By Kenneth J. Theisen, 8/23/07
On August 22nd the Bush regime launched an attack on
three-quarters of a million legal permanent residents. It will require them to
pay $370 to replace their green cards in order to live and work in the U.S. Failure to comply will result in a
possibility penalty of 30 days in prison and a $100 fine according to a notice
published in the Federal Register.
Under the proposal of the Citizenship and Immigration
Services (CIS), legal residents who were issued green cards between 1977 and
1989 that lack expiration dates will have 120 days to replace their cards. If
they do not, their present green card will expire on a date to be determined
later by the government.
As usual with the Bush regime, the proposal is “necessary”
because of “national security.” CIS
spokesman Bill Wright stated, “It’s a security issue. It’s making sure the right person has the
right card.” On the CIS website it says, “The change will allow USCIS to
issue more secure permanent resident cards, update cardholder information,
conduct background checks, and electronically store applicants” fingerprints
and photographic information.” In other
words, the government will be better able to track you down in case of a
national emergency or other needs of the Bush regime.
To make matters worse, the people who will need to replace
their cards will not receive individual notices of this new requirement. CIS plans to publicize the new rule through
its Web site and field offices. But how
many people check the CIS website or visit CIS offices if they have no need to
do so. As a result many people will
never know of the new requirement and thus fail to apply for a new green card. But as “ignorance of the law is no excuse,”
they still could be subject to the penalties for failure to comply.
For some legal residents this proposal may result in their
deportation. Immigrants who may have committed
a crime are considered deportable. This
is true even if the crime occurred in the distant past and even if the
immigrant paid the penalty for the crime already. When the immigrant applies
for the new green card he or she will trigger a new background check which will
pull up the “criminal” record.
This latest proposal is just one in a long line of attacks
on immigrants. The Bush regime has 17
more months to launch others. What will
you do to stop the regime?