CNN: Path to citizenship should be a long hike
This article is about immigration and the path to citizenship. There are a lot of comments. I think we should SWAT the comments with information about issues new US citizens can face with their accounts and investments back in their country of origin (FATCA, FBAR).
Here’s my comment:
Thanks for drawing my attention to this story. I see they have more than 1200 comments now, and usually when there are that many, I don’t comment, as they just get lost in the discussion. I decided to put one up anyway, and it is in moderation. It may not see the light of day. I included a couple links which is always risky. I will paste it here for reference…
The article may be mature, and your comment may stay at the top for awhile
@ Just Me
You are right — too many comments — BUT if your comment goes up let us know so Brockers can swoop in with our “up arrows” to get it to the top (sort by best). If no comments come in after yours it could stay visible for awhile (sort by newest). Although, I see at least at this moment the comments are coming in pretty fast. Way too much space wasting petty bickering going on there too. Your comment is comprehensive and excellent as always so fingers crossed it gets some visibility.
@Em
I don’t expect that it will come out of moderation because of the links. For some sites(you learn by trial and error) that links are dangerous as they don’t want to verify them before posting. I will give it a while, and if not, I might re-post without links with just suggestions as to google searches.
His article certainly is a winner in terms of comment success. If your comments are in excess of 1,200 within ~36 hours of posting, then you have done something right or hit a popular chord.
I am sure there are “hi fives” all around, Not as good as a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary Winners http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Pulitzer_Prize_for_Commentary_winners
but it is a “Peoples Award” personal trophy of sorts.
In the meantime, I tweeted the link to the comment here on IBS to the author of the OpEd. @RubenNavarrette
https://twitter.com/FATCA_Fallout/status/300323380027092992
Not that he will read it or respond. Just like to throw some non conventional thoughts into the mainstream mix even though they will probably be drowned out. They seem old hat to us, but surely many have not considered things from this perspective before.
@Just Me If only we could figure out how to attract so many commenters to an article, then we could really get the word out.
@ Just Me
I think you deserve a Masters in commenting. I don’t do comments well at all but I’m pretty good at “up arrowing”. If Brockers could target the most exceptional comments in strategic places we could boost them up to “best” or “most popular” and give them the attention they deserve. I guess this would be similar to the Israeli’s megaphone project and maybe its not a good idea to stoop to their level but it’s still a thought. Perhaps one alert a day for a Brock Swat Team could be posted and then we could bring a whole quiver of “up arrows” in as support or maybe a volley of short supportive reply comments to highlight the main comment. I don’t know, you have the commenting expertise. Would it work or would we get busted?
@Em, more Americans and former Americans would have to be more active for this to work. As for the Israel comparison, the Brock Swat Team works mostly for the benefit of everyone, while Israel seeks to fool people into supporting religion-based territorial expansions at the expense of the hated Semites living there. As such, the Brock Swat Team is unlikely to be as controversial and disliked as the Israeli government.
I found this rather interesting video by a British woman who was denied entry to the US despite having a long-term Visa and expressing desire to spend a few months with her brother following their mother’s death. She brought old family photos (which would make sense if your mother died), and her cat (makes sense if going away for a long Holiday, don’t a lot of Americans bring their dogs and cats on family holidays?).
Here is her video on her Youtube channel explaining her side of the story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnd9rQgoGuc
And here is the edited footage of her interrogation by CBP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iap04VxoDsw
The only relevance this may have with IBS is our ongoing critisism of stupid and arbitrary government officials, as well as the notion that US government policies tend to hurt cross-border families.
Once again we see that shockingly the burden of proof is always placed on the individual, not the government. Constitution goes in the gutter at the border.
On the other hand, another CBP team at O’Hare let in a Swedish girl, an unemployed butcher on benefits who came to visit an Internet boyfriend who turned out to be a married military service member: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duW4O9KNBBU
I really hope these people understand the full consequences of what they’re doing when they go for US citizenship. It’s depressing to think of all those people who believe the US propaganda and happily throw themselves into the lobster pot.
I tried taking out the links in my comment, and cleaning up some typos and reposting, but still did not appear. So finally, I just cut it down to the meat, Buyer Beware message, and it took.
Sorry that you had to waste your time with that. Yet, even if they didn’t censur it, it would still be lost in the comments like how mine is.
@Swisspinoy.
‘sa la vie’ I try not to look at it as a waste of time, but part of my 10,000 hours or learning necessary to become an ‘expert” LOL. Helps to constantly work at reshaping a narrative for later use.
Just Me’s CNN comment is at the top of the “sort by newest” list, for the moment. It got my “up arrow” and I did load more comments to seek out other Brockers but there’s a lot of comments to wade through and sadly most of the discussion is about immigration without the realization that immigrants to the USA are walking into a huge IRS trap.
BTW, I saw a comment by a person out of Australia, (Tan) and couldn’t help but reply to what she said…
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/08/opinion/navarette-path-to-citizenship/index.html?hpt=hp_t4#comment-794251799
I
The US cheapened its citizenship when it started giving it to people like the America’s Cup winning crew, just so they could sail America’s next entry in the race. No requirements, just take our citizenship and then you can use our nice new shiny yacht and we’ll have a much better chance of winning because you’ve won it before. My parents had to study American history, live in the States for 10 years and take a test before they were granted citizenship. We were actually featured in the local paper who wanted to do an article at the time about foreigners who were becoming US citizens; I still have the cutting somewhere. How proud all our family and friends were then – and how sad my parents would be now if they knew how their adopted country was harrassing its citizens.
My dad came to Canada with nothing, chopped wood and dug for Gold in the Yukon territory for many years until he had saved the $5000 needed to immigrate to the US. Thus, he wasn’t happy that I had to give up the blue passport, but he is glad that don’t have to leave Switzerland.
I get the sense that among immigrants into the US, citizenship is devolving into a sort of beefed-up work permit. At one time a green card might really have been permanent residency. Now it needs renewing every ten years and you can lose it in an increasing number of ways — stay outside the US for too long, for example. And some jobs are open only to citizens, and exclude green card holders.
A person might take out US citizenship because they truly want to commit to the US for the rest of their lives, and want to express that level of attachment. But they also might do it just for administrative convenience — not having to deal with the USCIS ever again would be a big one. Or flexibility — they need to live outside the US for more than a year or two, perhaps dealing with sick relatives. Or to take a security job. Or to marry a non-citizen and sidestep US immigration issues for their new spouse. Or to lock in social security and/or medicare. Or to mitigate US estate tax issues. And on and on.
US citizenship itself is cheapened because having it resolves all of these artificial administrative barriers, and more. Not a lifelong deeply held commitment, more just a way to keep the government out of your life. And for those that view it as the latter, a disposable commodity.
@ Watcher
Stupid me because when I married and moved to the USA (early 80s) I thought the green card was essentially a work permit. I thought it gave me the privilege of getting a job there (which I didn’t do) and the “privilege” of paying taxes there (which I did) and nothing else (certainly could not vote or anything). The card said in big print on the front RESIDENT ALIEN and I didn’t notice the smaller print on the back which said “Person identified by this card is entitled to reside permanently and work in the US”. I certainly had no idea of the consequences to follow because my immigration interview was all about proving to the man my American husband and I were well and truly married. Then a perfunctory handshake and welcome to America and that was it, not even a brochure. I guess I can’t blame the man for not knowing that I knew nothing and since it was pre-computer days there wasn’t much chance of me getting more information. Especially since we built our house in an area with no phone service.
@Medea Fleecestealer @Em @Watcher @Swisspinoy
Some good comments there for the CNN site. 🙂