JUST SAYIN’-Many of our fellow Americans have for years been protesting the influx of undocumented immigrants and are vociferously demonstrating against the thousands of young ones who have recently crossed the border.
But for all those from abroad who are patiently waiting to enter the country legally, where have been the enthusiastic pronouncements on their behalf? Hundreds of thousands (even millions) have waited 5-10-20 years or more to immigrate (by the book) and are now here. A goodly number of documented immigrants already have family here with whom to reunite, but that fact provides little comfort or certainty for them. Their futures are confusing, unclear, and often filled with anxiety.
A majority is highly educated and can easily help fill the vacuum that exists here for teachers, doctors, scientists, engineers, architects—the list is virtually endless. It is ironic that Americans keep asking for such people to come to this country to work at these higher-level jobs while America often slams the door in their faces as they try to find work that is equal to their abilities and background.
We lose so much talent when highly trained professionals from foreign lands, who are experts in their respective fields, cannot practice here because their certifications or credentials do not meet our slightly different standards. It is paramount that we find a way to recertify them as quickly as reasonably possible.
Among these are nurses, lab technicians, and researchers who are presently working at entry-level positions (in fields other than their own). Many, if not most, cannot afford to go back to schools because they have a spouse and children to help support. It is anathema to countless such immigrants to receive welfare (that is why you see every member of so many families working together to making a living). Thus, these ethnics are often found working at blue-collar jobs rather than returning to school for what would be many more years before they would be able again to earn American degrees in fields for which they already are highly qualified.
A neighbor of mine in the Valley opened a little shop downtown. The children took turns working there before or after school. The shop was open long hours, seven days a week. It was a burden each of them was willing to bear and share as long as the children could eventually make it through college, pursuing careers of their own choosing.
It just was not feasible for the father, a professional from Armenia, to continue in his own career here. And what happened to him? Killed in a hold up! If only, perhaps, he had been allowed to find work in his own profession, the consequences could have been so much different.
I have another acquaintance who is from Iran and a graduate from a school of architecture there. He works locally, selling computers. Having to go back to a graduate school here is just not possible for him either. He knows, quite sadly, that he will never design a building in America, no matter how talented he is. The time and cost involved present an insurmountable obstacle to his getting re-certified in his field.
In his case, he needs to learn California building standards but this requirement should not be so draconian that it virtually precludes his ability to obtain an American degree in his discipline. Easier transitioning should not only apply to people like this design artist but also to the countless others who are caught in this convoluted web.
I reiterate, we are losing too much talent. We are frustrating those who thought they were coming here where they would have the freedom to pursue the kind of lives that they could not achieve in the homelands from which they have escaped!
Their children suffer in any number of ways as well. Seeing the frustration and disappointment in their parents often leads to their own frustrations and even hostilities. We certainly cannot afford to allow these feelings to fester. We want all the millennials and the others coming up behind them to view America in a different light--an older, traditional, historic light—a veritable land of opportunity (as it has been touted for centuries).
An unintended consequence of our myopic attitude toward immigration reform is the significance it has on the rest of us. Too many are suffering from the lack of access to the professionals they need and have been demanding (though apparently unconvincingly) Our schools are screaming for good teachers, and our hospitals are begging for nurses and doctors to fill now-vacant positions.
It is time to let our leaders know just how sincere we are in wanting a veritable pathway in for the documenteds about whom I speak. Their American-born children are already setting the example as they strive to become the professionals that their parents are blocked from becoming. We can no longer keep this vast group of immigrants out for indefinite, seemingly infinite, periods of time.
Just sayin’.
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(Rosemary Jenkins is a Democratic activist and chair of the Northeast Valley Green Alliance. Jenkins has written Leticia in Her Wedding Dress and Other Poems, A Quick-and-Easy Reference to Correct Grammar and Composition and Vignettes for Understanding Literary and Related Concepts. She also writes for CityWatch.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 59
Pub: Jul 22, 2014
