michelle said:
Excuse my Ignorance but are they allowed to be here if they are not a citizen? Or is it a "Visa" they have which allows them to be here?
Hi Michelle,
There are several groups of people living in the USA.
The group with the most rights is obviously the group of US citizens.
Next come the permanent residents, or 'green card holders', who have gained the permanent right to reside in the USA even though they are not citizens. Permanent resident can eventually apply for US citizenship if they meet certain conditions. Permanent residents are the true
immigrants.
Next are visa holders of all kinds - work visas, investor visas, student visas, etc. Some of these can actually apply for permanent residence after a while, some are temporary visas. People in this group could in some cases also qualify for the term
immigrant.
Then we have tourists - some come in with a tourist visa, some under the visa waiver program, some from Canada. These people are let in temporarily, as well.
Last are illegals - people with no respect for the laws of the USA who sneak in, or stay behind once their legal stay is over. These people have no rights, but claim them anyway. These are the people that are called by some
'undocumented immigrants' or
'illegal immigrants'. They do, however, not deserve nor fit the term immigrant. People from groups 2 and 3 usually are near puking when they hear those lawbreakers being labelled immigrants.
In fighting
'immigration', people and local governments of the USA oftentime seem to forget about groups 2 and 3 which they throw into the whole mess by making weird *advertiser censored* laws like the town of Farmers Branch, Texas.
Only certain delicate government positions or work for government contractors are prohibited for permanent residents, and then only due to the fact that a required background check cannot be succesfully performed on non-birth US citizens. I doubt this goes for any jobs in Farmers Branch. Besides the fact that it is, as Jeana stated, illegal to even ask someone if they are a US citizen or not.
Respectfully,
JanetElaine