Fifteen years ago, on April 16, 2006, The Ukrainian Weekly’s editorial for that issue commented on the broken condition of the U.S. immigration system.
The House of Representatives in December 2006 passed a bill that would erect hundreds of miles of fencing along the southern border and make illegal immigrants felons, without providing a path or even a chance at legalization or eventual citizenship. The editorial called that bill “draconian” and a “disgrace” considering the U.S. is a country of immigrants.
The U.S. Senate proposed a different solution that would have allowed undocumented workers in the U.S. to become legally employed and offered them a chance to become permanent residents, and, ultimately, citizens. The Senate measure proposed a guest worker system that set a path to citizenship for immigrants after five-plus consecutive years residing in the U.S. Those who have been in the U.S. two to four years would have to apply for legal status after returning to a border crossing to have their documents processed, while others would be subject to deportation. The Senate was unable to pass the measure, with both political parties sharing the blame.
The editorial noted that these illegal immigrants, who often work in landscaping, construction, restaurants, or as domestic and cleaning people, tend to be invisible to many Americans. Many of them are exploited by greedy employers who desire cheap labor, and those same laborers feel helpless with nowhere to turn to defend their basic human rights, often leading to slavery-like work conditions.
The Karnaoukh family from New Jersey made headlines in 2006 when they were deported to Ukraine after living in the U.S. for 15 years. Having bought a home and sent their sons to college, the family thought it was on the road to legal status in the country. However, thanks to the work of “incompetent and unprincipled lawyers,” the family was deported in February 2006.
It is these lawyers who need to be prosecuted and suffer for their misdeeds, the editorial suggested, rather than immigrants who are taken advantage of by these legal representatives.
The editorial concluded: “Clearly, our immigration system has to be fixed. And the sooner Congress stops playing politics and gets down to serious business, the better. It’s time our political parties stopped worrying about losing support in the upcoming congressional elections and started worrying about the well-being of our country. In short, they must do the right thing – not the politically expedient thing.”
Source: “Our broken immigration system,” The Ukrainian Weekly, April 16, 2006.