I've updated this:
My aunt, would like to stay. She doesn't have much to go back to, her family is scattered and she is alone. Here in the states (she has been here for 2 months) she has my family, her sister and some family we recently discovered living in California. Here she is surrounded by love, in Korea, she is surrounded by the mountains and and no family. I have done my research, contacted several immigration attorneys and got the same answer. For my aunt to stay, she will have to immediately go back to Korea and then wait for a minimum of 10 years (as long as 12) while she is processed. She's 61 now. To wait that long will mean she will be unable to enjoy what our country has to offer, she will be unable to see her young nephew grow. I have to tell you, March was the first time in 23 years that my mom and aunt had seen one another. I had never, ever met her. It was 30 years since my dad had seen her last. To wait another 10 years would be torture. She is independent. Would not get social security as she never worked here, and would not be dependent upon the resources of the state. She simply wants to spend her later years with her sister.
I don't talk about this much, but she and my mom lost their beginning years together, then lost the last 30. In all, over the course of their lives, they maybe spent 15 years in one another's company.
Should we petition to have her visiting status turned into legal status, she will be sent to Korea until that process is completed. The strain on the system has made such petitions the lowest of priorities. 9-11 has made a 5 year wait 10 years, and all in all, we cater to those who rape this country of resources, while overlooking those who simply want a better life.
Everywhere you turn there are illegals flooding the system and costing me money. Even here in Western, PA we have illegals who tend tree farms and work at the places that the amish now refuse to work. I don't begrudge them a living, but at the same time, I want them to strictly adhere to the law. I am a law abiding citizen, hell, I am a lawyer. But I am increasingly tempted to tell my aunt to go home, get her affairs in order, say goodbye to her friends and come back and just stay. She isn't a criminal (not that it would matter). The plain fact is that no one would ever look for her, she is a non-entity.
But, my law-abiding mind gets the better of me and I tell myself that that won't do. Instead, I will scrape up the $2000 for her to travel here every six months to a year (if I am able) so that she can spend some of her waning years with my mom. Instead, I will forego new furniture, a 1/2 bathroom, a deck, a new roof, new windows, for the few short months she can spend with my mom. Instead I will actively shout about our open borders and the increasing strain our society is put under when I can't get a shot at the clinic (which is all I will now be able to afford) because an illegal immigrant has gotten there first.
The failure of immigration in the country is that for those wanting to come to America legally, the process is so time consuming and difficult that it makes it an impossibiity. It is still possible for children and parents, but that time has even been lengthened to around 5 years. Think of it. Your baby could be stuck in another country while the "process" works itself out. Meanwhile, we are overrun with illegal immigrants that our country chooses to largely ignore because afterall "undocumented individuals have rights too" WTF? They get to trample my rights as a citizen because they are minorities. I got news for ya! I have been a minority all my life. I have never asked for a handout, never asked for a break, never asked for a group right that I wasn't already entitled to under the Constitution. What I ask for is fairness. The system is not fair.
To this country immigration reform is to turn the other cheek while another mexican crosses the New Mexico border, while an Muslim intending to do harm sneaks across the Montana border, while the President makes nice with the President of Mexico, who has it in mind to turn the US into a Mexican territory. I am mad! Instead, however, since I don't believe in entitlements to myself, I will stew and wait for the day when one of the generally inept members of Congress introduces a real immigration reform package. One that halts the flow of immigrants (many of whom have criminal backgrounds) into our country and makes it easier for family members of citizens to come here for that better life.
So much for immigration reform . . .
My rant is done. Resume regularly scheduled programming.
