Even God does not grant amnesty

Atty. Emmanuel Samonte Tipon 

One lesson that a person learns by going to church is that not everybody will be saved from eternal damnation. You have to (1) believe in God, (2) have done good things, and (3) repent for your sins.

One learns by going to immigration court that the judge will save you from deportation and grant you a waiver (forgiveness) for your immigration violations if (1) you have done good things, (2) you express regret, remorse, repentance, and show rehabilitation, and (3) your continued stay is in the best interests of the United States.

Is it in the best interests of the United States to grant blanket amnesty to aliens in the U.S. illegally? Absolutely not. Is it in the best interest of a certain political party to grant amnesty? Absolutely. That party will get approximately eleven million new voters. That is why that party, the amnesty supporters, and their allies in the media are coaxing (threatening?) the House of Representatives to go along with the Senate-approved immigration bill, known as S. 744 (sounds like an airplane model). They say bad things against those who oppose amnesty rather than discuss the merits of the bill. Did any of the Senators read word for word the entire bill consisting of 1,000 plus pages?

The bill faces rough sailing in the House dominated by the Republican Party. A congressman said that the bill “is dead on arrival”. Speaker Boehner said that he will not calendar the bill for hearing unless the majority of the Republicans agree. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte said he does not support the bill. The bill will go his committee first and only if it approves the bill will the bill be submitted to the entire House. Those against the bill are not anti-Hispanics. They are pro-Americans.

REWARDS LAWBREAKERS AT EXPENSE OF LAW ABIDERS 

I spoke with Atty. Ron Oldenburg, one of the venerable immigration lawyers in Honolulu, and who was instrumental in getting Gerald Spence to defend Mrs. Imelda Marcos at the request of Doris Duke, what he thought of amnesty. He said: “I am against it. It rewards lawbreakers at the expense of the law abiders.”  He said that “it will encourage more people to come” without following the law, hoping that there will be another amnesty, like in 1986.  He has represented scores of Filipinos in seeking immigration benefits and in defending them in immigration court. He wants to protect the interests of the law-abiding waiting in line. There are millions waiting in line for their visas to become available. Mexicans and Filipinos have the longest lines. Filipinos have the longest wait – 24 years for brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. The wait will become even longer with amnesty. How so? Imagine you are in a line at a theater waiting for the doors to open. Certain persons who do not abide by the law break into the line and take the places ahead of you. You will be shunted farther back.

Another Honolulu immigration attorney did not express enthusiasm for amnesty. He remarked that those who do not want to follow the rules are the ones complaining that the immigration system is broken. “If it is broken, who broke it?” he asked rhetorically.

People might be surprised to hear these comments from immigration attorneys who would otherwise be expected to support amnesty, for obvious reasons. But there are still millions who believe that the law must be respected, that there must be equal protection of the laws, that immigration reform must be for the best interests of the United States, not only for a few million, and certainly not for political advantage, and that while there is a need for immigration reform, there is no need for immigration deform. But they are outshouted by the minority.

Who will process the applications of these eleven million to be amnestied? DHS will have to hire an army of immigration officers, maybe 50,000. Since it takes years to hire, DHS in the meantime will utilize current personnel thereby diverting them from their work of processing immigration applications. So if you have been waiting long for your petitions and applications to be approved, you know whom to blame. The bill proposes to spend some $30 billion to hire border patrol agents and to build more fences. Who will pay for these expenses? We, taxpayers.


(Atty. Tipon has a Master of Laws degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines. He specializes in immigration law and criminal defense. Office: 800 Bethel St., Suite 402, Honolulu, HI 96813. Tel. (808) 225-2645. E-Mail: filamlaw@yahoo.com. Websites:  www.MilitaryandCriminalLaw.com; www.ImmigrationServicesUSA.com. He is from Laoag City and Magsingal, Ilocos Sur. He served as an Immigration Officer. He is co-author of “Immigration Law Service, 1st ed.,” an 8-volume practice guide for immigration officers and lawyers. Listen to the most funny, interesting, and useful radio program in Hawaii on KNDI at 1270, AM dial every Thursday at 7:30 a.m., rebroadcast at www.iluko.com. This article is a general overview of the subject matter discussed and is not intended as legal advice. No warranty is made by the writer or publisher as to its completeness or correctness at the time of publication. No attorney-client relationship is established between the writer and readers relying upon and/or acting pursuant to the contents of this article.)