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May 22, 2007

Today's Letter: A California Reader Predicts That The $5,000 Amnesty
"Fine" Will Never Be Collected

From: Hal Netkin [e-mail him]

When I heard that the Senate's "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" bill
wasn't "amnesty" because illegal aliens would have to pay a $5,000
fine, I recalled the $1,000 fine my illegal alien brother-in-law was
to have paid.

My naturalized U.S. citizen wife could have petitioned for legal
residency for him. But he entered the U.S. illegally anyway. Then, in
2001, he applied for legalization via the 245(i) provision, which
required the payment of a $1,000 fine.

[For those not familiar with 245(i), here's a thumbnail: It allowed
people illegally in the U.S. who could have been legally petitioned
for if they were still in their own country-got that?-to be petitioned
for without having to leave the U.S., as long as they paid a $1,000
fine. It expired in 2001.]

I was the one who filed, on behalf of my wife, for my brother-in-law.
In my telephone inquiries to the then-INS (the part that was succeeded
by the equally dysfunctional U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, USCIS) for official instructions on how to proceed, I asked
when and where the $1,000 fine would have to be paid.

I was told that there were no specifics, but it would probably have to
be paid when my brother- in-law received his visa, approximately eight
years from the time we received his "notice of action" form in 2001
The time period was subsequently stretched to about 13 years, so he
has 7 more years to go.

As it turns out, there are still absolutely no specifics on how and
where the fine has to be paid. Recently I checked my brother-in-law's
status by phoning USCIS. His application was approved but has not yet
been transferred to the National Visa Center.

During the telephone conversation, I asked when the fine had to be
paid. I was told that there was nothing in my brother-in-law's record
about paying any fine!

If history is any guide, the $5,000 amnesty fine will also never happen.

Netkin, who has been the subject of several VDARE.COM columns and
letters, operates an anti-illegal alien website Watchdog America.com
Sign up for his e-mail bulletins here

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