People always tell me they have “nothing personal against Hispanics” like me, “they just need to come here legally.” For most Mexican immigrants, there is no legal way.
U.S. immigration policy has largely been based on one of two pathways: specialized employment, or family unification. If we need a particular immigrant to do a particularly skilled job, you’re welcome to come; and if you already have an immediate family member lawfully residing here, you can come, too.
Yet there’s always a catch. For employment-based visas, a prospective employer must prove it looked all over the country and couldn’t find a U.S. citizen qualified to do the job. For family based visas, you must stay in your country, and the line to process your application can be up to 25 years long. If you break in line, you are barred for life. So Mexicans are out of luck.
There are other less well-known avenues to immigrate to the U.S. If you are willing to invest $1 million in a majority American-owned business, we will take you. If you can throw a 90 mph fast ball, we will take you. If you come from a communist country and we can politically embarrass a dictator by taking you, we will take you. If you look like the Swedish bikini team, we will take you.
You read that right. There is an annual “diversity lottery” that awards visas to foreign nationals we would like to see more of. Countries that have had 50,000 people come in the previous five years are disqualified. Mexico is a disqualified country and always has been. The U.S. policy is, “We don’t need any more Mexicans.”
Mexico has always had a large number of people who want to come to America. Their reasons are like the stars. The jobs. The economy. The safety. The wealth. The opportunities. The freedom. The beauty. The list is endless. But the legal pathway to residence for Mexicans is almost non-existent. Beset on all sides by corruption, violence, poverty and drugs, is it any wonder Mexican nationals flee across the border to the safety of our cities and towns?
We should welcome them. After all, they flee circumstances we created with our demand for drugs. They come to serve the economy we created with our demand for cheap labor. They keep our children, clean our houses and tend our gardens. They pick our crops, run restaurants and build houses. They make carpeting and process poultry. They do the jobs we won’t do. They love America. The taxes they pay fund schools and keep Social Security solvent.
We could make Georgia rich, culturally and financially, if we simply issue state driver’s licenses and work authorization permits. Bring these brothers and sisters of ours out of the malevolent shadows and into the warmth of a Christian embrace.
Arturo Corso is a Gainesville attorney.
