By Dana Schuster

Diana Lee, who was born in Mozambique, Africa, came to the United States for “an adventure.” She cried for the first 2 weeks here, confessing that she missed her family, had no friends and felt lost. But America taught this 24-year-old Chinese young woman how to be a survivor. “I learned to be a little bit more aggressive and to keep up with the lifestyle here and learn new things firsthand,” said Lee.

Hoping to eventually grasp a small slice of the American dream, Lee, who works for a dry cleaners in Connecticut, says, “I live daily, but of course, I have my dreams to have a little place of my own, have a family and just live in peace - that’s all.”

Eight hundred thousand immigrants, like Lee, are legally admitted to the U.S. each year. Like Lee, they come in search of prosperity, work, freedom and the opportunities of living in a democratic nation where we are all supposedly equal under the law. Still, in the aftermath of Sept. 11th, one is left to wonder just how fairly these immigrants are being treated and whether some of the measures taken to protect American citizens is in affect, singling out those immigrants who want nothing more than to be accepted.

Lee recalled times when her status as a recent immigrant prevented her from becoming an accepted member of American culture. “It’s a little bit tough,” she said, “because although they call it a free country, a lot of things you want to do, you have to think twice about because you are not a citizen. You live in fear a little bit,” she said, “because simple things like getting a credit card without having a credit history in this country or getting into a car accident and talking to the police are a little scary because you always fear that you might get deported.”

Insensitivity towards issues of immigrants seems to be very apparent to people like Myra Oliver, the Executive Director for the International Institute of Connecticut. “There are a lot of Americans that don’t realize that our nation is a nation of immigrants,” said Oliver, who works to resettle refugees, assists immigrants with the naturalization process and addresses issues pertaining to political asylum. “They [immigrants] contribute more than they take, but they still can’t use public money,” Oliver said. Following Sept. 11th, she noted that it seemed as though immigrants, especially those of Muslim or Indian descent, lost even more rights - most importantly the right to walk down the street with a feeling of pride and not fear. Oliver recalls, “Some Muslim people were harassed. There are still some Muslim women who are afraid to wear their chadors because they’re scared that someone will attack them.”

Accordingly, there are many government organizations, such as The Department of Labor, the Immigrant Naturalization Service and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that help to protect the rights of immigrants. However, fairness in immigration policy causes controversy even before people are admitted into the United States. For example, the U.S. reserves the right to be legally “racist” by preferring the admittance of certain people from a specific country over people from another country or region of the world. And, while no one is apt to admit it, the likelihood of Middle Eastern people being admitted into this country any time soon, is not apt to happen.

Ethan Enzer, Acting Director of the INS for the state of Connecticut denies that the government chooses favored races to enter the United States. “We don’t have authority to say we’re going to open up the immigration offices and only admit certain ethnicities,” he said. However, Enzer also says that there are better odds for people being admitted who are more technically advanced, who could contribute to the U.S. as a whole. “Opportunities for these kinds of people are achieved via bulletins that are published in various countries around the world,” he says.

Oliver concurs, acknowledging that our economy drives the preferred admittance of certain groups from various backgrounds who are sought out after, as is the case for Filipino nurses, whose immigration experience is expedited due to a shortage of nurses in this country. “In the last few years, we haven’t admitted that many Irish,” Oliver states. “The issue of color and the issue of where people come from has changed throughout the century.”

To rectify the problem of preferential inequity, Congress devised a Diversity Lottery that allows 50,000 people to be admitted once a year for a permanent citizenship. Some have expressed concern about immigrants taking jobs away from American citizens, but Oliver sees otherwise. “There are jobs aplenty that go begging in this country. If we have nursing shortages, it’s because nurses in this country get trained but go into administration,” she said. Additionally, many states in the Midwest, such as Iowa are practically begging for immigrants because their population is facing rapid attrition.

In the wake of Sept. 11th, problems in our immigration policies have been highlighted, evidencing holes that enable illegal and undocumented workers to arrive and stay in our country without being tracked and deported to their countries of origin. As a result, the general public has become more biased about immigrants, citing terrorist capabilities and the threat to the security of our nation as a reason to close the doors. Leaks in the immigration process are difficult to plug up. As Enzer points out, “True intentions - there is no way to know that. You can’t read people’s minds and you can’t be a shadow on every individual who enters the country. Intent is a very furtive concept,” he said.

In order for someone to become a citizen of the United States, they must first become a permanent resident. To do this, they must apply at a U.S. Consulate where their criminal history is crosschecked. However, not all databases are connected, making it quite possible for vital, personal details to be overlooked. Another problem lies in the status of non-immigrants. Foreign students, visitors for pleasure, business visitors, etc. are allowed to enter the country for a limited time. They receive non-immigrant visas at seaports, airports, or land borders. “We have never had a very good tracking system for these people who come on non-immigrant visas,” says Oliver. “That’s a real issue.” Additionally, porous borders with Canada that run over mountain ranges make entry into this country fairly easy, although the government is working on ways to prevent this from occurring.

The fact that the United States is a global, diverse society with an open door puts us in the position where we get the good with the bad. Oliver suggests that the solution to the problems inherent in our flawed immigration policy lie in enforcement agencies working together to track those immigrants who are here illegally. “We need to enforce the laws that are in place,” she said. At the same time, she notes that we need to update and enhance our security systems so that the people who have been legally admitted into this country won’t pay the price of those who haven’t.