Questing for Atlantis

It’s long been a suspicion of mine that most people dont understand the difference between immigration and naturalization. I think it’s safe to say I was right.

Local blogger RightCoastGirl recently posted the floor speech made by Rep. Tom McClintock in response to the address by President Calderon. Here’s the text of his speech:

M. Speaker:

I rise to take strong exception to the speech of the President of Mexico while in this chamber today.

The Mexican government has made it very clear for many years that it holds American sovereignty in contempt and President Calderons behavior as a guest of the Congress confirms and underscores this attitude.

It is highly inappropriate for the President of Mexico to lecture Americans on American immigration policy, just as it would be for Americans to lecture Mexico on its laws.

It is obvious that President Calderon does not understand the nature of America or the purpose of our immigration law.

Unlike Mexicos immigration law — which is brutally exclusionary — the purpose of Americas law is not to keep people out. It is to assure that as people come to the United States, they do so with the intention of becoming Americans and of raising their children as Americans.

Unlike Mexico, our nation embraces immigration and what makes that possible is assimilation.

A century ago President Teddy Roosevelt put it this way. He said:

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

That is how we have built one great nation from the people of all the nations of the world.

The largest group of immigrants now comes from Mexico. A recent RAND discovered that during most of the 20th Century, while our immigration laws were actually enforced, assimilation worked and made possible the swift attainment of the American dream for millions of immigrants seeking to escape conditions in Mexico.

That is the broader meaning of our nations motto, e pluribus unum from many people, one people, the American people.

But there is now an element in our political structure that seeks to undermine that concept of E Pluribus Unum. It seeks to hyphenate Americans, to develop linguistic divisions, to assign rights and preferences based on race and ethnicity, and to elevate devotion to foreign ideologies and traditions, while at the same time denigrating American culture, American values and American founding principles.

In order to do so, they know that they have to stop the process of assimilation. In order to do that, they must undermine our immigration laws.

It is an outrage that a foreign head of state would appear in this chamber and actively seek to do so. And it is a disgrace that he would be cheered on from the left wing of the White House and by many Democrats in this Congress.

Arizona has not adopted a new immigration law. All it has done is to enforce existing law that President Obama refuses to enforce. It is hardly a radical policy to suggest that if an officer on a routine traffic stop encounters a driver with no drivers license, no passport, and who doesnt speak English, that maybe that individual might be here illegally.

And to those who say we must reform our immigration laws I reply that we dont need to reform them we need to enforce them. Just as every other government does. Just as Mexico does.

Above all, this is a debate of, by and for the American people. If President Calderon wishes to participate in that debate, I invite him to obey our immigration laws, apply for citizenship, do what 600,000 LEGAL immigrants to our nation are doing right now, learn our history and our customs, and become an American. And then he will have every right to participate in that debate.

Until then, I would politely invite him to have the courtesy while a guest of this Congress to abide by the fundamental rules of diplomacy between civilized nations not to meddle in each others domestic debates.

I’m going to focus here on one particular aspect of McClintock’s response:

Unlike Mexicos immigration law — which is brutally exclusionary — the purpose of Americas law is not to keep people out. It is to assure that as people come to the United States, they do so with the intention of becoming Americans and of raising their children as Americans.

Simply put, McClintock is, without question, wrong when he says the purpose of our immigration law is to assure that people come to the United States “with the intention of becoming Americans and raising their children as Americans.”

The reality is that massive chunks of our immigration law have nothing to do with whether an immigrant is concerned with becoming an American. Indeed, many of the options offered by our immigration system are specifically focused on ensuring they don’t. Let’s run through the different visa types:

• Types A-1/A-2/A-3 cover foreign government officials, their families, and various individuals attendant to their work in America. For obvious reasons there isn’t the expectation that people under these visas come to America and become Americans.
• You have the B-1/B-2, which is a temporary visa for foreigners traveling to the United States for business or pleasure. As most anyone from the Philippines and many other countries know, these can be near impossible to get unless you are elderly, have holdings or business in your home country, or for some other reason are highly likely to not want to stay in America.
• The C-1/C-2/C-3 visas cover aliens in transit through the United States. I think it’s safe to say they aren’t expected to become Americans.
• The E-1/E-2/E-3 visas cover aliens coming to work in the U.S. due to substantial investment holdings. Since the visa is renewed on an annual basis and the holder is required to return to their home country on the completion of business, it’s pretty clear they aren’t “becoming Americans.”
• The F-1/F-2/F-3 visas are all student visas and cover people and their families coming to study in the United States. Once their education is up they are required to return to their home countries. Not a whole lot of American-ization there.
• The G-1/G-2/G-3/G-4/G-5 visas cover representatives to international organizations, their families, and people working for them. The GB/GT visas cover people visting from Guam for either business or pleasure. None of these visas show any concern for an interest in “becoming Americans.”
• The H-1B/H-1B1/H-1C/H-2A/H-2B/H-3/H-4 all specifically cover different classes of temporary workers. While these visas can be stepping stones to lawful permanent residence, it is not the primary concern, particularly for classes like the H-2A which cover seasonal agricultural workers.
• The I-1 visa covers foreign media and their families.
• There is the J-1/J-2, which is focused on cultural exchange. These are students, au pairs, special visitors, physicians, professors, academic researchers, etc. Since the purpose of this visa is to facilitate cultural exchange, it is also time-limited and holders have to go back to their home countries on the expiration of the visa.
• The L-1/L-2 visas cover intra-company transferees and their families. It is a short-term visa and is used primarily for bringing a person over to work in the U.S. office after they have been working in a foreign branch. Like the H classes, it can be a stepping stone to permanent residence, but that is not a primary concern for the visa class.
• The M-1/M-2 visas cover exchange students in vocational studies and their families. Like all student visas it is temporary and the holder is required to return to their home country upon completion of studies.
• The N-1 through N-6 visas cover NATO officials and their families. These visas are non-immigrant, so the expectation is that the holders will not become Americans and will not stay in the country permanently.
• The O-1/O-2/O-3/P-1/P-2/P-3/P-4/Q-1/R-1/R-2 visas cover a wide range of different types of temporary workers and trainees. The Os cover extraordinary talent and their families. Since they cover temporary visas they are only for a limited duration, although at least certain types, like the O class can be extended an unlimited number of times. Since these are individuals allowed in because they are extraordinarily talented, are part of a sports team or entertainment act, are part of an international exchange program, or are religious workers, none are expected to stay long-term and the anticipation is they will only be in the country for a limited duration of time. No “becoming American” here.
• The S visa covers aliens assisting law enforcement and is, I assume, primarily used for immigrants helping in Drug War efforts. For obvious reasons I think it’s safe to assume the law doesn’t really care about their interest in assimilating but is only concerned with the value they offer to law enforcement.
• The T-1/T-2/T-3/T-4 visas are granted to victims of human trafficking.  These are similar to the S visas in that they are granted if the victims agree to aid in prosecution of their traffickers. Ergo, interest in assimilating is probably a non-concern in the granting of the visa since the crime is such an egregious one.
• The TD/TN visas cover NAFTA temporary employees and their families. This visa allows Mexican and Canadian citizens in certain specialized fields to work in the U.S.; while the visa is temporary, it can be infinitely renewed, but will be denied if it is believed that the holder is using it as a de facto green card.
• Finally, the WB/WT visas are another form of temporary visa for the purpose of business or pleasure.
• On the other hand, the DV-1/DV-2/EB-5/IR-1/IR-2/IR-3/IR-4/IR-5 visas are actually immigrant visas, where the intent is for the person to stay and eventually become a citizen (the V-1/V-2/V-3 visas somewhat fall into this class as they allow green card holders to have their families join them, but they are only for people who applied on or before December 21, 2000 so they are slowly phasing out).

So to compare, that is 78 total visa options. Of those 86% have no interest in the holder “becoming American.” In fact, if USCIS believes that is in fact the applicant’s/holder’s desire it is grounds for rejection or revocation of the visa in many cases.

This is important. Immigration is quite probably going to be the next major political debate here in America. A lot of people have strong opinions on the issue, but they are opinions not rooted in facts, or at least not all the facts. When a U.S. Congressman expounds such a fundamentally incorrect view about our immigration laws, it is serious cause for alarm. If someone like that can’t get it right, how can we expect the average man on the street to.

That’s why I encourage everyone to read up on the issue so they know what they are talking about. My “Understanding Immigration” posts certainly aren’t the worst place on could start to get informed on the realities of America’s immigration policy and politics.