An Immigrant's Journey, Part 2

 So, the last time I wrote anything on this blog was in March 2016.  Since then, I've had another baby (she's now 9 years old!), moved to Henderson, and written another book (all good reasons, but not excuses, of why I abandoned this blog).  

In my last entry, "An Immigrant's Journey," I expressed frustration with the system that makes it so difficult for certain groups of people to receive a visa to live legally in this country.  Now, nine years later, I feel more frustrated than ever!  I know two wonderful men in Mexico who applied for a visa to come to the United States; one for a three week trip visiting different congregations, and the other to attend a religious school where he could receive the formal training he never received in Mexico.  Both were denied.  

Since 2018, I have been studying up on the visa requirements for Mexico as I try to help Jose Luis's family come.

• You must be in good standing with the government (no past offenses or criminal activity).  
• You must submit evidence that you will return to the country at the appointed time. 
• You must submit evidence of savings accounts.
• You must agree for the government to check all of your social media accounts.

Seems like a lot, doesn't it?  Especially for someone who is only planning to visit the country for three weeks. The hardest for most to prove is the second one:  submit evidence that you will return to the country at the appointed time.  You may be thinking, but if they have a family in Mexico, of course they're going to go back to their family!  But in the eyes of the government, it has nothing to do with family.  It means you must own property or be associated with a business. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to own property or be the owner of a business in Mexico?  Much less have money in savings!  Again, this seems like a "no way to win" scenario.  People want to come to the United States because they can't find good jobs in their country.  They can't get a visa because they don't have enough money for it (if they did, they wouldn't need to come in the first place!) So they cross our border thinking that's the only way in.  And because that keeps happening, now the ones who are trying to do it the right way can't get in the right way because the government has made it almost impossible to be approved even when they follow all the steps.  It's a vicious cycle!  

Let me back up for a minute.  I told you I first started looking into tourist visas in 2018.  Lydia was almost two and hadn't met anyone from her Mexican family yet, so I desperately wanted them to come and visit us.  Before we could even start the application process for my brother-in-law and mother-in-law to come, they would need a passport.  Here we have the luxury of filling out an application for a passport online and filing it at our local post office in just a couple of days.  But in Mexico you must make an appointment at a passport office, which are only located in the major cities and only open a few hours each week.  And the only way to make an appointment is to call!  So after two years of calling and repeatedly getting a busy signal, my brother-in-law finally snagged an appointment in 2021 (it took even longer than usual because of the pandemic).  They took a couple of days off of work to travel eight hours to one of the most dangerous cities at the time in order to finally get their passports.  

Now we could officially start the application process!  The next step was to decide where to go for the visa interview.  The city of Matamoros was the furthest away from where they lived but had the shortest wait time of only two years compared to three, so we chose that location.  The application was complete and the interview was now scheduled for 2023.  But of course it couldn't be that easy; the trip to Matamoros was going to cost $800 round trip per person ($1600 total--more than what most people in Mexico make in three months or more), and my brother-in-law started to have doubts about spending so much money and making a long trip, only to find out they would not be approved.  So we had no choice but to cancel the appointment and schedule one for Mexico City for February 2026.  My heart broke as I realized we would have to wait another three years just to find out if they can come visit us or not.  (To clarify, Mexico City isn't close to where they live either; it's a ten hour bus ride, still traveling along a dangerous route, but nowhere near as far as the places with a shorter wait time.)

In the meantime, my brother-in-law has obtained a government job at a university and is hoping that will help his chances of getting the visa.  So, this process that began 9 years ago will finally be coming to an end in just 8 more months.  I hope and pray the long wait will conclude with a "yes" and not a "no."  I have sent letters to three different congressmen about this issue, all to no avail.  The same point I made nine years ago is the same point I made in those letters is the same point I'm making now: the way to slow down the influx of illegal immigrants to this country is NOT to spend billions of dollars on walls and detention centers.  A better solution is to work with countries like Mexico where the working conditions are dismal to allow more visitors legally; don't set limits on neighboring countries or the ones with the highest demand; make it more affordable to apply for a visa; open offices in more cities so that people don't have to travel so far and spend even more money; and be more realistic about the criteria for receiving a visa.  Lastly, people who live in countries like Venezuela and Haiti, where the government has no control, has all the control, or the people are starving so much that they fight each other for food, should be granted asylum!  Immigrants are often willing to do the difficult jobs that many Americans don't want.  So instead of condemning them for coming to this country for reasons none of us can ever fully understand, let's show them more respect and appreciation.