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Richard Piatt reporting One of the big questions for many people concerning the immigration debate: Why don't more people immigrate legally?
The answer is complex.
You might think it's a question of just filling out the right forms, taking the time to stand in line, simply waiting for a turn at citizenship.
But becoming a US citizen is a labyrinth of beaurocracy
Options for Legal Immigration
- Employment Visa
- Asylum
- Religious Worker
- Refugee
- Family-based
- Investment-based
For one thing, there are different ways to apply:
For employment, asylum, as a religious worker, refugee, as a family-based immigrant or as an investor.
Cesar Galarza, an immigrant seeking asylum from Peru, agrees US laws need to be followed.
Cesar Galarza, Seeking Asylum in U.S.: "The United States has rules and I think we need to respect the rules and procedures."
But there are almost as many reasons why the law isn't obeyed as there are illegal immigrants.
German Flores, Immigration Attorney: "If you come to the U.S. illegally and you marry a US citizen, and you don't place any papers before April 30, 2001..."
Attorney German Flores explains the details of just one piece of the law, which he describes as 'difficult', in some cases inhumane. Families can be separated for as long as a decade while waiting for legal status.
German Flores, Immigration Attorney: "It's important to realize that there are many, many people who have the right to be legalized. And they can't do it because they make it more difficult."
For example, consider Alex Villanueva. He moved to Utah as a refugee; started a family; then ten years later faced deportation, even though his family could stay.
He was eventually granted a 'Cancellation of Removal.' Attorney Flores sucessfully argued that Villanueva met this exact criteria: He had been a good citizen, and no criminal trouble; and faced extreme, unusual, exceptional hardship if he was deported.
German Flores, Immigration Attorney: "It is very difficult to immigrate to the U.S. And every day it becomes more difficult."
Students, employers, and workers face government limits, quotas and waiting periods--easy to say, hard to obey when there's work to be done.
A solution lies in Washington where pressure is building to find a better process.
