Immigration 101

I’m sure you all are as curious as I am about the hoopla that’s going on with the immigration reform. I’ve been hearing it on the news and apparently the “Mexicans” went on strike recently (are “Mexicans” the only immigrants?). I got to thinking about immigration and have lots of questions.

1. Can a person from Guatemala one day just say “hey, I think I’m going to move to Florida this week”?
2. What’s the criteria for immigration? Do you have to have a job lined up? How are you supposed to find a job if you can’t come here to look?
3. I hear stories about people being deported. Or maybe that’s just on TV. If deportation happens, who decides who gets to stay and who has to go?
4. At what point in history did the US government decide to stop or severely limit letting people in?
5. What exactly is the big deal about this immigration reform? Sounds like the government is actually going to enforce existing laws.

And I do understand some of the bigger picture. If we didn’t slow the influx of immigrants, communities wouldn’t have time to absorb so many without a lot of problems (see Katrina Victims for an example). And, I totally resent having to pay, through taxes, for services for non-taxpayers, including welfare junkies and illegal immigrants.

I’m going to do a little research and let y’all know what I come up with. Please feel free to respond if you know the answer to any of these.