ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THAT HAVE BEEN IN THIS COUNTRY FOR 20 YEARS OR MORE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BECOME U.S. CITIZENS

By Howie Katz

 

Immigrants take the U.S. oath of citizenship during a naturalization ceremony 

 

The other day a friend asked me why immigrants have not become U.S. citizens if they've been in this country for 25 years.

The question arose because our lunatic Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wants to deport 80,000 Hondurans and Nicaraguans who have been in this country for a quarter of a century.

Those people are not here illegally. They were granted Temporary Protected Status to live and work in the U.S. after monster Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America in October 1998. They worked hard at an honest living to establish homes and raise their families in American communities.

Because of their temporary status they are not eligible to become U.S. Citizens. 

Noem is better known as ICE Barbie because she likes to participate with ICE and Border Patrol agents while armed with a machine gun as they arrest illegal immigrants. She has determined that conditions have improved enough for the Hondurans and Nicaraguans to return to their homeland. If she deprives them of their temporary status, they will immediately become illegal immigrants.

Illegal immigrants who have been in this country for 10, 20, 30 years or more cannot become U.S. citizens because they are here illegally. It doesn't matter what kind of lives they have established for themselves in their communities.

As for the Hondurans and Nicaraguans, it makes no sense whatsoever to deport them after they have been in this country legally as productive members of American communities for a quarter of a century.

And it doesn't make all that much sense either to deport illegal immigrants who have been in this country for over 20 years if during that time they have become productive members of society. 

President Trump says that illegal immigrants take jobs away from American citizens. That's a big crock of shit. They fill low-paying jobs that most Americans don't want and refuse to take.

And Noem is a damn liar. The lunatic runs an ad on TV in which she invites illegal immigrants to voluntarily return to their homelands, and tells them that if they do, they may be able to legally return to this country. She knows damn well that once they have returned to their homeland, their chance of being admitted back into this country is no better than that of winning the lottery. 

I am all in favor of deporting each and every criminal that is in this country illegally. And I strongly favor deporting the mote than 10 million immigrants that entered this country illegally during the time of the Biden-Harris administration. 

But our members of Congress should pass legislation that will allow those illegal immigrants that have been in this country for many years to become U.S. citizens. I don't think the Constitution prohibits them from doing that.