Griego: 'Painful' delays leave immigrants in limbo

Published May 15, 2006 at midnight

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Where were we? Oh, yes. Why, asked Gabe Elliott of Fort Collins, don't illegal immigrants come "the right way?"

The short answer, as I've said before, is that many cannot.

But, back to our history lesson and the long answer. In 1965, the immigration quotas favoring northern and western Europeans were replaced with a system dividing visas equally among countries worldwide and giving preference to families and skilled workers. Skilled workers are basically defined as those in jobs requiring at least two years of experience or a bachelor's degree or both. Few expected the demographics of immigration to change, says Rice University sociology professor Stephen Klineberg.

But the 1965 law literally transformed the face of immigration, he says, taking this country "from an amalgam of Europe to a microcosm of the world."

"The thinking was we needed more British doctors and German engineers. It never occurred to anyone that there would be Indian doctors and African and Chinese engineers who would be able for the first time in the 20th century to emigrate to the U.S."

They jumped at the chance. Today, 85 percent of legal U.S. immigrants are "from all the places they never came from before," Klineberg says. About 500,000 a year become naturalized citizens. The top five countries of origin are Mexico, India, the Philippines, Vietnam and China, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services community liaison Barbara Melton. They, in turn, are sponsoring their family members.

Visas, it should be obvious, come in limited supplies. There are 226,000 family-based visas and 140,000 employment-based U.S. immigrant visas available worldwide every year. That limit doesn't include the children, spouse or parents of adult U.S. citizens for whom visas are always available. But because countries are allocated an equal share - no matter their population or location - the result is that Mexico, China, the Philippines and India now also have the longest waits for visas.

The unmarried adult child of a U.S. citizen from Mexico will wait at least 15 years. The spouse of a permanent legal resident has a minimum seven-year wait. The biggest backlog awaits the Filipino brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. They're looking at 23 years.

"Why don't people come legally?" Melton asks, going over the wait times with me. "There's your first answer."

Qualified petitioners can end up mired in a backlog where the only good news is that petitions filed in 2001 are now being processed.

As for those who do not qualify, the busboy, the janitor, the nanny, the fast-food worker without family to sponsor him, no realistic legal avenue exists. They generally cannot even come as temporary workers.

The point, as I said last week, is not to justify illegal immigration. It's to better understand why some of it is happening. How can we "fix" a system if we don't know how or where it's broken?

Why they don't come legally? Let's end with Ivo Majetic. Majetic is a legal temporary worker from the Czech Republic, and I can see him at his computer in our newsroom doing whatever it is a computer whiz on our Web site does.

Majetic qualified for a work visa because he is both well-educated and highly skilled. He arrived in the U.S. in 2001. In 2003, the News began the process that will set him on the road to legal, permanent residency. He is still waiting in the first of four steps.

His wife, Irena Majeticova, a hotel sales director, accompanied him, but cannot work while she is here because his worker visa category forbids it. She was able to attend college on in-state tuition, so, she's not complaining. But, she is frustrated.

"I think it is not worth it anymore," she says. "It's a nice country; I don't want to be offensive, but I don't know if it's worth it. It's a painful process."

"Our situations are different," Majetic says. "I can work, but Irena cannot. She can go to school. She did that. So, now what? It's easy to say, 'be here legally,' but there are so many limitations and it takes so many years."

The couple have European friends who came here on work visas, applied for green cards, and grew exasperated with the process. They are now among the estimated 40 percent of immigrants living here illegally because their visas are invalid.

"People say, 'I'll stay and if they catch me, well, so what? I get a free trip home.' " Majetic says.

"How many people are we talking about?" I ask.

"How many do you want?" he replies. About 40, he says. No, his wife says, closer to 100.

"These guys are good guys and they tried to be good guys and they have nothing back home," Majeticova says. "We don't want to complain. We chose this, but at the same time, I'm tired."

Like so many people, they are of mixed mind when it comes to illegal immigration.

"We are not on the American side and we are not on the illegal side," Majetic says. "We are on both sides and we have friends on both sides. I understand why so many people choose to be here illegally, but I have waited a long time and I will be mad if any of them get in line in front of me."

And no one could blame him.

griegot@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2699

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