Illegal What?

I've always loathed the word Alien -- I guess it may be because of those Sigourney Weaver movies, which I haven't even seen, just a few scenes here and there, since I can't stand thrillers or horror movies, particularly the gory kind -- but I just don't like the word alien when it's used to refer to people. Particularly people from other countries, foreigners like me.

However, I've been an "alien," an "E.T." of sorts, an outer space creature, for 11 years now. Of course I've been a legal one. I've even been paying taxes (erm, not in the past few years since I stopped working -- in order to maintain my LEGAL status, BTW) just like a citizen for many years now, without receiving many of the benefits entitled to tax-payers.

This issue is being hotly discussed in the past few days because of the bill that is in the Senate right now and even this week's Time magazine features it in its cover. Coincidentally, I've wanted to write a bit about it because this complex problem is behind the rough situations that we've been facing in our church lately and is the issue that makes the problem partly unbloggable. My husband recently decided to walk away from the antagonistic situation, which is a relief for us, in spite of the fact that the possibility of not being in close contact with these friends anymore makes us incredibly sad.

All that said, I have to admit that I don't really have strong and set opinions about these issues. As I have stated before here in the blog (in the second part of my April '06 post about "Global Warming and Immigration" I tell in more detail about the people in this situation that I know or have known), from a moral standpoint, I strongly disagree with these people's decision and the hardship and heartbreak that it has brought into their lives. On the other hand, I understand some the reasons why they made this decision in the first place and I pity them and feel like I want to help them. There's nothing I can do to help, though, really, and it's hard to witness their struggles. I'm sure I'd be happy for them if there was an amnesty, but I don't necessarily favor one -- I'm glad I don't have to make a decision, that's for sure!

Well, in the end it may be easier to remain neutral if we're "forced" by the situation not to interact as intensely with them. As for myself, I hope I don't need to remain an extra-terrestrial creature for much longer...