An Open Letter to MN Senators Regarding the Immigration Bill

The following is a letter that Mark sent to our MN Senators regarding the Immigration bill.

Dear Sir/Madam
I am a Canadian by birth and a U.S. citizen by choice. My family legally immigrated to the U.S. years ago and we went through the legal process.

My family spoke English, my parents were educated and we still had a difficult time getting approved. Now we are Americans and we are very proud of our adopted country. The struggle of going through the legal process perhaps makes us appreciate our citizenship more than those of you born here and who take it as aright of birth and "no big deal". We are discouraged by the current Immigration bill. Why is it that the border between Canada and the US appears to be a stronger barrier than our southern border? We are not racist and we are not bigoted, but we do want everyone who comes to this country to live and work to go through the same legal process we did.

Here is my list of objectionable faults of the current Immigration Bill
1. Z visa is basically automatic and renewable continuously until the person dies, therefore it is not temporary - it is a permanent visa

2. The Immigration Bill gives the government only one business day to conduct a background check to determine whether an applicant is a criminal or terrorist then the alien receives a probationary Z visa the next day. One day??? How can anyone think that one day to search all databases is enough time to do a reasonable search? Therefore this is an automatic Z Visa.

3. Under the Immigration Bill, illegal aliens on Z Visas would receive a taxpayer subsidy worth thousands of dollars and they would be treated better than U.S. citizens from out-of-state, who must pay three to four times as much to attend college. As a father paying for 2 kids colleges/universities tuition, I know the costs of college
4. Also troubling is that legal aliens, like my nieces and nephews who possess appropriate F, J, or M student visa would not receive this valuable benefit. Nor would they be eligible for the federal student loans that illegal aliens could obtain by this provision.
5. The final criticism I will list is that there is no real enforcement before amnesty. I see that Section 1(a) allows probationary Z visas to be issued immediately after enactment, and then Section 601(f)(2) prohibits the federal government from waiting more than 180\ days after enactment to begin issuing probationary Z visas. So all the talk about immigration enforcement is null and void.

There are Four voting family members in my family and we respectfully request that you vote against this Bill in its present form and in any future bill that contains these deficiencies.

Sincerely,
Mark Smith