Ilya Shapiro sings the Green Card Blues:
For example — despite having lived in the United States for over a decade (my entire adult life), worked for a senator, federal judge, and presidential campaign, and sworn four oaths to uphold the Constitution — I am no closer to permanent resident status (a ‘green card’), let alone citizenship, than before I came.At the opposite end of the immigration debate — centering on unskilled workers flooding across the Mexican border — America makes it difficult, if not impossible, for skillful, talented people to become Americans. It is perhaps self-serving of me to point this out, but I think this country would be better off if it were possible to get a green card by some method other than through family ties or a difficult-to-obtain employer sponsorship (on which more later). As it stands now, even those worthy skilled professionals who secure a quota-restricted temporary worker visa (H1-B) have to leave upon that visa’s expiration, with no mechanism for applying for permanent residence — unlike in every other immigrant-accepting country in the world.