QuoteI spent several thousand dollars to get some sort of status...I had to be separated from my wife for 6 months after we were married...

People do not know just how hard it is to legally come to America...Even if you get married to an American...

Peter, I believe the process must have become more involved in recent years. I guess I was fortunate on a few points.

I had already been married to my American born wife for nearly 10 years when I began the US immigration process; therefore there was no waiting period. I waiting period is, I believe, to help weed out the marriages of convenience.  :-/

1985 was a simpler time. I began the process in late '84, had 2 interviews, a physical by their doctor of choice ( with chest X-ray I had to carry with me), photo for the alien registration card (I was issued a permanent card; there are some that have to renewed every few years even for people granted full work status.), and fingerprints recorded. I was approved by late March '85.

I don't think the whole works cost more than CDN$300, more or less.

Don

different times indeed! My wife and I Went to see a immigration lawyer 2 days after we were married and he recommended I go back to Canada for 6 months... So I did... It cost several thousand...Just what the US government charges is about $2000 in fees...The rest went to my lawyer....But he explained that if you make a mistake in your filing it could kill your chances of living in the USA...So my wife and I decided to be safe and pay the lawyer to make sure everything was done correctly.

The place where all the fee money went was in Illinois (some department of immigration)

I had to be fingerprinted, photographed... medical exams... tested for HIV and tuberculosis etc...They even scanned my eyeball I think they were taking pictures of my retinas for security purposes.

The way it went down is that my wife had to sponsor me...She had to make a certain amount of money to do so...And agree to support me and all of that....and then sometime later after that I applied for a Tax number... and it was explained to me that when the 5 years is up and I can become a citizen that my tax number will become my social security number.

I think you are right about the 5 year thing and the marriages of convenience....It makes me laugh...To think that anyone would ever consider marriage something that remotely resembles convenience

My wife will be married 4 years come spring...So we are getting closer.. I think I will go ahead and take the history test and get a social security card and all of that....Just to have it over and done with... I do not know if I will ever get the itch to vote (not a lot of faith in the system) but if I do at least then I can vote

I can tell you that the 6 months I spent away from my wife were the hardest days spent in my life...It was not pleasant...We were just newly weds too...So we still sort of actually loved one another

I bet now my wife wishes I would just go away for a long time but back then it was really tough on both of us... she would call me every night and she would be crying...It really made me mad that we had to go through that when so many mexicans just jump over a fence and Welcome themselves to America

Things did change...  I received a social security number right there at the border crossing (driving a Uhaul and the Suzuki with my utility trailer (now 27 yrs old). They called it up on the computer; it had been pre-assigned I guess. Then the actual card arrived in the mail within 3 weeks or so.

I did forget one thing; My father in law did have to act as sponser... letter written and filed in some government office. He's now deceased; wonder how that would affect things??  

Citizenship process cost something like $250 or so a decade ago.

"Mexico Plans To Reconquer California!"

"The theory of Mexican re-occupation of its lost territories doesn't look so ridiculous if one were to examine the demographic trends in the Southwest.In another 20 to 30 years Latinos will comprise more than 50% of the population in California.This fact and other social and cultural developments are opening the door for 'self determination'and even the idea of an 'Aztalan.' Aztalan the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs, is regarded in Chicano folklore as an area that includes California,Nevada,Arizona New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.The aim is to create a sovereign state, "Republica del Norte,' the Republic of the North, that would combine the American Southwest with the Northern Mexican states and eventually merge with Mexico."

article...

http://planetimpress-news.blogspot.com/2007/09/mexico-plans-to-reconquer-california.html

Quote

QuoteNON-citizens should have NO rights in this country, except the right to LEAVE!!!!

Whoa! There's a BIG difference in being a legally immigrated NON-citizen and being an ILLEGAL immigrant.

I could care less if someone does not want to become a citizen after they've been allowed to jump through all the hoops and over all the barrels and LEGALLY immigrate to the USA. It's the ones who are here ILLEGALLY I am concerned about.

I do believe the issue of granting of citizenship to those born here to non-citizen women should be looked at and re-addressed in the light of the state of the country and the world today.

By NON-legal, I was implying those who are totally illegal. I have known several people who fought to jump the hoops of LEAL citizenship and I respect their work.

Those folks are as American as anyone else...the ones who refuse to do it by the rules should have NO rights... except of course the right to leave...as soon as possible.

QuoteI have a big problem with the Anchor babies

Sneak across the border 9 months pregnant and spit out a kid and you get to stay...I find that horrible... and it is definately being exploited

I guess you could pass a law that prevents babies getting citizenship if they are born to illegals who are in the USA without permission...Meaning if they sneak across the border they get sent back and the baby has no status

Agreed...and the mothers and children shouldn't get free medical attention while being here as criminals.

Williet

I agree illegals should not get free medical attention...But considering that they own nothing in america...Have no money...What are we going to do... shoot pregnate mothers who waddle into emergency rooms?

They kind of force the USA to treat them and give them medical care...

If they refused them and had security guards throw mothers giving birth off the property...and babies started dying it would be a public relations nightmare for the hospital... I bet some illegals would even sue!

Not sure how to solve this problem...

I saw an accident today...mexican towing a 1 ton on a trailer pulling with a half ton...could not get stopped when the light turned red and the guy in front of him did not run the red light....So we heard the brakes squealing and there were 20 feet of black skid marks...And Bang he smacked the pickup truck in front of him

Out jumped Mother Mexican and three baby mexicans..And even though the 10 year old boy was banged up a little...The mom dragged them the hell out of there...within 2 minutes they were gone not to be seen out of sight...

My wife and I were in the parking lot next to the accident looking at a really sweet 1976 Grand Cherokee to buy (attention Don ...) My wife asked me why the mother was running away....I told her....Must be illegals

It was terrible mess the accident...The dumb-dumb did not have the truck chained down on the trailer so it got propelled onto the back of the halfton that was pulling the trailer...

It was deadly dangerous just considering the fact that it was a piece of junk trailer with no brakes... truck was not chained down at all 4 corners as the law requires... half ton does not have enough brakes to haul a trailer and another truck...

I felt bad for the guy that did nothing wrong and had his new extended cab ford 1 ton diesel dually smashed all to bits from behind...

You know the guy that hit him is illegal no insurance nothing...So how does he get his truck fixed...Yes folks that's right he has to pay for it himself...

the point to the accident story is that there are several quagmire problems regarding the illegals in this country and there is not much we can do to solve them as there are so many illegals and our ability to handle and deal with the problem is very much inadequate :-/

"You know the guy that hit him is illegal no insurance nothing...So how does he get his truck fixed...Yes folks that's right he has to pay for it himself...  "  

At least in our state of Minnesota, the insurance is no-fault.  You have an accident, your insurance takes care of you.  However, we DO pay more for that type of coverage, so I guess in the end, we are paying for those types of drivers.

I purchase the extra cost "uninsured/under insured driver" insurance here in NM. NM lets you choose for yourself whether or not you want to but of course you have to sign a waiver if you elect to not buy it. Sounds like MN doesn't give you the choice; the govt there prefers to do your thinking for you. Don'tlike that. And yes we all pay for it in the end, one way or another.

I like no fault insurance...The Government tried to make it mandatory in Nova Scotia back when I was living there...The insurance companies took out massive air time on the radio and TV to campaign against it...

The way I see it is if the Insurance companies are against it, I am all for it!


I like the choice aspect and the ability to sign a waiver... They used to have it so you could get bonded and once bonded you never had to buy insurance ever again...

This is still on the law books in Nova Scotia...But just try to do it...I spent a lot of time and half a dozen trips to the DMV and to a lawyer trying to set up a $200,000 bond... Which legally can be used in lieu of insurance...I had to get mad at a handful of DMV people before someone would even admit that the law I was talking about even existed...

I have noticed at the DMV that there M.O. is to offer no information on anything...They just want straight forward title transfers, take license pictures and issue tags.... If you have something other than that they tell you it cannot be done! Only when you find out the law and the process and go back to them and request the exact form for what it is that you want to do that they say cannot be done.... Only then does a magic drawer slide open and the forms you need appear from thin air!

Seigfried and Roy have nothing on the DMV Clerks

Quotethe point to the accident story is that there are several quagmire problems regarding the illegals in this country and there is not much we can do to solve them as there are so many illegals and our ability to handle and deal with the problem is very much inadequate :-/

I have said all along, unless we as a nation are willing to have our military shoot a mother who's draggin her children behind her across the Rio-ditch...we can NEVER secure the borders of this country.

Sounds so harsh it's stupid!

BUT...how many mothers and children are being killed in Iraq everyday to try and secure the border of another country?

As long as people are willing to risk death anywhere for what they want, you can't stop them with words......The folks in Washington wanted the lands of the Cherokee and other Native Americans and they weren't at all slow about killing them. Is this any different?

My point is the Latinos and others who come here illegally will continue to as long as they are allowed to.....and the "government" must want it, or it would be stopped. We use force all over the world, but not on our own borders.......just something to think about. I'm NOT suggesting we start killing folks at the borders...just pointing out what it will take to stop the invasion.ANYTHING else will be a waste of time.

SO..why bother at all...just open the country wide open to any and all who want to come here.

Quote"You know the guy that hit him is illegal no insurance nothing...So how does he get his truck fixed...Yes folks that's right he has to pay for it himself...  "  

At least in our state of Minnesota, the insurance is no-fault.  You have an accident, your insurance takes care of you.  However, we DO pay more for that type of coverage, so I guess in the end, we are paying for those types of drivers.

Got that here too...my wife has been with lawyers for the last 2 years trying to get OUR insurance company to pay for an accident that was NOT her fault.....NO FAULT works IF your insurance company will pay up. ..BUT...to me, it looks like now you have got to sue TWO companies instead of one.

I keep Republicans talking about a law that would REQUIRE everybody with money or property to purchase health insurance....like the car insurance crap. Can't wait for that one! They'll bleed all our savings and then what?

well there is an endless  barrage of scams to get you separated from your monies.

Property tax and Income tax are bogus! They came up with them to control and manipulate us...

Auto insurance health insurance are just more of the same... without buying anything or eating anything we have a huge amount of bills they say we owe them...so we have to work in their economy making it easier for them to monitor us tax us control us just to pay them said monies for fees that they have "created"

I would love to see a group of people a huge well organized group refuse to pay property and income taxes...And challenge the government...I believe that they could win because these taxes are not part of our constitution...They are corrupt taxes that are used for things like Nukes wars in Iraq etc....

I say we all head to the underground headquarters for shelter and to plan our protest

Re: Thread drift... no-fault auto insurance

I don't even like the name; there's always somebody at fault, unless it's a tree falling on your car or a flood; and we'll give God a waiver on this.

I have read that there is plenty of fraud in no-fault states and that no-fault usually costs you/us more.

Finding from recent studies by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) include:

  * States with some form of no-fault auto insurance are consistently a majority of the highest-priced states in the nation.
   * Six of the ten states with the largest premium increases between 1998 and 2002 have mandatory, no-fault systems.
   * During those same years, auto insurance premiums rose 92 percent faster in no-fault states than in personal responsibility states.
   * Premiums are 19 percent higher in no-fault states than in personal responsibility states.

FTCR's website also notes "Data from no fault states shows that no fault increases premiums while restricting consumers' rights."

FTCR's website main page   http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/

Auto no fault insurance specific page  http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/insurance/nofault/

I don't endorse everything they say but the no-fault auto insurance information seems logical and true to me.

Quotewell there is an endless  barrage of scams to get you separated from your monies.

Property tax and Income tax are bogus! They came up with them to control and manipulate us...

Auto insurance health insurance are just more of the same... without buying anything or eating anything we have a huge amount of bills they say we owe them...so we have to work in their economy making it easier for them to monitor us tax us control us just to pay them said monies for fees that they have "created"

I would love to see a group of people a huge well organized group refuse to pay property and income taxes...And challenge the government...I believe that they could win because these taxes are not part of our constitution...They are corrupt taxes that are used for things like Nukes wars in Iraq etc....

I say we all head to the underground headquarters for shelter and to plan our protest

Ha Ha Ha

America's FIRST tax...George Washington taxed the selling of whiskey and brandy to pay for a "standing" military... which wasn't in the original plan of Franklin and Jefferson.

Many Revolutionary War vets who had returned to their homes, took up arms against the "new" government to stop all taxes IMPOSED by government in America because they were under the false assumption they had just fought a war for that purpose...Washington used the Army of the United States ( the standing army which was to benefit from said tax) to stop the revolt and force taxation on the citizens of America. The money to be managed by our soon to be "second" President...John Adams and another founding father, Alexander Hamilton.

This use of the Army of the United States against CITIZENS to force them to bend to the will of the President was the second travisty of our new government. The first being a TAX the citizens didn't vote on or desire.... and so ... Washington, the man forgot what the Revolution was about ... and Washington the city began ruling the citizens of this country with the threat of a standing military to enforce their rules.....

George Washington used the Army to force taxes to be collected. Adams and Hamilton used said money to found the National Bank ... (forerunner of the Fed)... That banking institute which runs the economy of our country. One of them said something like... in order to keep the common citizen in check, he'd have to be bogged down by taxation and credit. As long as a man was in debt to a bank and had to struggle to pay that debt...he wouldn't have time to challenge his government.

In an odd way, the President still uses the need for a standing military as the reason for taxes ... the Fed banking system still uses the money as they see fit and the common citizen still struggles to pay his debt and taxes.  

Re: Thread Topic,  Illegal Immigrants Aliens

Some of the thousands of backpacks, clothing, empty water bottles, etc discarded by illegals south of Tucson, AZ



from The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps website
http://www.minutemanhq.com/hq/borderops_27.php

main page   http://www.minutemanhq.com/

looks like a good place to do some shopping...Is that on the USA side of the fence or on the Mexican side?

US of A side of the non existent or ineffective side of the fence.

I still say if we refused to allow anchor babies - yes, if they show up at the hospital, we'll deliver the baby - but nothing else!  If they didn't get welfare, free schooling, free healthcare, etc, there would be no reason for them to be here illegally.  That seems like a simple enough solution to me  

Yeah, we're never going to turn the mother to be out into the parking lot to give birth. But the birth should be the end of the freebies they receive. Absolutely.

All of the sudden I have to disagree with my wife.

They will take advantage of the benefits if they are there and we give them to them, but that is not the reason they are here.

A few years ago a traffic controller got $.50 an hour in Mexico.  Probably still similar.  Other trades are even cheaper.

Here, next door we have relatively high minimum wages in comparison.  People who live here and call themselves Americans, want to make a decent wage.  Most Americans want - and need to make at least $15 or more per hour just to scratch by.  We want to eat steak, not bean burritos.

Corporate America and farming America doesn't like to pay even that much.  They need slave labor.  Mexico will provide all the slave labor we need at minimum wage (slave wage) and Corporate America will have a much better bottom line so the CEO's can drag home multi-millions and the stockholders will see a few cents increase in their investment.  What high paying jobs are left and not given to the illegal aliens will be sent to India or some other country overseas.

The masses of Americans who used to make decent money will be made and kept poor so profits can be maximized.   Big business has the money to buy all the politicians they need to assure themselves of keeping things running the way they want it.

If the illegals didn't get all the freebies  , they'd need at least $15/hr to live on too!  We not only provide welfare to the illegals but to the corporations & corporate farms & yes, they own the gov't so get by with it.  :'(

Not wishing to get in the middle of a spousal dispute, I should remain silent.    But that's not stopped me before.

I don't pretend to know how things would work out in the end, but I still maintain that we as a country are stupid if we continue to allow illegal immigrants aliens to cross any of our borders at will. (Why is it not correct to call them aliens when IF they got the beloved "green card" the card would be calling then resident "aliens" and they'd all be tickled pink?) (If anyone knows where that saying comes from I'd be interested in knowing.... I know I could google it, maybe I will?) It's a good thing I don't live any closer to the Mexican/USA border 'cause I'd likely get myself into deep doo-doo by doing something I shouldn't.  

Stop the illegals, and work from there. Our own legal poor folks suck enough off the liberal do-gooder socialist government programs. If we weren't passing out so many dollars worth of services to illegals and the children of illegals we wouldn't need to be taxed so much and we'd all have more money left at the end of the day.