The unreality of the fees and fines illegals would pay to get legalized
Yesterday I asked for feedback on whether the $5000 fee mandated by the Comprehensive National Suicide bill would be paid for the instant and “temporary” but actually permanent legal residency that illegal aliens would gain under the Z-visa, or for the official legal permanent residency which would take years to acquire. In reply, Paul Nachman sent to immigration activists and writers an e-mail with some amazing information he’s uncovered about the fees for legalization under the bill. One fact that particularly strikes me is that foreigners seeking Z-2 or Z-3 nonimmigrant status (that is, an illegal alien’s spouse, parents, and children who under the bill can get “provisional” but actually permanent legal residence in the U.S. as soon as the illegal alien gets Z-1 provisional legal status) have to pay only $500 a piece. So, if 60-year-old Juan and his 58-year-old wife Juanita are in Mexico and have never come to the U.S., and their 30-year-old son Jaime illegally entered the U.S. in December 2006, Juan and Juanita, for $500 each, can move to the United States under what amounts to legal permanent residency.
However, Mr. Nachman’s larger message is that the aliens probably would end up paying nothing. Notice also the period of time immigration authorities would have in which to find reasons to reject a legalization application. You’ll love it, I promise. Why do I say this? Because the compromise bill is so bad, it’s good. It’s inconceivable that this absurd mess could be passed. Remember, this whole process had apparently been about the gradual and painful realization on the part of the open borders proponents that if they were going to get their longed-for legalization of illegal aliens and vast increase of legal immigrants, they would have to show that they were really serious about enforcement, and that enforcement would have to be a prior condition for legalization. But what have they ended up doing? Along with all kinds of border security measures, and under the rubric of a supposed multi-year period for legalization, they’ve proposed the instant de facto permanent legalization of every illegal alien in the U.S. plus his family! It’s beyond parody, beyond insanity.
Could Senator Kyl in going along with this horrible but doomed compromise package be the Machiavellian genius that mainstream conservatives have always said President Bush is?
Mr. Nachman’s e-mail follows.
To All:
Larry Auster was wondering about the “$5,000”—is it a prerequisite for the Z-visa? Apparently not. As I read things, the processing fees, penalties, and—I love it!—“state impact assistance fee” add up to no more than $3,000. Of which I’ll bet close to $1,500 will be waived outright (because it probably can be, by creative accounting), and the rest will be paid off at a dollar per year, just you wait.
Search the document and you will find $5,000 several places. The ones I noticed so far had to do with fines on employers. Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.
Here’s a Word document that is the capitulation bill at some stage on 5/17, provided by Gene Nelson.
It includes, in Title VI (legalization title) these sections, starting around page 367:
(6) Fees and Penalties-
(A) Processing Fees.—
(i) An alien making an initial application for Z nonimmigrant status shall be required to pay a processing fee in an amount sufficient to recover the full cost of adjudicating the application, but no more than $1,500 for a single Z nonimmigrant.
(ii) An alien applying for extension of his Z nonimmigrant status shall be required to pay a processing fee in an amount sufficient to cover administrative and other expenses associated with processing the extension application, but no more than $1,500 for a single Z nonimmigrant.
(B) Penalties.—
(i) An alien making an initial application for Z-1 nonimmigrant status shall be required to pay, in addition to the processing fee in subparagraph (A), a penalty of $1,000.
(ii) A Z-1 nonimmigrant making an initial application for Z-1 nonimmigrant status shall be required to pay a $500 penalty for each alien seeking Z-2 or Z-3 nonimmigrant status derivative to the Z-1 applicant.
(iii) An alien who is a Z-2 or Z-3 nonimmigrant and who has not previously been a Z-1 nonimmigrant, and who changes status to that of a Z-1 nonimmigrant, shall in addition to processing fees be required to pay the initial application penalties applicable to Z-1 nonimmigrants.
(C) State Impact Assistance Fee- In addition to any other amounts required to be paid under this subsection, a Z-1 nonimmigrant making an initial application for Z-1 nonimmigrant status shall be required to pay a State impact assistance fee equal to $500.
Keep reading about procedures, and you’ll see that, upon application, the accepting agency has ONE WORKING DAY to turn things around (p. 370):
(h) Treatment of Applicants-
(1) IN GENERAL- An alien who files an application for Z nonimmigrant status shall, upon submission of any evidence required under paragraphs (f) and (g) and after the Secretary has conducted appropriate background checks, to include name and fingerprint checks, that have not by the end of the next business day produced information rendering the applicant ineligible—
(A) be granted probationary benefits in the form of employment authorization pending final adjudication of the alien’s application;
(B) may in the Secretary’s discretion receive advance permission to re-enter the United States pursuant to existing regulations governing advance parole;
(C) may not be detained for immigration purposes, determined inadmissible or deportable, or removed pending final adjudication of the alien’s application, unless the alien is determined to be ineligible for Z nonimmigrant status; and
(D) may not be considered an unauthorized alien (as defined in section 274A(h)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)(3))) unless employment authorization under subparagraph (A) is denied.
(2) Timing of Probationary Benefits.—No probationary benefits shall be issued to an alien until the alien has passed all appropriate background checks or the end of the next business day, whichever is sooner.
But, of course, nothing stands in the way of the ever-diligent feds (and other authorized entities; see p. 369) from conducting rigorous background checks, at their leisure (p. 371):
(3) Construction. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the Secretary’s authority to conduct any appropriate background and security checks subsequent to issuance of evidence of probationary benefits under paragraph (4).
So, if I were the ACLU, or any of its race-hustling hench-organizations, I would, over time, amass hundreds of thousands of Z-visa applications and dump them on the authorized bureaucrats ALL ON ONE DAY. Then scream bloody murder when the probationary probationary documents (i.e. probationary Z-visas, since background checks weren’t accomplished within a working day) weren’t forthcoming the next day. Soon, Z-visas would be being issued from several thousand “secure-documents” stations nationwide, as fast as people could be walked through—one a minute?—around the clock. The at-leisure background checks would take years and years, by which time these people will be even more embedded here and quite likely unfindable (unless the IRS helps, but that would take another law), just like absconders today.
One of Mr. Nachman’s respondents replied:
As some of you know, my illegal alien brother-in-law (who could have been petitioned legally by my naturalized U.S. citizen wife, but entered the U.S. illegally anyway) applied for legalization in 2001 via the 245(i) provision which “requires” the payment of a $1,000 fine.
I was the one who filed on behalf of my wife for my brother-in-law under the 245(i) provision. In my telephone correspondence with the then INS in getting the proper instructions on how to proceed, I asked when and where the $1,000 fine would have to be paid. I was told that there were no specifics on that issue, but it would probably have to be paid when my brother-in-law received his visa in approximately eight years from the time that his notice of action was received in 2001 (it turns out now to be 13 years—7 more years to go).
The USCIS (formerly INS) still sends notice of action forms whenever anyone applies for anything with them. The notice of action is nothing more than an acknowledgment of receipt of the application (and effectively a receipt for the filing fee).
As it turns out, there are absolutely no specifics on how and where the fine has to be paid. Recently I checked on the status of my brother-in-law by phoning the USCIS. His application was approved but has not yet been transferred to the NVC (National Visa Center). In the telephone conversation, I asked when the fine had to be paid. I was told that there was nothing in my brother-in-law’s record about paying any fine.
If history is any indicator, the $5,000 amnesty fine will never happen.
Richard B. writes:
This is Busheron’s dream! The bureaucracy needed to run this program will be huge and costly. And since speaking Spanish will be a preferred asset, he can put half the illegals to work immediately!
“Now everyone hold their noses and swallow! It has sugar in it!”
LA replies:
I love that phrase, “Busheron’s Dream.” It could be the title of a Magical Realist South American novel.
Cassandra writes:
I was in Washington on Friday and I stopped by this brilliant senator’s office to give his staff a piece of my mind, and I would have to say, no Machiavellian genius there.
His staffer was actually quite friendly to me, we had a long talk. The upside was, him saying, over and over and over, that he is giving in because the American public voted in Democrats, and because Republicans don’t have enough votes for a filibuster, and Bush will sign it. Therefore, since he has no power to stop it, the only thing they can do is try to sweeten the whole deal by writing as much enforcement in as he can.
I kept saying: but you know from experience that enforcement, and triggers, and all of that stuff mean nothing. It doesn’t matter how they are written. They aren’t going to be enforced. He kept saying that Senator Kyl was terribly depressed about this, and was just trying to do the best he could when he had no cards to play at all. He kept saying I didn’t understand politics and the way politics works. He kept saying if we go for all we will get nothing. I said—you are getting nothing anyway if you compromise, because this is the future of the country and conservatism in America that we are talking about, so it would be better to go for nothing than to go for compromise. You will be getting nothing anyway.
This promise of enforcement in exchange for amnesty reminds me very much of the “land for peace.” Israel gives up something real, something they can never get back, and in return, the Palestinians promise that in the future, they will stop trying to destroy Israel—even though they have proved again, and again, and again, they think nothing of breaking such promises. (And is Senator Kyl like Olmert—just tired of fighting and ready to give up?)
So, what is going on with Senator Kyl? Why has he suddenly abandoned the cause?
It sounded like exhausted surrender in the vain hope of salvaging some concessions, as a best case scenario. Worst case scenario that he just decided to give into the business lobby willingly.
The worst thing was when the staffer said: the American people really do want immigration reform. That is true: but that’s like saying if someone needs medicine it’s better to give him poison in a medicine bottle than to give him nothing.
I truly don’t understand why Republicans are willing to sign their own death warrant. American politics has become a baffling nightmare where nothing makes sense. I also can’t understand why more people aren’t as enraged by the Senate sellout. Why aren’t thousands of people banging on every Senator’s door in anger and frustration?
Thank you for your blog: a voice of sanity in the wilderness. I appreciate that you never sink into despair. In weeks like this, I find it hard to keep on hoping.
Bill Carpenter writes:
With regard to the fees and fines in the new immigration bill: a couple of months ago, DFLers in the Minnesota state senate introduced a tax bill that, besides raising marginal rates, included a new deduction for “citizenship expenses.” That suggests that Democrats are to some extent coordinating with illegal alien advocates to use the fees and fines for cover to pass their “it’s-not-amnesty” legislation.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 20, 2007 12:41 PM | Send