Reply #144: The McCain-Kennedy bill provides that none of the "illegals"

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

present in the US since 2005 would "leapfrog" over anyone presently waiting for legal residence status. If this bill passes, the "illegals" would definitely "go to the back of the line"..

Maybe I'm reading all these threads the wrong way, but as far as I know, the US always required legal resident "aliens" to wait 5 years until they could even apply for citizenship. I could be wrong here, but the only exception to this rule was if the "resident alien" was married to an American born citizen, then the wait was only 3 years.

Not only that, but under McCain-Kennedy each "illegal" applying for "legal resident" status would have to pay a fine of $2,000, prove that they have been working, pay their back taxes, and go through a criminal background check. As well, if I understood the Senate Judiciary's Committee meeting on Monday, the wait for these "illegals", if they follow all the rules and become "legal", they would have to wait for 6 years to apply for American citizenship.

As well, anyone who has ever dealt with INS in the past knows that they move at a "snail's" pace. Add the normal fees that go along with applying for "legal resident" status and you're looking at a pretty hefty amount of money for each illegal...

Bottom line to me is this: not only have many of these "illegals" been exploited by their employers, if and that is a mighty big if, McCain-Kennedy passes, they'll be paying quite a bit of money to the US government to become legal. They're not looking for a "free ride", they're willing to pay the price for their "crime".