Immigration Fairness

A recent article points out that "Almost 1 of 2 new Americans in 2008 was Latino"
Hispanics made up nearly half of the more than 1 million people who became U.S. citizens last year, according to a Hispanic advocacy group.
...

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials said the number of Latinos who became Americans in fiscal year 2008 more than doubled over the previous year, to 461,317. That's nearly half of the record 1,046,539 new citizens overall in 2008, a 58 percent increase from 2007.
...

In fiscal year 2008, 231,815 people originally from Mexico became citizens, up almost 90 percent from 2007. Increases in citizenship among Latino immigrants from other countries were: 39,871 from Cuba, up 160 percent from the previous year; 35,796 from El Salvador, up 109 percent; 17,954 from Nicaragua, up 120 percent; and 17,087 from Guatemala, a 109 percent rise.

So it looks like about 1/4th of new citizens last year came from Mexico. DailyPundit, (Bill Quick) a fine and well-known blogger comments
This is great! Hispanic-Americans who come here legally, and jump through the ridiculous hoops placed in their path by the INS because they want to become Americans make great citizens.

I have to say I really don't see the logic here. How is it great that 25% of new citizens come from a single country which has roughly 1.6% of the world's population? Where is the fairness in that? When Bill Quick says Hispanic-Americans make great citizens, does he mean that people from other parts of the world do not? Why should our system so strongly favor Mexicans? Millions of people from around the world would like to come here. Imagine the outcry if 25% of our immigration were coming from England or another western European nation.

The trouble is that we have two systems. One for Mexicans, and another for everyone else. While everyone else waits his turn in line, Mexicans are encouraged to skip the line altogether. I think that our immigration system is broken. People from everywhere should have an equal shot of getting in. I am all for immigration. Let's just be fair about it.

0 comments: