Poll: Most new legal immigrants were illegal at some point (Reagan, accuse)

[blacknight04]

Researchers say that's not the most common experience. They found 52 percent of new green card holders in California had lived in the country illegally before.
When they looked at the country as a whole, researchers found a smaller but still significant percentage of permanent residents – 42 percent – have lived in the country illegally.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080605-1045-ca-poll-immigration.html

What a slap in the face of legal immigrants!!

[davidt1]

This should be in the immigration forum. Yes, it is a slap in the face for legal immigrants -- those who play by the rules and come here legally. Illegals become legal and by amnesty and by cheating with the help of shady immigration services and law firms.

[pshinspections]

Originally Posted by blacknight04

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080605-1045-ca-poll-immigration.html

What a slap in the face of legal immigrants!!

This is a true statement, but not for reasons cited in the article. In my experience, people who go through the hoops and pay the big money to come here legally run into trouble because the government screws up or simply loses paperwork, rejects applications as incomplete, then requires a second set of forms and filing fee to try again. Last I checked, most immigrants are not rich, and so if an immigrant gets into the US but has to wait until they have even more money to re-apply, their temporary visa expires and they are, officially, illegal!

This happened to a family member of mine, and I hear stories about government incompetence daily. I would believe that before I would accuse someone who already paid once of just trying to stay here until the government either boots them or naturalizaes them.

[texdav]

We did have a amnesty program under reagan administarion. The illegals now are mostly new that don't qualify under that bill. Nothing surprising about that.

[blacknight04]

Hmmm... i was positive i posted this in the immigration forum.