Inside Boehner's Strategy to Slow Walk Immigration to the Finish Line - Page 4

Originally Posted by kabs

Okay, for a Dreamer who is 18 NOW (2013) vs when I was 18 (2003):
- There wasn't a lot of information about life as an undocumented youth a decade ago. Many organizations now are relatively new and I see information from 2010 that would have benefited me when I was in school in 2006.

- In-state tuition. I don't recall any states that offered it when I applied to school. I applied as an international student and had to take out loans. Some of us had to take out private loans as well which required a lot of work and research. So we have more debt to deal with.

- Driving/Traveling. You can get AP to study abroad. You can drive instead of taking long bus routes to get to places. You can go on an airplane now and not worry about getting caught (there are some examples of people traveling then getting detained at U.S airports. One kid was flying from Boston to TX.)

- +21 - You can use your license instead of a passport to go out with your friends (and don't have to explain why you are using such an important document)

- Work: This is huge.
For one, if they are still in school, they can qualify for internships now and get paid to do so which is important to gain work experience. They can find a full time job without ever explaining their undocumented status since it'll be irrelevant within the context of their resume.

Older dreamers may have gaps in the work history for a variety of reasons and that has to be explained. Being an engineer and not using your degree for 2 years is a lot more difficult to get around versus coming out of school with an odd job here or there. Fresh graduates are given a lot more leeway than someone who is out of work or in an unrelated field for 1+ years.



Personally, my opinion is CIR needs to happen so I don't take agree with IamAMan's opinion but I understand where he is coming from. Listen, you don't know what it's like to be 20+ years undocumented AND be over 30 and undocumented when the choice wasn't made for you. Even I don't know what it's like either for DA User and IAmAMan since I remember most folks from the days of CoSa (even though I never posted, I followed) and how hard people fought for immigration reforms and phone banking, etc.

You know what it is like to be undocumented and it sucks when your friends can do things you can't, but school and college are great ways to mask the reality since you can focus on your work. Adjusting to life as an undocumented immigrant post-college was the most difficult thing I have ever done in life.

That's why even though I disagree with IAmAMan's position on CIR, I understand why he is so urgent about it. Your 20s and 30s are the most important years of your life to establish yourself. He wants to move on with his life and do it in the right way. The people who will adjust under CIR tend to be older, who made the choice of immigrating to the U.S as adults, and calculated the risks/benefits. We didn't have that luxury.

We are fortunate because we have DACA. But tell me something... if you were around in 2010, you would know that many people knew that CIR wasn't going to get anywhere and were pushing for Dream Act since it was the one thing that most people could be okay with. Was that wrong of us during that time to do so based off of political expediency? Same thing in 2007. This has been going on for 12 years. You may or may not be aware of the legislative trials and tribulations of immigration reform, but it has been incredibly ugly to say the least.

Why would IamAMan push for CIR at 30+ when it might mean that he'd have to waste another four years of his life waiting for the next go around for CIR to pass when it's in his best interest to get the Dream Act passed if it's possible to do so now? And that stands a better chance than CIR with 11 million.

So yes, I do have compassion for IAmAMan, DA User, and other people who are in that position. You may fully disagree with them, but out of all people in the world, we know what it is like and can be like for people like us. I feel bad for everyone involved.

Originally Posted by Pianoswithoutfaith

The man clearly has the patieinces for a cir to happen either today or 27 years from now hes been waiting already 27 years. What's another 27 years for him? Besides as you have read his post, if a cir doesn't pass any time soon. He still has his family peitition to solve his issue. In fact, he has a better opportunity waiting for that family pet for him to get hos green card than a cir passing and granting him anything else than a green card. He's right when he says he has that over anything we have. But 27 years was a long long wait. So I'm sure he can wait another 27 years for a cir to pass if his family petition doesn't happen any time soon. The man clearly has the patience.