Really Newt? Legal But Not Really Legal! How Slippery of You!

Opinion Column

By Alicia M. Phidd, Esq.

West Palm Beach, Florida, November 27, 2011-I would be putting my law school education and immigration law and business law experience to waste, if I did not comment on Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich’s latest act of putting his foot in his mouth. Newt stated that he would support a law that allows illegal immigrants to become legal permanent residents(LPR) but they would not be eligible for citizenship. Okay reader let me take a moment and scream again! Pause, pause, pause. Okay, I am calm. WHAT COUNTRY ARE YOU RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT? Newt, the immigration laws we currently have in place requires you to read it before wasting valuable time and money to debate any immigration bill you would put forth, if your statement is a window into your immigration solution brain.

I will use your prior acts as evidence that you support big businesses. If the previous statement is true then it stands to reason that you favor some form of legalization so that you can maintain workers for the farms and other jobs that are currently held mostly by the Hispanics who may or may not be illegal. It further stands to reason that you decide to live up to the meaning of your name (i.e. scale less and semi terrestrial) by appeasing your base with the “no path to citizenship” logic but trying to garner votes from the Hispanic community with your pseudo pro-immigration stance.

This article is really not about you but about the fact that you are not aware of the current reach of the immigration laws we have in place. Newt, are you aware that the law currently requires businesses to not hire illegal immigrants but the federal government would rather punish the worker than sanction the business? Are you aware that we have Europeans, okay let me not sugarcoat it, foreign Caucasians working illegally here not just people with a high percentage of melanin? Are you further aware that the United States of America’s Constitution gives the highest form of protection to its citizens and not to its residents?

So if I am to understand you correctly, we will give legal permanent resident (LPR) status to the current illegal population but they cannot become a citizen which means they cannot vote. So they would be paying school taxes and property taxes but cannot vote on how it is being spent in their county/city. Also, you cannot hold most federal jobs unless you are a citizen. So Newt, is it your intention to keep these immigrants from reaching the stars? This is sounding like our current immigration law that allows a LPR to join the arm forces and possibly die for the United States before meeting the eligible time period to become a citizen. Are you going to change that rule Newt, so that the day you join the arm forces, that very day, you are a citizen or at the very least, the day you complete basic training?

The current law requires deportation or removal of a LPR if certain crimes are committed during this status. How do you balance the scales of justice with regard to the application of the law between your LPR and the current LPRs? How do we address the inequity of a LPR that cannot become a citizen based on Newt’s immigration law while on the other hand a business man from Canada, Israel, England, Africa, anywhere depending on the business visa for example L-visa will be allowed to become a LPR and subsequently a citizen. Yes, I know that the business man would have entered the country legally but the glaring truth is execution of the law between those with money and those without. Let’s not go down the money road right now. Some things are just facts and no point in debating them.

Back to Mr. Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich. I had no emotion or time invested in the presidential race for 2012 but Mr. Gingrich’s comment just touched a nerve because immigration law has many layers at any given time to any applicant and will not be solved with one broad brush.

I have a suggestion though for Newt to ponder. Why not stop accepting H-1B visas applications for the next two years and in that time encourage businesses here to hire from the pool of unemployed professionals? Why not reduce the amount of welfare recipients by encouraging businesses to hire from that pool first and NO TAX INCENTIVES for them to do so? Why not sanction a business that hires an illegal alien as oppose to jailing a person who is earning an honest living?

I could go on and on but what’s the point. Mr. Gingrich and others like him may be more xenophobic than they are about finding a solution for our immigration issue and since I will not be able to get their true feelings, I will end here and SCREAM again. Really Newt? Legal but you don’t count when you should count?

Alicia M. Phidd, Esq. has appeared on WWBA 820AM, WTMP 96.1FM and WAVS 1170AM to discuss legal matters. She received her B.Sc. in Chemistry and Masters in Environmental Studies from S.U.N.Y. at Stony Brook in New York and Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University School of Law in Florida. She is a member of the Florida Bar’s Law Related Education Committee. She currently practices Business Law and Immigration Law. In addition, Ms. Phidd has taught law at Barry University, graduate school; University of Phoenix, graduate and undergraduate business school and Broward Community College. She can be reached through her website http://www.aliciaphidd.com and follow her at www.twitter.com/phidd