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SACRAMENTO, California: President Bush’s State of
the Union call for assimilation—but not amnesty—for illegal
immigrants could present America with conflicting goals if Congress
is not careful, some immigrant rights activists fear.
If Americans want immigrants to
assimilate, then it doesn’t make sense—as Bush seemed to suggest
in his speech—to create a system to require millions of residents
to wait for a protracted period of time to even be allowed to apply
for US citizenship, said Francisco Estrada, director of public
policy for the Sacramento office of the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Educational Fund.
“It’s a contradiction to say,
‘We want you to assimilate as fast as possible, but we want you to
wait as long as 10 or 15 years before you can even become a
citizen,’” said Estrada, whose state—California—has the most
to gain or lose with Washington’s decisions on immigration reform.
Illegal immigrants live and work
all over the country, but California is home to the biggest
concentration, with an estimated 2.5 to 2.7 million undocumented
people out of 11 to 12 million nationally.
Republican Rep. Dan Lungren of
California said he believes Americans might accept a selective
legalization requiring foreigners to earn permanent legal
residency—or “green card” status—only after a prolonged wait
with certain requirements to fill to show they are assimilating.
Some Americans would rather the undocumented never be allowed to
become citizens, Lungren said.
“I just don’t think that they
[Americans] want a cheap path to citizenship,” Lungren said.
Lungren sits on a House of
Representatives immigration subcommittee that will have a major role
in crafting a proposal.
As a starting point, the new
Democratic-controlled Congress will revisit a Senate bill passed
last year that would have legalized some illegal immigrants and
increased visas for foreign workers to fill labor shortages.
The bill would have required
illegal immigrants accepted for legalization to wait another dozen
years before they could even qualify to become legal permanent
residents. To get a green card, they would have to hold onto jobs
here, pay taxes and show they are learning English.
Then, those foreigners would then
have to wait about another five years to be allowed to apply for
citizenship. That adds up to a 16-year wait.
In his speech Tuesday, Bush’s
was brief on the topic of immigration. But he said enough to show he
supports legalizing at least some of the millions of undocumented
workers here and changing the US visa system, which provides few
avenues for immigrants to legally work here.
“We need to uphold the great
tradition of the melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new
arrivals,” Bush said.
“We need to resolve the status
of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country,” he
added, “without animosity and without amnesty.”
--MCT
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