyer on your side.

This may sound scary and daunting but the good news is that it is easier than ever to get in touch with a good immigration lawyer. The internet makes it so easy to find and interview all kinds of immigration lawyers. This is a very important step when it comes to finding the perfect lawyer. You need to interview each and every immigration lawyer that you are considering in order to get a feel for whether or not the lawyer is the right one for you. Your immigration lawyer needs to be someone that you feel you can trust and someone who has your best interests at heart. If you are unsure of this then you need to move onto another candidate.

An immigration lawyer is going to cost you a pretty penny but the best way to look at it is like an investment in your future and that of your family. Sure, you may have to put out a lot of money but you will be able to stay in the country and your family will be able to continue living the life they have come to love. If you cannot find the money to help you pay for your immigration lawyer then you may need to look to other ways to get an immigration lawyer. There are services that can help you to find and obtain the services of a good immigration lawyer for an affordable price. Some of these services are specific to where you are from while others are simply concerned with the fact that you do not have the money to pay for an immigration lawyer.

The sooner you can get an immigration lawyer the better. You need to be able to give your immigration lawyer time enough to plan a good strategy. There are many facts that need to be checked and double checked by your immigration lawyer and you cannot afford him or her to cut any corners if you want to be able to stay where you are. The immigration lawyer that you choose is going to mean the difference between you succeeding in your case and failing.

Even if you cannot afford to pay for an immigration lawyer you need to at least meet with one and get some much needed advice. Getting the proper advice is absolutely vital to your success. If your family wants to stay where they are you are going to need to get as much information from your immigration lawyer as you can afford. This is easy to do and if you have not yet met with an immigration lawyer you need to do it today.
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Illegal Immigration And The Catholic Church

I am a Catholic. I am also, however, against illegal immigration. I believe that we should clamp down harder on illegal immigrants and we should do more to protect our borders. Churches, whether they be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or other, however, have a different duty, in society, than governments, police departments and citizens. A church's duty is to help people without regard to the person's past or current standing.

After an interview with Cardinal Mahony of the Catholic Church, the Los Angeles Times reported "In an interview on the eve of Ash Wednesday, Mahony said he planned to use the first day of the Lenten season to call on all 288 parishes in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, the nation's largest, to fast, pray and press for humane immigration reform. U.S. Roman Catholic bishops support proposals for a guest-worker program, legalization of undocumented immigrants and more visas for migrants' families.". The Times further reported that "In his most forceful comments to date, Mahony said he would instruct his priests to defy legislation -- if approved by Congress -- that would require churches and other social organizations to ask immigrants for legal documentation before providing assistance and penalize them if they refuse to do so. That provision was included in the immigration bill recently passed by the House of Representatives; a similar proposal is in the version that the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to begin debating this week.".

Cardinal Mahony stated "The whole concept of punishing people who serve immigrants is un-American. If you take this to its logical, ludicrous extreme, every single person who comes up to receive Holy Communion, you have to ask them to show papers. It becomes absurd and the church is not about to get into that. The church is here to serve people.... We're not about to become immigration agents. It just throws more gasoline on the discussion and inflames people."

In a letter to the Times a reader stated "It is time for the Internal Revenue service to look into the Catholic Church's tax-exempt status. It seems as though Cardinal Roger Mahony is getting involved in politics, and I thought that was a no-no."

I disagree with that reader. I don't believe that Cardinal Mahony is engaging in politics. He was not telling his parishioners what stance to take on illegal immigration, he was simply asking (not odering) his parishes to "fast, pray and press for humane immigration reform" and instructing his priests to continue to provide assistance to people without regard for their immigration status.

It is a priest's duty to assist people. To deny a person the sacraments of confession, communion, baptism, last rites, marriage, etc., or to deny financial aid or comfort in times of need, because that person may or may not be here legally or because that person may not be able to prove that he or she is here legally, would be unchristian and against the spirit of the Church. In my opinion, any priest that would deny aid based on immigration status, would not be fit to be called a priest.

Cardinal Mahony also stated that he disagreed with certain new laws and rules being proposed. I disagree with some of his statements, however this country's constitution guarantees freedom of speech, and I believe that he should be able to vocalise his thoughts and feelings, just like the rest of us. His being a Cardinal should not rob him of his right to free speech. He is not, after all, speaking of treason or hate and he is not stating that God told him to make his statements. He is not stating that God will punish those that do not follow his (Cardinal Mahony) wishes.

Cardinal Mahony advocates immigrant rights and I and many others disagree with many of the rights he advocates, however, he is a citizen of this country and no matter what his position or influence, should have the right to speak out on issues that he believes in. Politicians, celebrities, union leaders, billionairs, etc. all are allowed to speak out. Why should church leaders be prevented from speaking out?

Yes, the government should do everything it can in order to stop illegal immigration. No, churches should not be stopped from caring for their flock and they should not be stopped from caring for someone just because he or she may or may not be a citizen or a legal immigrant. The government's duties and the church's duties are not the same.

David G. Hallstrom, Sr. is a retired private investigator and currently publishes several internet directories including http://www.resourcesforattorneys.com a legal and lifestyle resources directory for attorneys, lawyers and the internet public. For more lifestyle information see http://lifestyle.resourcesforattorneys.com, the Lifestyle directory from Resources For Attorneys.

Banishing Immigration Newspeak

For nearly thirty years, Michigan's Lake Superior State University has released an annual List of Banished Words, a brief inventory of the year's most annoyingly popular expressions, with the recommendation they be "banished from the Queen's English for mis-use, over-use and general uselessness."

This year, the tiresome "metrosexual" and the insufferable "bling bling" were deservedly condemned, as were several war-inspired entrants such as "embedded journalist" and "smoking gun." I was disappointed that none of my three choices for this annual dishonor made the cut, however. My nominees for banishment were: "Guest worker program," "Matching willing workers with willing employers," and the worst offender, "Work Americans won't do," as in "our economy needs illegal immigrants because they do work Americans won't do."

Combined, these three Orwellian phrases are calculated to convey the impression that there are certain occupations so inherently dangerous or otherwise disagreeable that we lazy, self-indulgent, American crybabies must rely on hardy immigrant stock to roll up their sleeves and get the job done for us. Tell that to a Pennsylvania coal miner!

Although it's true that less glamorous jobs are frequently filled by illegal aliens, the jobs themselves are not intrinsically unacceptable. Rather, the ready supply of illegal labor has resulted in many perfectly satisfactory jobs becoming unacceptable. In short, illegal aliens will work under unsanitary and unsafe conditions for minimum wage or even less, thereby lowering standards, and as long as employers can fill jobs by exploiting illegals, there will simply be no incentive to improve wages or working conditions.

A recent piece by Nancy L. Othn and Mike Clary in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel illustrates this principle in action with the story of Gregorio Ruiz Aviles and Lauro Marquez Hernandez, two young Mexican illegal alien construction workers crushed to death in the collapse of a three-story building on which they were working. Five other men were injured in the accident. The Florida company which employed them was fined $2.4 million for having no workers' compensation insurance, but according to Othn and Clary, "five months after the deaths of Ruiz and Marquez, few public officials, employers, workers and immigrant advocates express much hope that change would come soon in an industry where undocumented workers willingly take any job they can get."

Worse still, employers who play by the rules are easily underbid by their unscrupulous rivals, and the downward pressure on wages and safety intensifies. And this phenomenon is certain to worsen -- not lessen -- under any program which would legalize the process. Why? Because a "documented" worker is easier to deport, and will therefore be more likely to do "work Americans won't do" to avoid unemployment and ineligibility. A guest worker program will therefore simply institutionalize the current gray market for employees who will tolerate the intolerable.

It's a tenuous doctrine, that American workers are so expensive that even American companies can't afford them, and the plan to extricate ourselves from this invented predicament by pinning our hopes on the newly legendary Mexican work ethic is flimsier still. And yet, there is some evidence that muddleheaded Americans are being persuaded by the hypnotic repetition of immigration Newspeak issuing from the White House, the Congress, and the major news media. A February 2004 Gallup Poll found that 46% of Americans support President Bush's plan to legalize Mexican nationals currently living here illegally, "as long as they hold jobs that no U.S. citizen wanted to do."

George Orwell famously observed that political speech is "designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." What else can be said of a phrase such as "undocumented worker" which presupposes the subject is working, and transmutes the violation of our borders into an apparent paperwork mixup? Will we now refer to a bank robbery as an "unauthorized withdrawal?" And what shall we  call the children of undocumented workers? Undocumented students?

Orwell forewarned us more than fifty years ago that sloppy  language begets foolish thinking -- and vice versa -- and it's as true today as ever. Purposely misleading expressions such as "work Americans won't do" are solid proof that big lies still fit neatly into short phrases.

It's time we banished them.

Mr. Salientian is a regular contributor to PHXnews.com. You can read more of his articles on politics, economics, trade and immigration at HotFrog.org.