[quote]That is great news, killing the Dream Act was the only good thing that came out of Washington. That is nothing more than a back door amnesty program. Once those kids are granted citizenship, they will just petition their parents and other family members[/quote]
Out of curiosity, are you familiar with the petitioning process, especially for Mexicans?
Here’s how it would’ve worked, if the Dream Act were passed.
If you’re an illegal immigrant under 30, you have a high school diploma, a person of good moral character, etc. etc., you can apply for “conditional nonimmigrant status”. This status allows you to work or to study, but you can’t sponsor any family members, and you are subject to deportation if you commit a crime.
You stay in this status for 10 years. After the 10 years, you have to show that you got at least a two-year college degree or that you have served in the military. If that’s true, you can apply for a green card. No one knows how long it will take to get the green card (with all the 500,000 conditional nonimmigrants simultaneously trying to file for adjustment of status). Let’s be optimistic and call it two years.
After three years with a green card, you can apply for citizenship. Once again, this takes at least a year from the filing to the ceremony.
If you’re keeping track, it is the year 2027 now. And now finally you’ll be able to petition for your parents and other family members.
With your parents, that’s relatively easy. $420 for each parent and a couple of years. By the year 2035, they will naturalize, and, by 2037 or so, they’ll start bringing their unmarried children under 21 into the country.
At this point, the process comes to a complete stop. Because, to petition for any other family member other than parents, unmarried children under 21, and spouses, you have to file papers and then wait for the “cut-off date” to arrive. The cut-off date exists because there’s a fixed number of family-reunification visas available for each country, and the demand for those visas from Mexico far outstrips supply. So you go to the end of the line. As of today, the wait is 15 to 18 years long, depending on specific relationship. And it keeps getting longer.
And the bottom line is, most likely none of us would still be alive by the time first “other family members” of DREAM act beneficiaries start legalizing.
