What Part of “Broken System” Don’t You Understand?

A member of my family came to America when he was a toddler. When he turned eighteen and joined the Army, he assumed his application for citizenship would be fast-tracked. However, even after filling out all the paperwork and following every rule, years later he found himself on the phone talking to an INS official who insisted that he come to the office for an interview.

“But I’m on active duty,” my cousin said. “In Baghdad.”

“That’s not an excuse,” the INS official said.

Our immigration system lends itself to such head-slapping absurdities. However, this hasn’t stopped many Americans from insisting that undocumented people are just too impatient or undisciplined to follow the rules. The implication is that, if they were in the same position as the undocumented, these Americans would be only too happy to stand in line for their papers.

But is this really true? Would they be willing to enter the labyrinthine dream world of the INS rather than take a shortcut over the border? And if one did exercise this kind of strict adherence to law and order, what would the result be?

Well, a couple of years ago, Reason magazine illustrated the complexities and insanities of the U.S. immigration system. According to the study, the best-case scenario for becoming a citizen is six to seven years of waiting. The magazine says that for the unskilled laborers who make up much of the undocumented, "the wait time approaches infinity."

I have to wonder how many native-born Americans, secure in the knowledge that they will never have to work for their citizenship, would be willing to put their lives on hold for upwards of a decade, just to prove their respect for U.S. law.

In any case, it’s naïve to think that a person living in poverty, looking at a perceived chance to improve his life, will say, "No, I don’t want to disrespect any laws." And as Reason points out, even if such selfless individuals did exist, "these people cannot wait in line because there is no line."

These real-world issues bedevil simplistic solutions. Reform is likely to be painful to individuals on both sides of the political divide.

Our current system, like healthcare before it, is so messed up and chaotic that a full-scale overhaul is necessary. Also like healthcare, any movement toward reform is likely to be met with vitriol, misinformation, and bizarre attacks on the intelligence, sanity, and patriotism of proponents. There will be one big difference, however: Nobody will seriously claim that we have the best system in the world.

By the way, my cousin in the Army eventually got his citizenship papers. After two tours in Iraq, he is currently serving in Afghanistan.

Photo Credit: Ralph Aichinger