![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hel_anaand be honest about the fact that they really don't want immigrants in this country anymore?
NPR had a story on Morning Edition today about a pilot program featuring the use of electronic bracelets on asylum seekers in 7 cities. The man they featured has been here for years, worked his way up from a dishwasher to the assistant manager of a restaurant, and has never been *charged* with a crime, let alone convicted. Yet he's now required to wear an electronic monitor 24/7, report in person three times a day to a minder, and confine himself to his house from 6pm until 6am every day.
It takes the difficulty of establishing a productive life in a new country and multiplies it by a thousand - can you imagine trying to find or keep a job under those conditions? "Oh, and I have to leave work 3 times a day to report in, and I can't work past 5 because I have to be home by 6."
The most chilling moment for me personally came at the end, when the reporter mentioned that, if Homeland Security deems the program successful, they're considering expanding it to all non-citizens. I guess it's a good way to get out of going out to social engagements that I don't feel like going to. Of course, it would also let me out of social engagements I *do* want to go to. And my current job, since reporting in 3 times a day wouldn't go over well with any manager I've ever met. I wonder if you get to take it off when you leave the country to visit home.
I guess that's as good a reason as any to become a citizen.
You can listen to the report here.
NPR had a story on Morning Edition today about a pilot program featuring the use of electronic bracelets on asylum seekers in 7 cities. The man they featured has been here for years, worked his way up from a dishwasher to the assistant manager of a restaurant, and has never been *charged* with a crime, let alone convicted. Yet he's now required to wear an electronic monitor 24/7, report in person three times a day to a minder, and confine himself to his house from 6pm until 6am every day.
It takes the difficulty of establishing a productive life in a new country and multiplies it by a thousand - can you imagine trying to find or keep a job under those conditions? "Oh, and I have to leave work 3 times a day to report in, and I can't work past 5 because I have to be home by 6."
The most chilling moment for me personally came at the end, when the reporter mentioned that, if Homeland Security deems the program successful, they're considering expanding it to all non-citizens. I guess it's a good way to get out of going out to social engagements that I don't feel like going to. Of course, it would also let me out of social engagements I *do* want to go to. And my current job, since reporting in 3 times a day wouldn't go over well with any manager I've ever met. I wonder if you get to take it off when you leave the country to visit home.
I guess that's as good a reason as any to become a citizen.
You can listen to the report here.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 05:56 pm (UTC)Whereas my response would be, "Hey, honey, I know we went through a lot to come here, but would you consider moving somewhere *else*?"
no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 06:03 pm (UTC)"not only did I move here, I also wore this bracelet and saw all my civil liberties curtailed so your father and I could be close to you."
no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 06:05 pm (UTC)I mean, what's the point of visiting New York for the nightlife if you have to stay in after 6. And how would they determine where you have to be during curfew? Would you have to submit a list of hotels you'll be at?
It's not viable, and the economies of a lot of US cities would take a hit if they tried to implement it for visitors.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 08:19 pm (UTC)http://www.npr.org/documents/2005/mar/doj_alien_removal.pdf
check out appendix b....
no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-03 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-02 08:43 pm (UTC)get me the fuck out of this country.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-03 04:07 am (UTC)One is from Argentina, a doctor.
The other is from Syria (her husband is my DH's best friend came here when he was 13). She also happened to work in a bank before she came here.