A POST FOR TIGRE

My newly discovered friend, Tigre, whom I have gotten to know a little through the Our World blog posted recently about immigrants in America. Tigre, a LEGAL immigrant, works hard and goes through all the steps, paperwork, tests, ect...to be a legal immigrant not because it's fun but because that's what is needed to be done no matter how much of a pain in the ass it is. It's a good post and people need to check it out.

I agree with Tigre. I do not have a problem at all with immigrants in America as long as they are legal and take all the steps to become such. I don't believe that those who come over and stay illegally have the right to protest and complain how American's act towards them...they are, after all, illegal and if they went through the grueling process to become legal things may be different.

Just recently I read a letter that was sent to my mom and dad about an American working in Mexico and I thought I would pass it along for all of you to read.

American working in Mexico
From the other side of the fence.....

From Tom O'Malley, former Director with South West BELL in Mexico City

I spent five years working in Mexico.

I worked under a tourist visa for three months and could legally renew it for three more months. After that you were working illegally. I was technically illegal for three weeks waiting on the FM3 approval.

During that six months our Mexican and US attorneys were working to secure a permanent work visa called a FM3. It was in addition to my US passport that I had to show each time I entered and left the country. Barbara's was the same except her's did not permit her to work.

To apply for the FM3 I needed to submit the following notarized originals (not copies) of my:
1. Birth certificate for Barbara and I.
2. Marriage certificate.
3. High school transcripts and proof of graduation.
4. College transcripts for every college I attended and proof of graduation.
5. Two letters of recommendation from supervisors I had worked for at least one year.
6. A letter from the St. Louis Chief of Police indicating I had no arrest record in the US and no outstanding warrants and was "a citizen in good standing."
7. Finally; I had to write a letter about myself that clearly stated why there was no Mexican citizen with my skills and why my skills were important to Mexico. We called it our "I am the greatest person on Earth" letter. It was fun to write.

All of the above were in English that had to be translated into Spanish and be certified as legal translations and our signatures notarized. It produced a folder about 1.5 inches thick with English on the left side and Spanish on the right.

Once they were completed Barbara and I spent about five hours accompanied by a Mexican attorney touring Mexican government office locations and being photographed and fingerprinted at least three times. At each location and we remember at least four locations we instructed on Mexican tax, labor, housing, and criminal law and that we were required to obey their laws or face the consequences.

We could not protest any of the government's actions or we would be committing a felony. We paid out four thousand dollars in fees and bribes to complete the process. When this was done we could legally bring in our household goods that were held by US customs in Laredo, Texas. This meant we had rented furniture in Mexico while awaiting our goods. There were extensive fees involved here that the company paid.

We could not buy a home and were required to rent at very high rates and under contract and compliance with Mexican law.

We were required to get a Mexican drivers license. This was an amazing process. The company arranged for the Licensing agency to come to our headquarters location with their photographer and finger print equipment and the laminating machine. We showed our US license, were photographed and fingerprinted again and issued the license instantly after paying out a six dollar fee. We did not take a written or driving test and never received instructions on the rules of the road. Our only instruction was to never give a policeman your license if stopped and asked. We were instructed to hold it against the inside window away from his grasp. If he got his hands on it you would have to pay ransom to get it back.

We then had to pay and file Mexican income tax annually using the number of our FM3 as our ID number. The company's Mexican accountants did this for us and we just signed what they prepared. It was about twenty legal size pages annually.

The FM 3 was good for three years and renewable for two more after paying more fees.

Leaving the country meant turning in the FM# and certifying we were leaving no debts behind and no outstanding legal affairs (warrants, tickets or liens) before our household goods were released to customs.

It was a real adventure, and If any of our Senators or Congressman went through it once they would have a different attitude toward Mexico.

The Mexican government uses its vast military and police forces to keep its citizens intimidated and compliant. They never protest at their White House or government offices but do protest daily in front of the United States Embassy. The US embassy looks like a strongly reinforced fortress, and during most protests the Mexican military surround the block with their men standing shoulder to shoulder in full riot gear to protect the Embassy.

These protests are never shown on US or Mexican TV. There is a large public park across the street where they do their protesting. Anything can cause a protest such as proposed law changes in California or Texas.

Please feel free to share this with everyone who thinks we are being hard on illegal immigrants.

Tom O'Malley

I know that this blog is going to be criticized and scrutinized by those that read it and I will probably get a lot of comments, some I am not going to agree with, but this is just how I feel about illegal immigrants in America.