I hope you choose not to leave the United States, but wait to see whether Democrats win in 2020 and then institute sane immigration laws and permanent status for "dreamers." We should not lose a well-educated person like you and have you barred from seeing your family through a circumstance that you had no power to prevent.
11
Things you will have to adjust to.
1. Comprehensive and free health care.
2. No assault rifles.
3. Cities full of immigrants getting along for the most part with governing authorities.
4. People that know Canada is part of a wider world.
5. The Raptors.
6. A social democratic political party with influence.
7. The "Red Coats" were the good guys.
8. Lots of Yankee expatriates.
9. Ability to visit Cuba.
10. Queen Elizabeth.
11. Hate laws that put Nazis in jail.
12. Cities where people still live downtown.
13. The better Niagara Falls.
14. The CBC.
15. And also PBS on cable television.
44
All those years of higher education and it never once crossed her mind to consult an immigration attorney?
9
ProWiiams:
Wrong, Dems offered Trump 25 million dollars for the wall and he reneged on the deal. That is why this individual is leaving
2
We vote for our pocketbooks, we vote for bigger paychecks, we vote for better jobs, we vote for lower drug costs, we vote to lower our student debt, we vote selfishly -- but our vote also affects real life people other than ourselves like Tawheeda. It's the voters fault that she's in this horrific nightmare, and we as a country are losing this bright, productive citizen.
2
Because of the wild & wacky world of the 1990s Internet, one day, over 20 years ago our youngest daughter began talking about her new online friend, Tawheeda Wahabzada, who lived in Nevada. We didn't know if that was a real name or an online nickname that was some kind of inside joke to elementary-aged kids. Our daughter was smart & good while using the Internet so we had no worries about Tawheeda Wahabzada.
Over the years since, our daughter and Tawheeda remained in contact & we had become aware of Tawheeda's circumstances & were overjoyed to learn that she had become a Dreamer as we became aware of a number of our daughter's classmates in our city who became Dreamers.
Fast forward to 4 years ago when our daughter & Tawheeda both wound up in D.C. & finally got to meet face to face for the first time. Since then they have spent many hours laughing & crying together while roaming around their adopted home town.
The US couldn't ask for a better more intelligent & capable citizen than Tawheeda Wahabzada. She's good & kind & loving & decent & giving & a hard worker. Tawheeda IS American except for an unfortunate quirk of fate.
Do-nothing losers do not get to clerk for Harry Reid! Losing this excellent person will be a crime against our humanity. As I already know from personal experience, those who don't like Dreamers have never met a Dreamer.
Save Tawheeda & all the good young people like her for the sake of our future & their future. Do Not Send Her Back!
146
Why would the ban apply to someone who is on temporary legal status. My understanding is that the bans apply only to people here without any kind of legal status. DACA is a form of legal status. It is a temporary legal status but it is still legal status which means that recipient has legal permission to be here. I do not believe that the ten year ban applies to DACA recipients who chose to leave the US because they are legal at the time they are leaving.
Further I do not understand why DACA recipients are not using this time to apply for green cards for permanent residency. It is not citizenship but it will prevent them from having to worry about whether they will be allowed to stay or not. Now is the time to try for green cards because once DACA is gone, it will be too late.
3
The law is the law, and it applies to everybody. You come to this country undocumented, illegally, you might get a temporary reprieve for circumstancial humanitarian leniency but when your time's up, your time's up. The law must apply and take effect and you must either self-deport or be removed, deported, no matter how long you've been 'reprieved' and staying in the country even since you were a toddler.
14
@Ashley,
Laws can be changed to allow for exceptions.
DACA recipients are as American as you, and do not deserve to be treated as lawbreakers, as they have done nothing wrong.
Your prescription would treat hostages as if they were the same as those who abduct them.
5
Thank you! And I'm the son of NON-European LEGAL immigrants who is AGAINST illegal immigration!!
5
A shame the Democrats didn't take Trump up on his offer to make a deal with DACA for money for The Wall most Democrats had already supported.
Here, sadly, my fellow Democrats are to blame. They'd rather see Trump not get a "win" than allow Tawheeda and her fellow DACA recipients to stay in America.
46
@profwilliam
You are making the assumption that had Democrats agreed to fund Trump’s ill conceived wall, the Republicans would have then negotiated in good faith for a fair and humane DACA solution. When in fact, all we’ve seen from the Republicans since the Obama administration has been the bait and switch. Time after time. Anything that looks like a victory for the Democrats is something the Republicans will not abide.
76
@profwilliams It is the Dreamers themselves who do not want Congress to make that type of Faustian deal-- pathway to citizenship for a wall. As she says in this article, she (and most Dreamers) do not want to be used as pawns or bargaining chips to advance a fundamentally unjust, wasteful and ineffective Wall, an empty symbol to appeal to the MAGA base. Dreamers have taken the principled stand that they will not accept a 'deal' at any cost -- principles we should be proud of.
39
@profwilliams
Absolutely incorrect. Those that sought to use the lives of young, productive and patriotic people as bargaining chips to acquire funding for the Emperor's vanity project are to blame. Those that stood up to that shakedown (and that's precisely what it was) actually care about their fellow human beings and sought to uphold America's ideals.
33
What a waste for the United States and for you. I'm sorry for the anxiety you have suffered for so long. It was not deserved, and our country, which contributed to your education, will lose your voice, talents, and hard work. I am glad that your birth country is Canada,and that you were born in a country and at a time when the world remembered the meaning of the word, "refugee". Whether or not the cruel, wasteful policies of the Republicans continue depends on the voters in 2020. But in reality, educated people will not choose to come here for college, work, or to become citizens, and the U.S. will further degrade and lose its luster and economic strength if we do not find a path to citizenship for those already here.
4
It is heartbreaking to know that your reality is the reality for so many people who came here as children with parents hoping to give them a better life. But I cannot help but agree with those who say you would be better off in Canada, as the U.S. continues to bend to the will of an immoral, poorly-informed, and poorly-educated minority of voters. If only the Democrats would have done away with the filibuster when Obama was in office, the path to citizenship for you would have been paved. But the question remains as to whether you would really want to stay here with this open hatred of anyone with brown skin and/or an accent.
5
I hope other DACA recipients will do as you have done. Obama thought he could change immigration law with an executive order. This order has done nothing but generate lawsuits without solving anything. There is no certainty what will happen next! Now it is in the hands of the Supreme Court!
2
At this point I’d rather live in Toronto myself.
15
another comment, which I don't find now, suggests she move to France. Not a bad idea: France has recruited climate scientists:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/12/french-president-s-climate-talent-search-nabs-18-foreign-scientists
and community college engineering students:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/24/community-college-in-paris
France would do well to recruit Dreamers. They are all young, high school graduates, many with college/university degrees, some with military service. None are felons. They have a wide range of skill sets.
They are accustomed to contemporary social norms and, at least indirectly, with democratic institutions.
If this country is too clueless to make the most of this home grown social capital, there is no reason France, or for that matter, other European nations, to benefit from their presence.
7
I’m Canadian and have visited France twice, including bicycling through it. If my French was better I’d have settled there in a heartbeat. Their quality of life puts the most important things first: rule of law, health, education, and opportunity. On top of those golden priorities, the French value intellect and eat like kings—every day!
10
The USA sinking anyway There are much better countries out there to live I hope she will be the okay end of this none sense government stupid policies .
6
You are leaving a country that disrespects you, for your ethnicity, for your education, and for the nature of your ideals. You are fortunate in having the opportunity to return to a country that respects all of these things. Your gain and our loss.
America (on paper) is the best idea that human beings ever had. It is good that the American dream still lives-in places such as Canada. Good luck to you.
12
You plan to leave in 2020, but I assume you’re going to stick it out until after the election. If the Democrats clean house, DACA may once again be revived.
But I understand your impatience to move forward with your life. As a citizen with a knowledge of French and an excellent degree, Canada would welcome you back and enable you to begin your career at once.
You seem a natural for diplomatic service. Consider the satisfaction you would feel working at the Canadian embassy in Washington, helping to set policy and provide personal assistance to Canadian citizens who like you are stranded in the USA.
The American dream is alive and well . . . in Canada!
15
Are you reading this, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer? You talk, talk, talk, and yet you can't even do your duty to impeach the most malign character this country has ever had to deal with - and I'm including George III.
I'm sickened by the US ruining lives for sport, killing people who look or choose differently for power and control, and throwing away everything good and decent about this country in pursuit of money, power and control.
Not only do I not blame DACA people for considering the US a hopeless cause, I share that feeling. Asking people to wait until well after a 2020 election, which has no certain legitimate outcome, is folly.
As the Sons of Liberty before us, they resisted until resistance proved futile. Then they rebelled. I think we're coming to a close on resistance.
2
Trump's cruel and inhumane policies on immigration makes us poorer and weaker as a country. Immigrants are what made this country great The Trump administration policies of hate and demonization will destroy us.
3
Canada is far more deserving of Tawheeda's valuable contribution than the present day United States. We have grown coarse & hate-driven, egged on by the rhetoric of our president & his supporters. We are no longer the country we were before Ronald Reagan took office & the slide from civil rights & human dignity began. This slide has been well-greased by Trump, to the point where 99% of the people in America would not be here if their own ancestors had to meet the vile standards Trump is setting. Trump's own grandfather was a 16-year-old unaccompanied minor with no money, few job skills, little education, who left Bavaria to dodge the draft. If Trump's policies had been in effect when his grandfather wanted to emigrate here, Donald would still be in Germany, speaking German. The same is true for his immigration czar, Stephen Miller. Miller's own uncle tore into him over his draconian immigration beliefs, pointing out that Miller's own family emigrated fleeing anti-Jewish violence. Thy would be turned away today. My great grandmother fled to the US in the late 1800's fleeing Russian pogroms. She arrived here speaking no English (she spoke 7 other languages). She had no money & a small child. She married &, with her husband, started selling vegetables from a pushcart in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. By the time she died at 105, they had established the largest department store on Long Island outside of NYC. The perfect American success story - until now.
13
I feel that there would be a lot of uncomfortable feelings over a non-citizen, not green-card-holding person residing in the United States spending her life working for a political activist organization. Maybe if she were working to provide people with medical care or food it might be different.
She works for a left-wing political activist pressure group and seems to be supported by most of the commenters here. I wonder how they would feel if she worked for a group like the National Rifle Association.
17
@Dante,
The same way we feel about anyone working for the NRA.
It’s an organization that promotes armed conflict, and therefore killing.
Leftwing organizations promote life.
The two are not equivalent.
4
Canada's gain is our loss. I for one am sorry to see you go, and hope you will be better able to realize your dreams there.
7
What is the author complaining about ? That she will have to move to Canada ??? Canada is a much better country than the US. Consider yourself lucky and don't even look back. Your friends and relatives can visit you there. My sympathies are with those Dreamers who would have to return to dysfunctional countries that they left as babies. If Trump gets re-elected, which I am afraid is a strong possibility, he will definitely move to deport the Dreamers. And Trump supporters will applaud and cheer, just like they do with any cruelty that this administration inflicts on immigrants.
9
This is her home. This is where her family, friends, and work are. Of course she’d be devastated to leave.
10
Are you kidding? I would have loved to live in Canada when I was your age! Go and don't look back.
14
Don't give up. I had a close friend ,who was brought here to the USA when he was 17 years old from Mexico. Through many attorneys and many administrations we tried to correct my friends situation and make him a legal resident. FORTY TWO years later my friend finally was able to get his naturalization papers and be sworn in as a US citizen. He literally sleeps with his passport, which I made him get on the same day he became naturalized. I know it's hard and you want to give up but please don't. We need to change the system to make it work better. We need people like you to help get this done.
3
What I've learned from reading comments is that cruelty is just plain fun and full of so much satisfaction at seeing others suffer. Being sanctimonious about rules (while blithely ignoring the ones that don't apply to them and that would be all of them) is its own pleasure. Punishing people for crimes of their fore-bearers was something the English aristocracy did and a reason for Patriots to fight for independence to be free of such rule. How dumb was that? The Tories were rigt all along. Can you imagine if our great leader was subject to being punished for the sins of his progenitors? Feeling better about oneself by putting others down is our God-given right - especially over things they have no control of.
11
Tawheeda Wahabzada or Patrick Crusius: Which of these two types of people would be most likely to make the United States be a better place?
5
The United States has immigration laws, and a process, like every other country on the planet. There isnt a country on this earth where you could flout their laws and become a citizen justified by your mere presence. I get you were only 5 when you came here, but this is your parents fault, not the United States fault, or their laws. Your parents wanted the American dream, so they could have emigrated from Canada to the US legally, but they didnt. They chose to skirt our laws, and jump ahead of the line. You offer praise for DACA, but by issuing that directive, Obama did one of the most irresponsible things he could have done. That directive opened up a Pandoras Box. The populations south of our border thought Obama would let their children stay. Even though DACA did not apply to them, parents sent their kids on grueling thousand mile journeys by foot, by the hundreds of thousands in 2014 and 2015. This caused a humanitarian crisis on our border. Since we dont deport kids, word got out, and then parents made the trip, dragging their kids with them, resulting in the catastrophe at our border today. Its a cruel, but profound lesson, as to why we have laws, and what happens when folks try to get around them, including lawmakers who choose to ignore them. As for your situation, blame your parents. We can not, and will not change our laws to suit the actions of foreigners. Either obey and respect them, or you will never be considered an American. Being an American is not a right.
18
@Sports,
“It’s not the United States fault” is a textbook example of cowardice.
Those who see injustice and just stand by are indeed cowards. Those who pile on to the victim and participate are unmentionable.
The US has the power to not only not punish her for what her parents have done — for she has done nothing wrong, just as a hostage is not guilty for her own abduction — but to reward her with citizenship for being an exemplary American.
You do good for others in distress because you’re a decent person, regardless of who was at fault.
2
Dear Ms. Wahabzada:
Our loss will be Canada's gain. The rest of the DACA people will enrich also their home countries with the skills and education they acquired here. The US, once the immigrant country par excellence, is too foolish to allow you to stay. Sorry.
6
You are a Canadian by birthright. So are many members of my family. The difference here, and it is key, is that my family members obeyed the law and applied for proper immigration status here, eventually becoming citizens in the USA. Yours did not. Yours snuck you over the border from what is already a great G-7 country, and the best city therein no less. Go blame your parents. You could have had a great childhood in Toronto. Enjoy your adulthood there. It’s a great place. There are billions of people who *wish* that they had a birthright to live there.
18
@A Contributor,
Civilized people do not punish children for the sins of their parents.
4
Good people leave us while native born racist zealots kill people of color in Wal Mart, churches, movie theaters, shopping malls. Seems to me we need to figure out a way to drop some of these native born in Syria or Yemen. And focus on keeping those who create ideas instead of violence and chaos.
Mr. Trump sadly assumes that the best and the brightest are native born whites.He himself continues to prove the fallacy of that belief.
I wish her the peace and joy of living without fear. Many of us are envious of the opportunity she has....
6
The "American Dream" is not for Canadians.
4
I believe that most Americans favor legalization for all CURRENT and approved DACA applicants....but an end to this program for any future illegals should end immediately. Hopefully SCOTUS will agree.
After DACA was unconstitutionally ordered by Obama, he and illegal alien advocates immediately wanted DAPA implemented, giving their parents equal benefits and privileges. This is a “no no” for many Americans and,if pursued, DACA will fail, and their parents will, once again, be rightfully blamed.
5
I don’t care who is to blame.
People who grow up from childhood as Americans have done nothing wrong, and do not deserve to be kicked out.
1
Tawheeda Wahabzada I am sorry. I am sorry for the way this country has treated you and all the other Dreamers. I hope that wherever you end up it's a better life than the one you had to endure here.
We are not the greatest country in the world, no matter how many times we were told that growing up. We should be ashamed.
5
Come home! In Canada, dreams come true. If you get sick, you will get health care. You’re much, much less likely to get shot going to school, or at church, or out shopping. We have a Charter of Rights and Freedoms and we believe in diversity and inclusion. Your American friends will be welcomed to visit anytime they like. You will thrive here.
16
How the heck does a Nation comprised of a majority of immigrants who came to this country seeking refuge ever consider itself great when we lack compassion for the next wave of people needing our shelter? And we do have the need for these folks.
I learned in school that what made us exceptional was that we were a melting pot. We forget that, and our empathy for others at our peril. We are quickly losing our greatness as we shut our doors to hard working, smart people that do the right thing.
By the grace of good fortune you were lucky enough to have descendants who came to the US at the right time. There were those who were unwelcoming to them too. Xenophobia has always been with us. There is nothing great about it. Nothing at all.
2
Unfortunately, DACA was created by executive order by Obama to ensure his re-election after promising and failing to address comprehensive immigration reform. Besides putting the recipients in limbo it most likely caused parents to flood this country with hundreds of thousands of children hoping to be the next DACA recipients. It is a mess caused by gutless politicians, lack of border enforcement and people willing to ignore our laws and immigrate to the US illegally.
10
Excuse me, but it was not Obama who failed to address immigration reform.
He instituted DACA because the GOP refused to address it.
3
It fills me with sadness to know that this is exactly the outcome that Trump and his immigrant-hating base was hoping for.
4
Thank God for Canada!
Land of the free, home of the brave!
O' Canada, you give us hope here in the former United States!
6
Thus is the problem with DACA you went to college did you get financial assistance got a drivers license all things that are privileges of US citizens the act gives false hope to illegal immigrants and sets them up for failure. Also you say you were born in Canada ok did you try to apply for any type of legal US papers it’s not that hard for Canadians to work or study in the US I know of many.
9
@EAH,
DACA was the solution for kids who had been brought to the States illegally.
Being in that position, there was no legal way for them to apply for green cards.
Can your grandmother visit you? Or live with you? At least that may be a possibility and the same with friends as well. There is skype which of course is a poor substitute to keeping up. And phone calls and face book. I think of the pioneers who would leave their families in the East and not expect to ever see them again. All that said it is horribly heartbreaking and plain stupid on the part of the government. Even economically it is stupid for the government to turn down those taxes paid by DACCA people. However, honestly what luck you were born in Canada. And your life is going to be so much safer there. And the relief alone of not being deported suddenly makes me feel relief for you. The USA is destabilizing. I was born here and if possible would go to Canada in an instant. Health care alone is worth the move.
5
I confess sympathy for any struggle, but the author laments America despite the education she was provided by this amazing county. You came illegally; that you got to stay this long is a blessing most on earth would thank God daily to have received. But your article complains of a lack of citizenship for someone not entitled to it. For that I cannot feel sorry for you, as you got more than the law required and you remain ungrateful. Examine the blessing of having been raised and educated here. It is priceless. As is this nation and the rule of law. Which requires you leave, since no legal right exists for you to stay.
You are bright and educated. You will do well. I hope you apply to return, legally.
9
@EWG,
She was not provided with an education, she worked for it.
Nor did she go to the States illegally. Do you blame the hostage for her abductors? The children for the sins of their parents?
She has harmed no one, just been an average American, no worse than you.
I really sympathize with you and with your story. I think its more commonplace than what we hear on the news. However, if I understand the second to last paragraph of your article, you will be returning to Canada. To be honest, Canada is a great country and is very similar to the US. Toronto is a great city, some would say its current growth and popularity rivals even NYC. Montreal is also great (even if your not a francophone). Better yet, if you have Canadian citizenship/permanent residency, you can visit the U.S. practically anytime. I do not want to get into the specifics of your current situation, but I think its best to stay positive. There is always a solution. It is really our loss that your leaving.
6
What's wrong with Canada? Your family can visit you. Things will work out in the end. Be grateful you have your education. What was done can and will be undone.
4
@Linda,
Why should she be grateful for her education? She worked for it.
@Linda
Family members cannot leave the U.S. to visit Canada if they are undocumented. The author may never see her grandmother again.
1
Hopefully, you can return to Canada, a very functional country where you will get great health care and handguns and assault weapons are illegal. You are lucky.
4
"Self deporting" to where, Canada? May all of us have such a tragic option.
13
It’s hard to take this particular case seriously. I am all for granting PR to DACA recipients but, come on, you’re already Canadian. Did your parents abandon a status in Canada? If I were you, my rage at them for not just sticking to Toronto would overpower that towards the US government.
15
Republicans are permanently paralyzed in action because they are torn between their reflexive, crocodilian loathing of immigrants (and a desire to eject them), and a selfish desire to keep them in the country to be exploited as low cost labor.
1
All illegals should be deported swiftly. They know the risks of the illegal status, and do not do anything about it until caught. I have no empathy to illegals who in essence break the law by being here. Americans children, homeless and poor come first.
10
@lieberma,
You seem to be unaware of who is withholding aid to children and the homeless.
Hint: It’s not undocumented immigrants, and certainly not DACAs like this young lady.
I am for dreamers' rights, but state whether or not you have a Canadian passport.
2
Looks like Canada is getting a real bargain.
1
Tawheeda -
You are not the only one who's dreams of America are dead.
For many US citizens, the dream of what America is supposed to be - among other things, a place for the yearning best and brightest like you - is in mortal danger.
I am sorry for your situation. I hope one day you can come back and see your friends and family as you please. We will miss you - and others like you who truly do make America great.
Best,
Gene
3
America will be all the poorer as she leaves us behind. 29 years of hope just died with her dreams. Unfortunately she is probably right about the Supreme Court destroying all DACA folks and their families and friends. It is the mean thing to do in adoration of Donald Trump and the GOP thugs.
4
I hope she comes back to Canada where immigrants are welcome and can celebrate their heritage...no need for a ‘melting pot’ when your cultural identity is celebrated and accepted.
( Funny coincidence that this column is presented the same day another right wing tRump sucker suggests a new credo for the Statue of Liberty. GOP politics seem to be aimed at expelling hard working, education seeking, family oriented, brown immigrants....all to protect their slacking, uneducated, racist base. It’s going to be hard to run all those 21st century tech jobs with those in-bred, ammophile, white southerners. [What chance do they even have for an education....coal industry has been poring mercury, lead other heavy metals into them for decades]. But hey...at least they vote GOP!)
5
@'Mericun in Canada
Melting Pot is essential for Assimilation to occur. When that fails to occur what do you get? Balkanization, or Canada in 20 years both the same thing.
1
This is so infuriating. Especially when you think of the Dreamers not born in Canada.
7
This is just the sad "tip of the iceberg" (pun intended) of the reign of terror Donald Trump has unleashed that has now resulted in two gun massacres--first in Pittsburgh against Jews at prayer in their synagogue and the other last week against Hispanics shopping in a Walmart in El Paso. As a Jewish-American, son of immigrants, and from a Holocaust family, I also share Ms. Wahabzada's fear and frustration. Everyday I hope that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will act by calling an emergency session of the House to pass a comprehensive gun control legislation as well as an impeachment inquiry given the massacres targeting Hispanics and Jews fomented by Trump's racist hate speech. And every day, as she and her House Democrats remain silent, my anxiety and fear increases. If Trump is not stopped (that is, re-elected), I am seriously considering "self-deportation" even though I'm a citizen, white male and 79 years old. But, I'm Jewish and know the consequences of a false sense of security as I remember the lessons of my mother who named me after a Polish rabbi who died in the Holocaust. Let's all hope; let's all pray that it will be "Never Again," but let's all be watchful and bear witness as darkness keeps descending over America.
3
And we will welcome you home.
5
So after years of assistance and free money, you take the skills America provided for you and are moving out of the country because of uncertainty or "feeling used?" Couldn't really be more unpatriotic. Do you think our forefathers were always certain? Think about where you were in your life 15 years ago when you were getting all those loans and grants for your education, were you telling yourself you can't wait to leave then? Sad thing is, this is what most immigrants do in one way or the other. Send resources back to a country that provided nothing for them. I saw someone mention that there's not enough whites picking avocados. That's because your local labor union is maxed out with illegals. Everyone is getting their contracts and there's no regulation making them pump the brakes and verify identification. So literally, as a person not of color, if you did so happen to beat the sheer volume of potential workers and accept the huge decrease in wages to stay competetive, you would still experience racism on a daily basis like getting called names in spanish. It's simply not worth it. The African Americans should be extremely angry. For the past 20 years while gangster violence and imagery had been made cool and adhered to by every teen, illegals have managed to sneak in under the radar and steal resources that could've better educated their culture. But instead we get BLM because another black guy pulled a gun on a cop.
4
It would be easy to do a deal which let this young woman stay, perhaps conditioned on her serving a hitch in the military. It would involve a path to citizenship for people like her, while sending all other illegals home and closing the borders to unskilled immigration. In short, a system akin to Canada's.
But the American left opposes ANY restrictions on immigration; their policy is indistinguishable from open borders. And they regard ANY compromise as a treasonous compromise with racism.
Presumably, when you were working for Reid - who could have addressed this, but never the need - you presumably looked at the Constitution, which forbids the POTUS from writing statutes, like DACA. The SCOTUS should rule that what one POTUS creates with his pen and phone the next one can undo the same way.
In the old days, when we had Dems like JFK, HHH, Bradley, Moynihan, the Bayhs, Bill Bradely, Scoop Jackson, you might disagree with them 80% of the time, but they were occasionally reasonable and willing to actually compromise and govern. They have been replaced by The Squad, which has more in common with Che than with Slick Willie. The do not wish to govern; the want to rule.
Countries control their borders and send trespassers packing. Were our system more competent, your family would have been sent home 20 years ago, sparing you from your present dilemma.
We should vigorously enforce the law to ensure that no one else ever shares your fate.
8
@Michael. Not everyone qualifies to serve in the military, even if the person has an interest in doing so.
1
A beautifully written, heartbreaking story.
What a mean bunch of old white men run our country.
7
The extreme position taken by the left (amnesty, no enforcement, activist judges, opposing deportation of people who have had their asylum rejected, promise of free college/healthcare for illegals) is harming ALL immigrants.
Maybe someday liberal media will wake up and realize that this is unsustainable. Dems should stop using immigrants as pawns. If they present a reasonable plan then they can win 2020.
10
You were born in Toronto, Canada. It's one of the most beautiful cities in North America. You are blessed to be able to return to the land of your birth. Forget this place. You're better off in Canada. Once you get your Canadian passport you can visit your relatives and friends here in the states. You'll make new Canadian friends and contribute to Canadian society. The biggest plus is you will have universal healthcare. It's a pipe dream here in the states that many people resist as socialist for some reason. Yet these same people accept public school and not see the irony of socialist education. You won't have to deal with that stupidity ever again. Good luck in Canada.
11
I am moved, but mostly deeply saddened by this story, especially knowing there are countless others in this horrible liminal existence. This administration is nothing less than sadistic, inflicting unnecessary pain.
5
The distance and banishment from loved ones is the only downside here. I would jump at the chance to immigrate to Canada.
9
Tawheeda: go where you must meanwhile to survive, but there is an America waiting for you. It may take some time for you and it both, but it is here, and will survive for you to be welcomed and fulfilled.
1
Here’s the irony:
A man like the author, here since age 5, obviously intelligent and well educated, who wants to work hard and contribute to our society, has been told for 24 years that politicians cannot decide what to do about his plight. Tired of waiting, he has decided to leave, likely before an ICE officer shows up to deport him based on one of Trump’s future executive order immigration jihads.
But another man, with limited education, skills or work ethic, but whose family has been here for several generations and has white skin, can stay forever despite making few, if any, contributions to our society or country. He will spend his life on and off unemployment, perhaps disability, drawing resources and money from the government, paid for by the rest of us.
I understand why the second man gets to stay; it is because of his dumb luck to be born here. But if we keep scaring off or deporting people like the author, we will have no inflow of high performing people to make up for the many slugs like the second man. Through his taxes, volunteerism, family and other contributions to society, over his lifetime the author, his wife and children would have supported many people like the second man.
But now the author will be gone. But the second man remains. And millions more like him.
5
@Jack Sonville. The author is a woman.
5
My wife and I were considering moving to New Zealand about 10 years ago. We are both at least second generation Americans (Irish ancestry), and I was in my early 50s at the time. Apart from just loving the environment and people in NZ, I wanted to avoid being bankrupted by the U.S. medical / health insurance industries. We looked at buying a home and a small business. We almost bought a beautiful hillside lot in Nelson, on the South Island, overlooking the Tasman Bay. But we didn't.
Now, I am in my early 60s. So far my health is holding out. That lot in Nelson is no longer available. And it would be much harder for us to obtain citizenship now in NZ, due to my age. They have socialized medicine and everyone gets the health care they need. They also have supplemental insurance which, ten years ago, cost about $700 a year. It allowed for more choice and quicker access to "elective" procedures.
We did not make the move 10 years ago because my wife is very close to her family here in the U.S. and NZ is a about a 12 hour flight from CA. But I often wonder if we would have been better off to move there then, or whether we should go now. I really am saddened and disgusted by the awful state of our elected representatives in Washington D.C. I had no idea that so many people (Senators, Reps) could be such cowardly, selfish pawns, when so much is at stake.
I wish this young lady well, on her move to Canada. I think she is making the right move.
7
I am sorry you didn't move here. I am very very grateful every day for the fact I live in NZ. We're far from perfect, sure, but what you saw when you visited here remains basically true: decent government, friendly people, socialised medicine, a peaceful outlook on the world. It can be hard to move away from family. But it must be harder still to live in a country that offends your spirit on a near daily basis. Come back to NZ for another visit. Think of it as a chance to reaffirm that the values you believe in DO work. As for the young writer of this column? I have no idea why she is delaying. She's spent 29 years under a dark cloud. Canada will welcome her back and let her start a meaningful life. Her family can visit. It's a good solution.
2
I am an immigrant. Played by the rule, stood in line and waited for my turn. If anybody gets to cut the line, it is the war victims from anywhere around the world, not the the ones brought her as kids by parents who just decided to illegally migrate from one developed country to another. DACA recipients should be given the option of becoming permanent residence based on their circumstances and not just by being victims of their parents poor choice.
11
It is a sad state of affairs that major issues such as Immigration Reform/DACA, the environment, gun control, health care, etc. have seen minimal cooperation to seek solutions over decades while politicians use them as media talking points. They aren't even bargaining chips any longer, as that would imply they were cooperating enough to sit down and do some political horse trading (as corrupt as that practice can be). This trend pre-dated Trump, but his intransigence has drawn a border similar to the Korean DMZ that nobody crosses from either side, which leaves Ms. Wahabzada with the heartbreaking choice to stay in limbo while mostly self-serving politicians weigh how helping her might garner something of benefit for themselves or to just get on with her life and use an option that was lowest on her list of potential life choices. To our detriment she is leaving, which may in the end be the right choice because we have two political parties that are off in the weeds arguing about less urgent matters while the house burns down and if anyone involves the Fire Chief, he pours gasoline on everything.
4
Well only have Democrats to blame they could have made a real deal on Immigration Reform that protected all the DACA recipients but they wanted it ALL and decided to play hardball and for keeps so you stayed in LIMBO. Even Obama himself admitted DACA was not the solution, just a temporary fix until the adults could agree. Adults never appeared let alone agreed so good luck wherever you go.
6
There are some 800K immigrants protected under DACA. About an equal number who could have met DACA requirements did not apply.
Depending on source, there are 11.5 million illegal or over 20 million (Yale study) illegal immigrants in the US.
Ms. Wahabzada's case is clear to most of the readers - let her stay (or Canada ain't so bad).
What to do about the remaining is the hard question
3
Smart immigration policy and enforcement, implemented years ago, would have prevented all of this.
4
I am an immigrant, and now a (dual) citizen. As these things go, my entry was relatively painless--I came from a wealthy country and my employer applied for my green card. But I still remember the anxiety of waiting three years for that green card--and the way it affected my work, my relationships, my life. I truly cannot conceive how dreadful it would be to live one's entire life in a situation that is even worse. I don't think native-born Americans have the tiniest idea what immigrants go through. For them, citizenship is the ultimate entitlement--they do nothing for it. Immigrants have to work hard, keep their noses squeaky clean, make sacrifices, take risks, suffer years of uncertainty and anxiety--and then get bashed by the current president and his enablers.
For someone in your situation--who has grown up in this country as an American--to be treated as an "illegal," with all the practical and psychological pressure entailed . . . it's a monstrous cruelty.
And yet what I love most about America is its diversity and progressivism--everything Trump is not. Unfortunately, as I said, I think native-born Americans really cannot comprehend--cannot put themselves in the shoes of--what immigrants are put through--and especially the long-range cruelty that "dreamers" have been put though. For them, citizenship requires nothing--absolutely nothing. How could they understand what it is to suffer so long for something they got without even having to ask?
83
@john tinkler Very well written. True, as an American Citizen born and raised in America, I cannot understand exactly how it feels for you or for anyone trying to become a citizen of the United States. It is a stressful, arduous task, no doubt. Please know there are people in America who are on your side and root for you, for the DACA children, for anyone trying to make and live a new life in our great country.
When we have a Democratic POTUS in office again and Congress is controlled by the Democrats once again, we will be able to change the laws that are torturous to people trying to become American citizens. To them I say don't give up hope! We are on your side.
14
@Larry I agree. Not only that there are so many native Americans who not pass the tests the Trump administration have decided to use to keep brown and black people from our country.
And I do know the agony that immigrants live with, I’ve been married to a man from Germany for61 years. Though he received his citizenship in 1963, he now worries about Trump and what he may try and do against naturalized citizens.
14
Welcome home. Your hard won skills will be of great benefit to Canada.
4
You will be fine. Canada is a fantastic country. Your life there will be much better than here. And at some point, when the neanderthals in charge today have been vanquished, new rules will allow you to visit.
5
Canada will be lucky to have you Ms. Wahabzada.
5
This is just sickening ... what kind of country has America become? Why would you punish someone for the choices of their parents? Why would you refuse to accommodate people who have lived there for more or less their entire lives? What is wrong with you?
5
The American dream is dead. Has been for a long time. We are living off the nostalgia for a by gone era that never really was. Dreamers are pawns in the white America dream.
4
In the War of 1812, former American Loyalists, Blacks, Natives, French-speakers in Quebec and elsewhere, and British Red Coats united to resist the American invasion. Any one thinking of moving to Canada need only read Pierre Berton's "The Invasion of Canada" and "Flames Across the Border" volumes to take pride in how Canada's survival was achieved. Current events in the USA make these historical events even more of an achievement to be celebrated.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/214861/pierre-bertons-war-of-1812-by-pierre-berton/9780385676489
1
Without intending to be harsh, this op-ed is in the tradition of "The Time[s]" view that the United States is an evil and horrible place that visits all sorts of harsh indignities on the innocents.
The title invites us to believe the author is to be deported to some comparatively miserable country. We learn though that the US has not made any effort to deport the individual.
It is this kind of view that the US is inherently evil that makes long time readers such as myself regard this paper as no longer a legitimate news source. And as the author seems to take a pretty dim view of the US and I wonder why she wants to stay.
12
I am so ashamed and sorry to read this. I wish you could stay. If you are not an American, I don't know who is.
2
You are standing on your own two feet.
Ken Cucinelli just said that you are what Trump wants.
But we all know what a lie he was telling.
It's the Stephen Miller re-write of the American story.
Bring me your white, your rich, your people who have never truly suffered a day in their lives (although they would beg to differ). We particularly welcome Russian oligarch/mafia types. And Saudi relatives of MBS, that charming prince/muderer of Khashoggi. We are also very fond of billionaires with private jets - and who cares what their sexual history is? We'll give you tax breaks, we'll let you buy up our great cities until no ordinary citizen can afford to live in them. You see, Trump has taught us that Americans can be as nasty, deceitful, and inhumane as he is.
5
Someone near your age .... so it doesn't look suspicious .... should marry you and set you on the path to naturalization.
This is the best way for you to play the corrupt system and win.
1
I would be more than happy to deport 100 anti-American trump supporter and keep a well educated, self reliant person like this author anyway. It is the people trying to destroy our democracy we need to ship off to anywhere rather than the people who truly love this country.
Dear trump/Putin supporters, you can probably still get your oxys in Russia, but you’ll have to give up your guns unless you’re willing to serve in Africa for Putin.
5
Tawheeda Wahabzada has to return to Canada. What is so bad about that? Most of those who comment on this article consider Canada a superior country to the United States.
Once Ms. Wahabzada arrives in Canada she can work to bring more illegal aliens in the United States to Canada; especially "Dreamers." I am sure that the Canadians will be very accommodating.
8
Let's create a narrative to further the left wings political agenda
You're a Canadian Citizen
Back to Canada you will go
Where no doubt some Left Wing organization will hire you
10 years will fly by fast
You'll finally be able to register to vote
You can get a drivers license
If you're still interested at that point apply for citizenship
Or you if you can find an American to marry
Maybe you get back quicker?
3
The author is self-deporting to Canada.
How the author's family came to be in Canada--as Afghan refugees--has nothing to do with her Daca status.
4
Here is a perfect example of an immigrant who can be of great benefit to our country and yet be excluded. She is a passive violator of the law-not active. She did not steal into this country.
What are we doing???? We have a degenerate as President, a racist and a man of both foul mouth and background. President Trump is not an American in any sense of the word but Tawheeda is and represents what America is all about.
3
Lucky. I wanna be Canadian.
3
Proud of yourself, Stephen Miller?
3
I’m hoping that sometime soon my country, the US, will return to its nobler self. I’m sorry we failed you.
3
Unsaid in this article is that the author’s illegal “immigrant” parents are undoubtedly still residing illegally someplace in the US. “Refugees”? Self described.
Sad story. Shows the turmoil and confusion caused by Obama’s executive overreach in creating DACA.
10
For reasons unknown, President Trump and many Republican legislators don't want more citizens who are at least as (or are more) qualified than they are. Your many attainments, knowledge gathered in the United States, is not of interest to the present rulers bent on making America "great." If you must leave, consider coming back once that Golden Door is opened once again.
Nice writing. You larnt good.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy , Montana
1
For many, the American dream has died because of the conservatives hate and xenophobia.
I hope you're coming back to Canada. English & French... You'll love Montreal! Except for the cold and snow... but we have underground malls! :-D
3
We are going to lose a thoughtful, talented and globally minded hard worker like you, while the great menace is fanning the flames of hatred and bigotry to the point where homegrown men your age are arming themselves against the immigrant "invasion." I wish you could stay and run for Congress.
4
Liberals constantly tell us that the Dream Act is vital because it's cruel to force people to return to the often brutal conditions of their home countries. So it's curious that the Times chose to feature a person who will be forced to return to ........Canada? I wonder how big of an exception this is for "dreamers".
7
I wish you were not leaving. America continues a death of a thousand cuts by this regime.
I wonder if the protest voters understand what they have done?
1
You are smart to leave sir. Very smart indeed.
YOu join the long list of people who said they would leave the US for political reasons. Few of them actually did.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/stars-who-threatened-to-leave-the-u-s-if-trump-was-elected/2/
3
Not to worry. With a degree in French, you will go to the head of the line in obtaining a job with Canada’s Federal government... ahead of any Canadian who is not fluent in French.
3
HI @NYTIMES
Care to highlight some other kids who are affected by broken immigration system? You seem to have become like DNC, only caring about DACA. There are others who need your support.
https://siia.us/h4-dreamers/
1
The American Dream is misnamed.
Or rather the name changed.
Now the Canadian Dream. Or the Australian Dream. Or the Japanese Dream.
And the American Nightmare.
2
Not sure what hurt more, reading Taweeda's story or many of the cold-hearted Comments in this section.
3
Our loss is Canada's gain. I used to live and work in Toronto and Calgary. Wonderful places. But the pull of family got me to come back to this wannabe fascist state. What an idiot. But I don't want to hear about leaving it if I don't like it. I'm still enough of a patriot to shoo away the vultures, foreign and domestic, that are circling to pick at the near-corpse of this once great country. Maybe we can restore America, maybe not. But I'm not going anywhere. Live with it.
And America loses yet another educated worker because white Americans, who are apparently too lazy and too unambitious to put in the work to become skilled professionals, would rather blame all of their self-inflicted problems on foreigners. Again. Same baseless complaints, different century.
3
Self-deportation to Canada? Oh, you poor thing. Millions of native-born Americans would move there if they could.
If you go to Afghanistan I'd give you some respect.
7
Sad indeed. Ms. Wahabzada is leaving via self-deportation. But whether self-deportation or Trump-deportation, in far too many cases the loss is ours. The Republicans saying the Democrats support open borders is foolish spin - no one supports open borders. What we really need is an intelligent, comprehensive immigration policy that respects all concerned. But that requires a Senate that represents public opinion and is able to move on important stuff - not going to happen under McConnell's watch.
In the meantime what we really need is a wall (virtual or otherwise) to keep people like Ms. Wahabzada from escaping.
41
@John Whitmer
"no one supports open borders"
Not true. Just scroll down and read the comment posted by "SMcStormy" which is an open call for open borders (without any pretense to the contrary). And it got recommended by 26 people.
But even in terms of the political world, all Presidential Democratic candidates raised their hand to "decriminalize migration" at the Democratic debate in June.
7
I sympathize with Tawheeda's situation.
But she needs to recognize that many Americans--and others--will simply see her listed accomplishments as opportunities denied them.
I do not necessarily agree with this perspective, but that is one aspect of the psychology underlying the current spate of xenophobia.
29
@Vox I don't believe that the drive and accomplishments of Dreamers have denied one single other American an opportunity they would have with similar drive.
18
@Vox, I do not agree with you. I think most Americans will tell you that the resentment is not because her accomplishment denied them an opportunity but because they feel like there are laws in every country that needs to be followed. Her situation is not the same as thousands of other DACA recipients who were brought her as children and probably still living paycheck to paycheck because their parents were busy making ends meet that they did not have the time, resource or did not know to tell their children about college and career. It is unfair to lump all DACA recipients in the same category.
1
@Vox
The American dream is not a zero sum game.
9
Canada is the future, not the USA.
Almost half of Americans seem to be infected with the Trump contagion that is now the face of the USA (racism, cruelty, greed, ignorance,inhumanity, gun violence). Add climate change into the mix and it is only going to get worse. Many parts of the USA are heating up to record levels with the GOP not only turning a blind eye, but hastening the disaster. Drought, crop failures, water shortages and other environmental catastrophes just around the corner. Yes, it is hard to leave your family, but you will be grateful for the welcoming respite, for that long cool drink (fresh water aplenty) that is Canada.
Your fellow Canadian.
5
Sat next to a lovely woman at the comedy show last weekend. A school teacher from the Netherlands who spoke exceptional english. I had dinner with another group of folks from various S. American nations who have immigrated and can confirm they are all lovely kind people. My exposure to others has made me realize how tired I am of the small minded ignorant people who speak here and elsewhere as if they know something about immigrants and immigration when they really no nothing. Recently retired, I have thoughts of leaving my home and finding a more welcoming place leaving Trump and those like him behind. Now to discover just where that might be.
3
I cannot understand exactly what Ms.Wahabzada’s complaint actually is. No nation and no person is perfect. American taxpayers funded her education, she is currently employed by a non-profit NGO - also is funded largely by American contributors. There are currently over seven billion people on earth right now, the overwhelming number who struggle just to survive. People are literally dying to have the opportunities - the chance to live decently and get a good education - that Ms. Wahabzada now enjoys. Let her go to Canada - she will not like things there, either. It is whining like this that erodes public sympathy for immigrants.
8
While the writer's situation is unfortunate, it also seems entirely avoidable. Canada is not some 3rd world country. If her parents had refugee status (they are referred to as refugees from Afghanistan), they could have stayed there indefinitely. Why exactly did they need to move to Nevada? If they had family there, they could have been legally sponsored to immigrate, and if they didn't have family and were merely refugees, why not remain in Canada?
It's pretty clear this was economic "country shopping" something the UN has explicitly tried to prevent would be refugees from doing. Granted, it's the parents who are at fault her not the then 5-year old.
There should be a very narrow, limited pathway to citizenship for people like this writer who have zero criminal interactions, gainful professional employment, and advanced degrees. It's in our own interest as a country to retain people like this.
That said, the sob story angle is a turn off. When you ignore laws don't be mad that there are consequences. If I choose to lie about my income for the next decade so I can give my (future) kids a big house to live in, is the IRS wrong to make me pay my back taxes knowing those (hypothetical) children would lose their home? The ugly reality is that the crimes of a single person inevitably rain down consequences on all those around them.
12
We need a " country of ancestry" program for the Dreamers, where the State Department gets to designate a nation where they should travel on reaching adulthood, to work in a sort of volunteer Peace Corps for 5 years, and then they can come back to America and get permanent residency. Imagine what this young woman could do for the people of Afghanistan for 5 years.
1
If Democrats would compromise on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would reduce future illegal immigration, Americans would support citizenship or permanent legal residence status for DACA enrolled and their immediate families. But Democrats want to ensure illegal immigrants keep coming.
3
America sadly fails to understand how much we will miss you Tawheeda. Ignorance of resources, our values, and a serious lack of humanity is taking the U.S. down a very dark road. You have done much already to contribute to a better world in your short life than many of the people who’d prefer that you leave. I am so terribly sorry. I hope that wherever you go delivers you some peace and a good life.
1
I can’t believe she is lucky enough to be a Canadian citizen. It’s like America but with free healthcare. I would have headed there years ago.
It’s terrible that this girl has been used as a political pawn for years by both parties but I am a bit jealous of her privelage as a Canadian.
3
Why are we being lectured about "following the rules" by a group of people who have made their life's work to bend, twist, ignore, obfuscate, flout, the rules and laws to their own benefit while bragging that they are too smart to pay taxes or having a wife of questionable status?
3
Ms. Wahabzada grew up in the US. It is her country. Her departure is our loss.
US policy that keeps children and young people in limbo is stupid & mean. It exists only because Republicans seek to preserve minority rule by selling immigration as a cost rather than a benefit .
Many commenters write that Ms. Wahabzada's parents broke the rules and she must suffer the consequences. I did not read whether her parents came here legally or illegally. If illegally, what other illegal act of the parents is required to be paid for by the child? Or is the 5-year old charged with breaking the law decades ago and no statute of limitation applies?
We have no other laws requiring illegal acts be paid for by family members. Would we bring suit against a 5-year old for breaking the law? Perhaps cage them?
The debts of parents have not been transferred to children since medieval times. Nor have their sins since Vatican II– notwithstanding the opinions of many of our fellow Americans.
The greatest nation on earth has failed you. It will be our loss when you leave.
2
Sadly, you are doing the right thing. A government that plays with the lives of its people is not fit to be called a democracy. It has more semblance to Russia or China; for American politicians - their behavior is abhorrent. You have the right to live your life and you should do so without, as you say, being a pawn in someone's political game. Good luck and shame on the US political machine, hopefully, they won't be in power for too long.
1
Because the writer was unauthorized, although she could probably qualify for employment under the new harsh rules imposed by Trump, she will be unable to get a green card even though she is very employable.
This is a terrible loss for the country but she is exactly the kind of person Trump is afraid of.
1
For some of us, the idea on being deported to Toronto and unable to return for at least ten years has become irresistible.
7
I have a close friend who is a Dreamer. I wanted to help, so contacted an immigration attorney to ask for advice. I told him that my friend works two jobs and is very involved in our community, much beloved by family and friends. The attorney’s reply: “All of my Dreamer clients are like that.”
3
Half the socialists that comment on these pages view Canada as the representation of heaven on earth. Being able to "self deport" to Canada is more of a dream not a sacrifice to them.
To most of the millions of other DACA "dreamers" the option to "deporting to Canada" doesn't exist. Their countries of origins are poor countries with few opportunities. This article really should have been written by one of them.
3
@Robert, my sentiments exactly. Thank you !
1
@Robert
In the month of August, Canada truly feels like a northern paradise. January and February, less so.
Just one canuck’s opinion.
A few notes on the socialism love-fest. There is a little less socialism here than Americans think. Doctors for example generally operate their own businesses. They simply bill the government. There is no central socialist committee that controls our lives.
Private businesses of every size operate here. Generally we pay more tax than Americans. However I have American friends who live in New York and they pay a lot of tax. When you factor in the health insurance payments paid by Americans, it’s a wash.
And Canada adopted “socialist” policies years after the USA: unemployment insurance, social security pensions, public schooling.
All of those fine socialist middle class policies were first created and brought to you by the USA —and helped make America great.
5
Seriously: Canada seems a better place to live anyway. I tell my daughters, who are US citizens now in college outside the USA, to look for work in other and better English speaking countries.
I was born and raised in the USA and served in the US Navy. I am a California attorney. But the USA is not the best place in the world. Maybe once it was. But not now, not today.
Part of the problem is letting "Southerners" be the arbiters of what the Constitution is supposed to mean, and what the Bill of Rights provides for. Another part of the problem is that the US form of strong Presidency and weak "parliament" (House of Representatives) has just been a disaster. And it is going to continue to be a disaster. The Senate is just dysfunctional. The Congress has given away its powers to the Executive Branch, got nothing in return, and has no idea how to fix that problem.
If the Supreme Court cannot stop gerrymandering, who can? Eisenhower got it about right, that such acts to seize power are a coup in disguise.
It is some testimony to the innovative spirit and energy of the American people that the country has done so well. As it is the US government is nothing but a tool of the elites, who regularly bribe the President and various elected Representatives with "campaign contributions."
And Trump is not exactly an anomaly: he is an ideal representative of a broken system. A liar and a fraud. Utterly without shame.
696
@Richard, that about nails it. Spot on.
12
@Richard
It's always the case that those who proclaim the loudest "we're number one!" rarely are.
17
@Richard How would Canada deal with author's plight?
1
The author is very lucky indeed. One can take their childhood memories and upbringing with them. She is young and educated and will be welcomed any number of places. I am old, born in this country and do not want to be here anymore. It is not the country I grew up in and was so proud to be a part of. I cannot leave and have nothing to offer another country for entry in my retirement. I have no good options. I'd trade with the author in a heartbeat if I could. I have to stay in this violent, angry and ugly country.
3
I will never understand those who wish to punish individuals who did not come here of their own volition.
Further, I worry about the fate of those whom the current administration have deliberately, cruelly, and incompetently separated from their immigrant families, with no records nor intentions of facilitating their return.
They are the Dreamers of the future, and DHS/ICE/we are busy creating more horror stories like this one.
1
I have no idea when my family came to the United States--a great uncle's genealogy research revealed we have an ancestor who signed the Declaration, and another who bought land off of William Penn. And that makes us no more American than Ms. Wahabzada. The idea that Ms. Wahabzada must leave her own country because a handful of under-educated rubes voted for a know-nothing who is doing nothing to make their lives better is heartbreaking. "Follow the rules"--what a joke. I'm sure the Native Americans were just fine with millions of Europeans showing up at their doorstep. But wait, that no longer matters, for some reason. Apparently history only started with Ellis Island.
2
One of the most powerful things I've read in the NYT. This person is EXACTLY WHO WE WANT TO CALL AN AMERICAN! Worked hard, played by the rules and a victim of circumstance, and now is leaving the only country she's really ever known.
1
She is moving back to Canada, where she was born. Tough choice.
7
@dallcowboy
In her heart, she is an American. It is the only country she has ever known. She loves your country. She has been, and would continue to be, a contributing member of your society.
Why do you want to see her leave?
1
Canada's gain is America's loss. All we can do is apologize to Ms. Tawheeda Wahabzada and all the other Dreamers penalized for the sins of their parents by the Party of Trump.
1
I am sorry. I am embarrassed that America is filled with a bunch of racist, ignorant people and crooked politicians who care about little but themselves. I don't know what happened to America. We were never perfect, but now I have also given up hope. Good luck and just know that not all of us are terrible.
2
Could we deport a deplorable in her place?
2
This is what the republicans are doing to us - turning us into a country of bigotry and hate, where there are two tiers of citizens. It's disgusting, and every single republican voter and office holder should be ashamed of themselves. They blood of our dying American dream is on their hands and souls.
3
Stop with the double talk. You and your parents are in the US illegally and you attempt to cloud that truth by referring to your parents as refugees. Clearly they were not granted asylum and neither were you. If you were granted asylum, you could apply for a green card and you would not have needed DACA. The DACA program allowed you to work and live here without fear of deportation but also without a path to citizenship. You were not born here and lack the right to make demands. You have Canadian citizenship, make use of it.
12
@Lynn in DC
She came to your country as a child of 5.
What was she supposed to do?
She's innocent in all of this, and she's leaving because of intolerance -- like yours.
5
@LauraF
What intolerance? She came here illegally. Obama granted her relief from deportation and allowed her to get an education and work here through daca. Trump has not penalized or threatened the existing daca recipients. She has it pretty good here given that she is an illegal alien. What other country offers these benefits to the undocumented? She is doing better than a lot of American citizens. To top it all off, she is a Canadian citizen and can live and work there with no problem. Why is she unhappy?
5
“Self deport” to Canada. One of the lucky ones.
1
‘Undocumented’ story du jour. It just boggles the mind that foreign nationals who brazenly trespass into our country illegally come to believe that they’re ‘entitled’.
8
@Michaela
She "brazenly trespassed" as a 5 year-old dependent child and has never known another country. She loves America, just as you do.
I am sorry for you, and I am sorry for the US. Such a shame.
1
We don’t deserve you and you don’t deserve us... Godspeed.
OMG, did I read this correctly. She is going to be deported to Canada! Just a few years ago draft dodging Americans were fleeing there to avoid being drafted into JFKs Vietnam War.
4
If your CV as stated is accurate then the world is yours to take advantage of and profit well. I assume you speak Dari, Farsi & English fluently, possibly Urdu and French as well. A female with your degrees and language abilities are needed in multiple countries of which you will have easy access to. Utilize your NGO connections and get yourself a great job. Having spent the last 15 years working in Afghanistan, Pakistan & Dubai I know for a FACT you will have no problem surviving very well. If you don't want to travel that far then just return to Canada and hope for a good job.
1
"Ugly" politics is right, and it isn't going to change. You're lucky you're from Canada, a sane country.
Our society is so dumb to waste the talent that DACA helped create.
1
Our society is so dumb to waste the talent that DACA helped create.
Wouldn't you rather live in Canada, anyway?
2
You won't miss much, do not be sad, but righteous that you left an America that is rotting from within.
Can over 65 hateful America First people just die already so this country can heal again?
2
This is the most damning indictment of what America has become that I have yet read or seen, because in this lies the seeds of the unraveling of this country.
The most worthwhile people will be leaving this country, not coming to it. The Republicans have turned the American Dream into a waking nightmare.
1
Feel free to blame your parents for breaking our laws. I’m sure your citizenship country will be glad to have you back.
4
You are welcome as long as you come in LEGALLY. What is so hard to understand about that??????
4
Too many Americans are idiots just like their rotten, moronic PROPAGANDA-belcher Trump. DACA people deserve better than the GOP-USA stench from today's corrupt Republican party of doom.
This sounds so sad at first, but the author doesn't really offer up his next step and leaves a lot of questions. Considering he is well-educated and has stable job as senior researcher at at NGO, I imagine he wouldn't take any drastic steps and "self-deport" into the unknown. I am very skeptical about this so-called self--deportation and rather assume the author is pursuing a lucrative employment opportunity in another country but leaving us behind with this crocodile-teared sob story.
2
"I am no longer willing to be another sob story to win votes."
Disingenuous.
5
Our loss will be Canada's gain. I'm sorry that this happened.
2
It's better to go to a country with more of a future. I would do so if I were less encumbered and able to do it at this stage in my life. 29 is a great age to get started in a new country with hope! Sounds like Canada is where you'll go and that's great for you--bad for the USA.
1
There's a kid that lives a few houses down from mine who is in his 30s, but hasn't amounted to much of anything. He still lives at home, works now and then, and according to his father spends most of his time playing video games. Oh, and he was found guilty last year of breaking to some neighbor's homes. He stole cars when he was younger and has spent time in jail. He's embarrassed his parents on more than one occasion by going out in the yard, naked. By the way, he was born in the U.S. I'll gladly trade this kid and Mr. Wahabzada. There's no question in my mind which one contributes more to our country and which one deserves to stay here.
3
I, personally, have grown tired of the U.S.of NRA and have left the land of my birth. I served in the military during Viet
Nam and graduated from university. I have written ineffectual letters and emails to elected officials and local papers. One might think I should have remained and fought the good fight, but I would only be another powerless voice in the increasingly vicious politics and quite frankly I'm happy to be away from it
in a country with some modicum of sanity.
4
If the author was in biotech or one of the sciences I would say there is a loss but she is working in a non profit and in politics so one less person is not a loss. We have plenty of people in the us to work at non-profits and dc is dense with policy wonks, some other person will take that spot easily.
It's like the having someone who's parents are illegal immigrants get an education and then be an attorney for illegal immigrants, does not add any real value to the country.
7
@marie
And what job do you have? Does your job meet the exacting standards you have set out for the author of this piece?
2
@LauraF
Actually my job helps get insurance for trustees of unions which is very niche and old school.
But it helps many people on both ends of the spectrum because unions protect many poor americans and immigrants whether they are legal or illegal. Work that can't be deported and spans different areas from construction to cleaning hotel rooms, etc.
But I an a realist and old career wise and know that my job will easily be replaced by AI in the future.
Ms. Wahabzada, to me and many others you are an American and represent the spirit of this country more honorably than many who were born here.
I regret but understand your decision to leave your home. Our home. Yet I cannot help but remember that all progress and justice were reached and achieved by staying our ground, anywhere, at any time.
If you were to choose to stay you would be one with a great many of your fellow-Americans and in the end we would all win the inevitable equality and justice for all, even if it were to take another 24 years --and it would feel so good when we do. Cause for a real Thanksgiving.
2
Ultimately, how is special treatment for Dreamers consistent with equal treatment under the law? I get the emotional response and urge to be nice, but what principles of justice are served by putting some people ahead of the line of others? Doesn't it just create the incentive to continue to bring young children into the US in an extra-judicial manner (most of the methods involve putting the children at risk)?
As a conservative, I would like to see the immigration system updated and allow for more medium term work visas. You want to come to the US and work, great - lets make it easier for you. You want to apply for citizenship, great, follow a process and that is an option. But putting a small group of people at the head of the line? That is both to immigrants who followed the process and are still in line and ultimately undemocratic since it gives certain people special treatment, rather than applying the law equally to all people.
9
Where is she supposed to live? She has lived her whole life in the United States. Do you know any of the hundreds of thousands of people living and working here who are DACA? They have for the most part never lived anywhere else. Your comment may seem rational, but seems to lack basic understanding of this person’s lived experience.
2
Your story is a tragedy and demonstrates how cruel America is to immigrants and how irresponsible our immigration policies are. America should have had a fair immigration policy years ago with a road to citizenship and permanent legal status to DACA
people.What a waste of potential achievements for you and our country that you could have contributed so much to. What
a hardship to you, your family, and friends. The American political system is dysfunctional and reflect our divisions and our prejudices and the lack of rational and courageous leadership in Washington. You deserved much better!
3
Memo to Tawheeda Wahabzada:
I notice in your paper that you were born in Toronto. I notice also that you graduate with a double major in foreign affairs and french. To you I will say WELCOME BACK IN CANADA.
There is only one problem, if you want to pursue a career in international affairs, Canada is not one of the major power. Can you live with that? But think about the bright side you will enjoy what in the USA is called Medicare and in Canada a public health care insurance plan for all.
6
You are indeed lucky to have been born in Canada. Many people in your situation will not have the option to leave for a country that is English-speaking, safe, tolerant, full of opportunities, and democratic. Why you've chosen to stay in the US for as long as you have under the conditions you describe, and with the increased hatred for immigrants of color is dumbfounding. You can sponsor your family to relocate to Canada once you are settled.
7
This situation is the same kind of writing on the wall that Detroit received and ignored, resulting in the Big Three automaker's eventual abdication as automaker leaders in the world. Ignoring the obvious need for adapting to new realities is not conservatism; it's stick-your-head-in-the-sand hanging on to what you know because you're afraid to change-ism. Healthy conservatism, and progressivism for that matter, is possible by preserving agreed-upon values WHILE adapting to new circumstances and requires imagination, not obstruction. Our immigration policies, and Wahabzada's life are currently being defined by obstruction at a time when the future demands imagination. Good luck, Tawheeda!
3
If you believe that the US has let in to many immigrants, imagine what our borders will look like when one billion people are displaced by global warming.
7
@Yiotta. What global warming?
First of all, welcome home. I'm sorry you won't be able to visit your gran, but the good news is, you can probably sponsor her to live in Canada. Frankly, I wouldn't trade being Canadian for anything.
9
I am definitely curious to know why Tawheeda’s parents left Canada for the US.
11
Unfortunately we have devolved into having two fringe parties in this country that are in a state of complete dysfunction. There is enormous support for making DACA permanent but the caustic atmosphere that is our political culture cannot make it happen. I hope we can find someone, someday, that can unite us but it is looking less and less likely every day that does by. Very sad.
3
I was born in the United States and am an American citizen. But if I had Canadian citizenship I would probably now be planning my move to Canada. The US is fast becoming a third-world country economically with a tin-pot dictator that disgraces us all daily. People are not safe in their daily lives due to gun violence, economic exploitation and increasingly empowered racism and bigotry. The main reason to stay seems to be to fight to recover our democracy and values. Along with anticipating the coming destruction of the world we know due to climate change (which "our" government is making worse every day), I live with mourning for what we have lost.
15
Go to Canada, Ms. Wahabzada. You may feel a bit homesick at first, but you are making the right choice.
Like some other commenters here, I missed my opportunity to relocate to Canada several years ago, and now I am too old. I have enough resources to support myself modestly (I am retiring this year) but not enough to meet Canada's threshold for people in my situation. (I've checked.)
When I was working and seriously considering moving to Canada several years ago, I had no idea things in the USA could ever have gotten this bad. I assumed we would return to being a decent country again. We began to under Obama, but I fear we will never become a moral and decent country again within my remaining life expectancy. I will live the rest of my years as a citizen of a morally bankrupt nation,
That makes me sad.
Go to Canada -- you are making the right choice for yourself.
And your move is our loss.
21
This is a poignant and articulate testimony of how the DACA "kids" have been treated by the US. We have lost our moral standing in the world.... for so many reasons. I doubt that a majority of Senators understand "do the right thing." Where are our values? I am ashamed of our country.
8
As compelling as the story is, this person does not represent the typical dreamer. She has something to fall back on. Regardless, the narrative highlights the reality that the legal obstacles posed by republicans are rooted in centuries of hatred and intolerance. Let’s not forget that slavery existed within a legal framework that supported it. Today’s anti immigration rhetoric applies the same white supremacy principle to today’s demographic reality.
3
You know, we don't truly have an immigration problem. We currently have a serious refugee problem but that's not the same as immigration.
I say this because whatever issues we have with immigration or the refugee crisis could be easily addressed through meaningful legislation and a bit of compassion, two assets we are in short supply of these days. So then the question becomes, "why don't we pass legislation or treat migrants with care?". The answer, I believe, is that is politically more useful to NOT solve the problem so that it remains a wedge issue to divide us. This strategy is as old as the hills and we fall for it every time. And people like Ms. Wahabzada pay the price.
8
There should be a statutory limit on illegality of residence. When the US does not seek to deport an illegal immigrant for decades, that person will have become genuinely at home here. It is capricious and inhumane to suddenly decide that a fully settled person must leave--doubly so for one who came here so young as to have been raised as an American, with little or no experience of the culture of his birthplace.
9
While I am sad to see her go, the author is in a position to self-deport to Canada, which thankfully has birthright citizenship, which in all likelihood is something that many Americans would do if we had the chance. In her case, it's frankly an upgrade from this country right now. I hope she will be back when we are worth staying in again.
However, many immigrants face deportation to places like Iraq, for instance someone who was born in Greece to Iraqi parents was deported back to Iraq, where he did not speak the language or have any support, and promptly died of untreated diabetes. Not everyone has the option of a safe, frankly superior country like Canada, and we must fight for them.
16
@Ken It's not superior. Canada is a poorer country than the US (including things like infrastructure), and some medical procedures require a waiting period or are unavailable.
@Eugene Are you kidding? Life expectancy is declining in absolute terms in the USA, a result of its deteriorating economic and social conditions.
13
@Eugene
It depends on what you call poor, I've visited Canada and have Canadian friends. They are richer in the important things than most Americans and their medical system works well enough, certainly better than the American one.
8
As someone who has resided in the US for thirty years and in Canada for twenty-four and enjoys dual citizenship, I am well-positioned to sympathize with Tawheeda Wahabzada’s plight.
But Tawheeda needs to clarify some omissions, as when she observes that “[b]ecause of circumstances beyond my control, I am undocumented.” What were the circumstances of her parents relocating to the US and are they currently American citizens? How is it that Tawheeda has relatives who are entitled to reside in the US but she cannot?
Tawheeda alludes to “the American dream of opportunity and autonomy” but never to its Canadian counterpart, instead referring to her birthplace as “a high-income country.” Her reluctance to leave is palpable. And it is understandable.
Canada is mostly a nation of long winters and humid summers, whose national pastime is hockey, a sport currently dominated by American teams. Canada lacks meaningful national symbols, and its default dour national character is typical of cold weather nations. Gang violence—virtually unheard of four decades ago—is on the rise in the country’s major cities.
Americans enjoy access to warmer climates and better job opportunities and are more optimistic. Uncoincidentally, Tawheeda’s family chose Nevada.
The Ivy League, the professional sports leagues, March Madness, the Mall, and Silicon Valley are widely recognized throughout the world.
Tawheeda’s parents should have applied to the US directly as refugees or as legal immigrants.
15
@Andrew Shin
You don't like Canada? Then why are you here?
2
The solution is just sitting there, a compromise: permanent residence (not citizenship) for dreamers, enhanced border security including a wall, continued immigration but based on ability to contribute to the US (e.g. skills, language ability), increased space for asylum seekers but based on true risk and not for economic migration, increased aid to stabilize migrant countries, and an end to chain migration. Something for each side to love and hate, but rational and in line with what most developed countries do. Neither party actually wants to fix the issue because the status quo helps them rev up their bases.
8
The United States is squandering its most important resource- the human intelligence that centuries of immigrants have brought.
In the golden years after WWII, when the US was the only industrialized country not physically, economically and human potentiality devastated we developed a belief that we were chosen by God as the new promised land. Everything we did was right and no other country know how the world should be run. The fall of the USSR assured us as leader and dictator of world policy. A bloodless coup.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world did not want us to impose our priorities, culture, government and power over them. The citizens of the world are not children who are told what to do or how to think. So in anger the Trump led Republican party lashes out, telling the rest of the world they will be sorry.
The rest of the world is going to find new coalitions, trading partners, priorities. And we will be left squarely in the 20th century, to bask in long lost glory.
Good luck, Ms. Wahabzada, I and sorry I am too old to set out on a new life. Perhaps my grandchildren will, and the world will be kind to them.
14
@Maureen Steffek Squandering? 20 million "undocumented". I call it flush with outside talent.
@Maureen Steffek
These are educated people who need to return to their native lands and rebuild 3rd world countries!
Reading between the lines I assume you will be going to Canada. Despite the personal relationships you will miss out on I believe you are making the right decision. I am a third generation Italian American in my 60s. If I were in my twenties despite being legal I would be leaving the United States also.
16
Hm. By the author’s own admission, it would appear better for her to simply stay rather than leave. She’s not being forced to leave, and waiting on the Supreme Court or another administration seems much more practical than making a decision that bans her re-entry for 10 years. Hey, it’s her choice.
9
Wow. How easy it is for you to say “Stay. Take a gamble with your life.” Clearly, your smugness is borne from your lack of empathy.
The author’s analysis did not conclude it would be better for her to stay. What she said is she could spend another 2 years in limbo, or move on with her life. But you are correct, she made a choice. And we are the worse off for it.
I’m saddened that this Canadian sees Canada only as “a high income country”. She will be able to pursue her career, enjoy all the freedoms that America offers, travel the world, and much more. She should also acknowledge that her parents, who were refugees, were safe in Canada but decided to illegally enter the US which is the source of her difficulties.
42
@Mike W - Ah, the cold weather scares away many would be migrants. Good.
2
Xenophobia is strong in this comments section. Emotional arguments versus factual. Feelings of superiority versus rational thought process. For example, a complaint about “competition to buy cars” that illegal immigrants cause; this woman taking educational opportunities from millions of homeless kids.
In the US, we suffer not only from a lack of compassion, but even greater, a lack of basic education, independent thought process and a reliance on conservative media fear-based talking points.
20
@Heather Xenophobia. The youngest word ever. Created by people in an attempt to shame those who don't want to speed the progression of the US into the abyss.
1
Very sad. I am so tired of seeing utterly uninformed people talk about immigrants "following the rules." What rules? With rare exceptions, you simply cannot immigrate to this country legally without a qualified family member who petitions you (limited to a parent, adult son or daughter, or spouse), or an employment-based visa, a very expensive and lengthy process which requires an employer to petition you and prove that there are no Americans who can fill the position. It's not a matter of "waiting in line" or filling out the right set of forms. Yes, Canada is awesome. But picking up and leaving the only country you've ever known, with no possibility of return for 10 years, has to be devastating, no matter how awesome your country of destination is. And Tawheeda is fortunate that she has Canadian citizenship. The overwhelming majority of Dreamers who find themselves in the situation will not be returning to Canada, but rather to places where rampant violent crime, abject poverty, and endemic corruption reign.
233
@Diana Yes! And not to mention the fact that the "line" they want everyone to get in is in constant flux, it may be ten years or 20, but absolutely no one can say how long, and it’s absurdly long regardless.
9
@Diana We will welcome Tawheeda and look forward to her future contributions to Canadian society.
8
@Diana You are exactly right. Thank you for pointing this out. When conservatives say, "Get in line like everyone else," all must point out that there is no line except for the very small privileged few. It's a trope that needs to be debunked because it leads to horrible suffering.
8
"Ms. Wahabzada is a Dreamer working as a senior researcher at a nonprofit organization in Washington."
The Times journalistic slide continues. "Dreamer" is a word concocted by the pro-immigrant, open borders crowd to try to gloss over the fact that illegal immigration involves, well, illegality. In this case, Ms. Wahabzada was a child when her parents engaged in wrongdoing. But at some point she became an adult and, despite knowing that she was not lawfully in the United States, she stayed. And stayed. And stayed.
Now there is a decent argument why we should let people like Ms. Wahabzada stay. However, in doing so, we should not forget that people like her parents did wrong. And forgiving the child does not mean forgiving the parent.
I know many American citizens who are Dreamers too. They dream of a day when their wages won't be depressed by illegal immigrants making bogus asylum claims and traipsing across the border through the desert. They dream that there will be an equal playing field on which all people, presidents and economic migrants alike, will have to obey the law.
I'm sure someone with Ms. Wahabzada's skills would be greatly valued in her homeland. I wish her luck.
22
@Peter. Requesting asylum is, by definition, not illegal. It is an established right. I find your use of the word “traipsing” to dismiss the journey and plight of Central American migrants offensive. It reveals a willful ignorance of, or indifference to, the desperate conditions they are fleeing (which have been depicted in detail by many news sources). It is all too easy for us to judge others from the vantage of our lounge chair in beautiful New Hampshire, USA. The immigration situation is fraught and complex, but it will not be resolved without application of mind and heart. Incidentally, I suspect you don’t really know “many” Americans whose wages have been depressed by illegal immigration.
5
@Peter
The contribution made into Social Security by illegals is what is keeping it solvent. So, let's deport them which will mean an increase in the payroll tax. No doubt you will celebrate that outcome, just as scores of Americans, wearing MAGA hats, resume plucking the feathers from chickens at jobs previously held by illegals.
4
@Peter
But under DACA she was here legally. You don't have to be a citizen to be here legally.
1
My sympathy is for those thousands of DACA recipients who came from poor , war stricken countries and have nowhere to. The author is educated, has the option of going back to Canada and living a successful life. I hate to the blame the child for the mistake the parents make but in the author's case, her parents had the option of staying in Canada "legally" and not put their children through this uncertainty. Think about the children from Latin America who were brought here as infants by the parents fleeing poverty, political persecution, civil war.
19
As I read this emotional and complicated essay I kept thinking in the back of my mind that the current president of the United States does not have the intellectual acumen required to compose such an essay.
17
What a waste, now we lose people who are the ones we have trained, nurtured, and encouraged and they are forced to take their talents elsewhere ----to our detriment.
20
As long as Americans continue to underfund public schools, to allow the teaching of creationism as valid science, to worship money as the ultimate goal and most legitimate pursuit, to view market solutions as the only authentic ones, you will need immigrants who are steeped in a different set of values just to continue adding to the base of knowledge necessary to a modern society. Your current administration’s views on treaties, trade, education, immigration, etc seem to confirm the adage that knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing should disqualify one from governing.
12
@Pref1 Then by all means we should deport the DACA kids. Having grown up here in America, their values would be the same as the rest of the native born Americans’ market based values. Problem solved!
1
@linda fish
These are just the kind of people we need to send back! They can apply their education and knowledge to help lift their native lands out of the 3rd world! In the case of Ms. Wahabzada, she's self deporting to Canada? How bad can that be?
What a loss to the US.
Our govt needs to step up and pass some new immigration laws.
As a shamed American in the time if trump
I wish I could go too.
10
@Pat Fourbes Wow. I wish you could, and would.
1
I'm American. I would self report to Canada in a heart beat if I wasn't already to old to become a Canadian citizen. Everyday Trump makes me ashamed to be an American.
24
@Blackcat66 No problem. Citizenship is apparently optional these days. Just go to Canada and stay. Maybe you can pick up 20 years of so of free or subsidized education while you're there. If the fascist local authorities ever make life difficult for you by, e.g. threatening to not let you back in the country if you leave, then you can write a long, self-pitying letter to the local newspaper and, no doubt, receive lots of warm wishes before you have to move back to the U.S.
3
@Bob
Fascist? Canada? Really?
You have no idea what you're talking about.
1
You will be missed and wherever you find acceptance will be their gain.
10
Through no fault of my own, I was born in the United States. I can understand why no one would want to go back to Afghanistan or Iraq or Syria, but Canada? Seriously?
I am getting tired of the constant focus on immigration. We won't solve immigration until we solve income inequality. And we won't solve income inequality until we solve power inequality, where legislation supported even by supermajorities is killed in favor of the interests of the rich.
Racism was used in the south to keep poor whites poor. Immigration is being used in the same way to distract regular Americans from seeing who is really taking away their future.
So no, I'm not going to weep for a person lucky enough to be born in Canada, a country that still has a government that works for regular people.
15
The only reason I have any sympathy at all for DACA people is that they are blameless. Their parents acted criminally or unwisely bringing them here. Then we, the UNited States gave them false hopes at every turn, allowing them to stay here, and to go to school, and work. Tawheeda got a college education. Why did we allow that to happen? This is a problem we created, and we have to fix it. But we must make sure it doesn’t happen again. Tawheeda, on behalf of the American people, I apologize for giving you false hopes. Your parents owe you an apology, too. They should have stayed in Canada. There seem to be lots of well adjusted prosperous people there, with health care. You could have been one of them, and since you’re young, I’m sure you’ll adjust, eventually.
12
Where we failed in our support of DACA individuals is that we have not prepared them to leave this country and go back to their countries. We should provide them with an education, language skills and enough seed money to settle back home. This country is so divided on immigration that a nonprofit needs to help these kids prepare for the reality that they might not be able to stay here.
28
@Patricia
The author of the opinion piece was five years old when first coming to this country. The author has spent the last 24 years here. The author was educated here. The author has worked and paid taxes here. This is the author's country!
We need to spend money on ending the Republican propaganda machine that twists, turns, and corrupts the facts. We need to spend money on recognizing that people like the author make a significant contribution to our country now, and have the potential to make even more significant contributions in the future.
96
@Patricia "This country is so divided on immigration that a nonprofit needs to help these kids prepare for the reality that they might not be able to stay here."
The division afflicts a small number of right-wing voters and GOP elected officials. Over 60% of Americans continue to believe that immigration strengthens our society by their contributions. The belief that immigrants are a burden is a fear-based myth.
24
@Patricia When you grow up in a country starting as a small child, that IS your country from a human development standpoint. Children need stability. They cannot be raised with a pervading idea of impermanence. It's emotionally crippling.
Your solution makes no sense, whatsoever.
10
There is no excuse for this cruelty. Best of luck with your life going forward; America under GOP rule is turning dreams to nightmares.
15
@Larry Roth Indeed. Being forced to live in Canada is often considered the highest form of cruelty. This is especially true for Canadian citizens. I join you in wishing the author of this piece the best possible outcome in the dystopian future that awaits her.
8
Well, this is new. Smart, educated, acculturated... and voting with her feet. To leave the US. I can just feel the MAGA surging here, our precious tiki-torch man-children were not replaced. Because 'murrica.
14
@George Well, the reason this country is so powerful, prosperous, and such an attractive destination for immigrants is precisely thanks to the group you just slandered (and seem to think you can do so with impunity). Do you know of anyone trying to illegally immigrate to Mexico, or Brazil, or Turkey, or China, or Africa?
@Eugene No, I don't. I never questioned that the US is the best country on earth and in the history of humankind. What I question is if it was made that way by entitled white boys in polo shirts.
1
@George The answer is yes (with whatever clothing was appropriate for the time). Not only this country but also Canada, Australia, and Europe are magnets because of the civilization that underlies them historically. Surely this should be obvious.
I understand the plight of DACA immigrants who are from poor corrupt countries with little room for upward mobility, but this writer is a Canadian who, by all accounts, speaks both English and French and holds a Masters degree. Life in Toronto or Montreal, with universal healthcare, low gun crime and numerous other benefits that can't be found in the US, doesn't sound like something to complain about.
12
She’s not complaining about that—she’s complaining about the fact that if she leaves the US, which she’s almost certainly going to have to, she’s going to have to wait TEN YEARS before she can return to the US again to visit any of her many family members living in the US. Do you have a family? How would you like to have to wait TEN YEARS till you got to see any of them again?
21
@a reader
It doesn't seem like as insurmountable a problem as you and the author claim. Don't planes fly from the USA to Canada? Nothing prevents her family from visiting her.
3
@A reader - No family contact for ten years! Bliss.
One has no more control of what country he or she is born in than one has control of what race or sex or sexual orientation he or she is born in. To discriminate on any of these bases is wrong.
8
In these stories readers tend to ignore the underlying history. Why did her family come here? Because of Afghanistan. And why has Afghanistan become the dangerous place it is, especially to women? Because of western proxy wars and real wars. We need to bear the responsibility for all our governments have done. Think about it, would any of us leave our native place, go out into a very foreign land if we were not forced to? Her parents didn’t come west for nefarious reasons (looking for a better life, for example) as much as they were running from a place where they could no longer live. And America used to be the shining city on the hill, as the first “illegals” saw it.
17
@Sean Casey junior You kind of forgot the part about where the USSR invaded Afghanistan and started everything.
2
Donald Trumpp and Steven Miller have this covered in the next release of their anti-immigrant manifesto. This DACA recipient will never get a green card! what with public education, grants, scholarships, she cannot assimilate with her past of public assistance.
The next US Administration can enforce a stronger, additional Executive Order on DACA. It's only a matter of fifteen months more to suffer under this one. Harris or Biden will restore American grace, for sure. Otherwise I might retire to Canada...
5
2020 will decide what kind of country we want to become. If President Trump wins we should have the decency and honesty to change the message below the Statue of Liberty. Instead of "huddled masses yearning to be free" it should read "give me your wealthy white Christians, everyone else should take a hike"
14
@KJ Peters Keep in mind that at the time of the "huddled masses yearning to be free" there were no social programs in the US. You either arrived and made it or failed and went back home. But social programs started emerging in the 1930s and now it's a different picture. There are now benefits and subsidies that can be claimed.
2
Had your parents stayed in Canada you would not be in this mess. It is too bad they made a decision that so adversely affected your life.
11
My grandparents came to the U.S. from Greece. Like my parents, I have lived in America my whole life. I am now 60, and see the end closer than the beginning.
Recently the decline in the U.S. in all regards under Trump (but actually starting decades earlier with the increasing radicalization of the GOP) has alarmed me so much that I am applying to Greece for dual citizenship. Why now? I plan to use my Greek citizenship to get my children naturalized as dual citizens as well. It’s a back up plan for their future since the U.S. is becoming alarmingly unstable.
Why Greece? It’s simple. Greek citizenship isn’t just Greek citizenship anymore. With the European Union, my kids can work and live anywhere in those countries without restriction.
My grandparents came to the US for the future; they would approve of my back up plan, now that our country is in a free fall under Trump, and I must assure the future of my family.
25
You know when the company you work for announces that there will be massive layoffs and everyone will be required to re-interview for their current positions?
I feel like we should do that for citizenship. Get rid of birthright citizenship, but retroactively to, say, 1900 or so. Everybody has to reapply for citizenship; current citizens, though, can interview first. No jumping the line, though. And everyone from everywhere gets interviewed.
Let's say we have room for 300 million of us; we simply accept the best 300 million people in the world, and that's that. I don't really care where the rejects go. And, let's make the criteria rational -- you're out of luck if you've ever gotten a speeding ticket (scofflaws!) or have a below average credit score (losers!). Or ever been sick (weaklings!). Solve our medical system problems instantly.
This started out as a lark, but now I think I'm on to something. I'm beginning to sympathize with the anti birthright folks, but probably for different reasons.
5
You have had a good education so I am sure the country you go to will be lucky and you will be successful. What about the young people in the same situation but not with your qualifications?
3
I'm so sorry to hear your story. Truly, there is no end the cruelty and ignorance of the GOP and Trump.
I hope another country will welcome you (Canada, maybe?) and you will get to live your life as you should -- as a citizen.
5
One of the great things about the internet is that there are highly reputable sites with unbiased information. For example - if you want health information, go to the Mayo Clinic ( internationally respected health research centre). If you want information on immigration - there is are numerous sites, but here, for example, are data from Pew Research: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/12/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/
Some of the comments are simply make believe. Reality exists, well qualified people whose jobs it is to understand social trends exist and they use the best data available and analyze those data in an appropriate manner. Knowledge takes effort and thoughtfulness. The current immigration ‘crisis’ does not exist; legal and illegal immigration has steadily declined over the past several years. Immigration from Mexico has declined considerably (thank NAFTA for that and subsequent increased job opportunities in Mexico). The US could have a rational immigration policy, but compromise is out of the question when one political party finds it more beneficial electorally to deny facts so it can cater to people’s primal fears and distract from their attempts at creating a kleptocracy. Whereas the other seems incapable of clearly articulating a means of addressing the issue as to how to improve the situation to everyone’s benefit. Unfortunately, it is easier to understand ‘NO!’ than ‘“Well it’s complicated, let me explain”.
11
Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver ... great food, better health care, wonderful people....count your blessings. In a few years you'll never look back.
12
When nations turn cruel, the best we can do is to remember to be a citizen of our own internal nation, be welcoming to ourselves. That way, in the case when the arrangements in the outer world turn morally berserk, xenophobic, warlike, people killing each other and hating on one another for artificially impassioned reasons, we can be sane internally.
The author is a case in point, exhibiting saintlike equanimity in the face of a rampaging, national immorality.
7
Come to Canada! You were born here, you are welcome here. Your insight, your maturity, your talent, your compassion, are all needed here. We have never understood why America fails to see the inestimable value in its Dreamers....but that's America's problem. Come to Canada! I'm the reverse of you, I was born in the U.S. of Canadian parents, I grew up in Canada, spent my adult life living and working in Europe and finally moved to the U.S. where I lived for 7 years before returning to Canada. Let's just say, I have perspective. Canada is not without its flaws but as a country it is a vastly safe, fairer and better place to live. In the U.S., you have a president who urges immigrants (and some Americans) to "go back where you came from" and wails that the "country is full". If that is the case, why is renouncing U.S. citizenship so difficult and expensive ($2,350!!) - personally, I'll renounce tomorrow if you need the space....just make it easier to leave...after all, being an American ain't what is used to be.
24
"However, DACA was immediately met with criticism from the right that it is unconstitutional, an improper use of executive powers or some form of amnesty. "
Indeed, the (too many) "Executive Actions" from Obama would have been illegal in the eyes of John Adams, schooled in law as interpreted by Lord Coke and in the fairness doctrine encoded in the Magna Carta.
it is really unfortunate that you have been caught up as an illegal resident.
I probably would have gone to Canada much earlier than you, assuming I could have met Canada's much higher bar than exists in the US for entry (none whatsoever).
At any rate, I wish you all the best and hope that we, the USA, don't invade Canada and create a bunch of asylum seekers from there, as we did in Afghanistan.
But, we are running out of countries to invade for profit so beware!
6
While it's sad that you have to leave the place you grew up in, you're more than welcome in the land of your birth. You're exactly the type of young, educated and ambitious person we need more of in Canada. America's loss is our gain.
15
America's loss will be Canada's gain.
6
I don’t buy this. If the writer was born in Canada, she could easily apply for Canadian citizenship. There are many ways for Canadians to study and work legally in the U.S. Some of these Canadians ultimately apply for U.S. citizenship. Others do not. Any legal resident can obtain a drivers license, even though they may not be able to work.
I am not going to question the writer’s desire to become a U.S. citizen, nor the basic facts of her life story. But what we’re presented with here has been contrived to fit a political narrative. Highly contrived. And profoundly misleading.
89
Your comment reflects profound incomprehension of the writer’s circumstances. She *is* Canadian, and thus entitled to all relevant benefits from that citizenship. Her point was that being raised in the US has given her a deep yearning to be American. And despite having met all the criteria for what we want a legal immigrant to achieve and contribute to American society, she has no pathway to continue living as an American.
39
@Global Charm
I think the issue is that she won’t be approved for a US visa or US permanent residence because she is currently in the US illegally. She would have to return to Canada and then apply for the US visa or residency.
However, her applications would definitely be denied for at least 10 years because she lived illegally in the US for longer than a year.
This may be why she was apprehensive about leaving in the past...because she certainly cannot re enter the US for 10 years. That is the law in the US and when travelling into the US, border agents can clearly see past travel. And since she registered as DACA, that status would be on her identity records.
Also, having the finances to set up a home, job and education all by herself in Canada was possibly a challenge as a young adult, probably up until now.
And she doesn’t need to “apply” for Canadian citizenship. It is hers by virtue of her birth. However, to obtain a Canadian passport and social insurance number she will presumably have to visit a Canadian embassy and provide identification and documentation of her birth.
The possibility of contrived narratives in immigration stories certainly exists, but I was able to follow the rationale and logic of her story very easily.
19
@Global Charm. Canada grants birthright citizenship. She is Canadian.
3
While I sympathize with the author's situation, the root cause is author's parents illegally came to this country by violating the rules and laws of the very country which in turn turned around and provide free schooling K-12 and then college and grad school to the author. No other country in the world does that and the author doesn't even appreciate that. Just keep demanding more and more. There are millions of legal immigrants who followed the rules and laws and waiting in line for the privilege of becoming permanent residents of USA. Why should dreamers or any other illegal immigrants get the right to skip the line and get legal status ahead of them. If DACA is made permanent there will be immediate demand to keep bringing more illegal immigrants under the umbrella with the same stories to appeal to the guilt of Americans.
Bottom line is immigration system has to be compassionate but pragmatic and whatever rules and laws exist, should be followed or we become the very same countries from which most of the illegal immigrants are fleeing from.
For the author please thank USA for all of the education and empowerment you received and if you feel the urge to move on to Canada, you are more than welcome.
70
@Matt
“Nothing has saddened me so much in life as the hardness of heart of educated people.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
133
@Matt
Every civilized country in the world "does that". And this author clearly did pay for college and grad school, since nobody gets it for nothing in this country.
We Americans just can't dole out enough punishment, can we? And we're so righteous, we could burst any time now.
Is it any wonder we live under the likes of Trump? He seems to suit many of our citizens just fine.
144
@Larry Levy
Thank you for this quote. Hopefully some readers will reflect on Mahatma Gandhi’s words.
7
In our current state of national dysfunction this country doesn't deserve to have such a talented and motivated individual like yourself as a citizen. You will be far better off in Canada or New Zealand, nations that actually believe in governing and that government can be a force for good. I'm genuinely sorry that we will be losing your skills and your ambition, but as the United States continues to slide into the abyss, I think that you should leave before it's too late.
18
I don’t know why you wrote such a melancholy article for self departing to Canada, I envy you for leaving to country where you can enjoy universal health care, spared of regular mass shootings, etc and would exchange myself into your situation without a doubt. Go girl ! US loss is Canada’s gain.
13
"I was born in Toronto"
There is Ius Soli in Canada- right of the soil.
She could have applied for Canadian citizenship by birth. Is that so bad?
Plenty of Canadian citizens legally in the US.
10
I think the author needs to wake up about America and realize that a better life can be had in Canada or a number of other countries. Places that have sane healthcare and gun control legislation I might add, places where you can live free of fear.
8
Imagine what this country could be like if it wasn't so catastrophically angry.
18
As much as I understand Ms. Wahabzada’s desire to find some measure of peace and stability, I think she’s making the wrong decision to leave the US. The US needs people like her. There is no one else available to do what she can do here.
The notion that some Republicans put forth about immigrants taking non-immigrants’ jobs is a lie, plain and simple. The US needs immigrants working in all kinds of jobs, skilled and unskilled, to keep America’s economy going. There simply aren’t enough non-immigrants to do the work. Don’t believe me, go ask the farmer who grows your food.
I have yet to see a field crew of white Republicans in MAGA hats gathering Avocados in California.
Ms. Wahabzada has done everything that Republicans expect an upstanding American to do. Had she been white, Republicans would have said she earned her degrees and her work. Because she’s not from Europe, though, Republicans say she was given it, or worse stole it from someone they deem more worthy. This too is a lie, but an illuminating one.
Through her work, her accomplishments, her ethics, and her morals Ms. Wahabzada has as much right to be in America as any Republican. She should stay and fight for what is rightfully hers.
120
@M I agree with you that we benefit immensely from having people like Ms. Wahabzada, but at the same time I cannot fault her for making her decision. All she wants is the free agency that we so easily take for granted.
27
@M So this is an issue about avocado toast, at Sunday brunch, in a restaurant on Harvard Square? If the farmers were forced by labor economics to pay more to American citizens, to pick avocados, the avocados would be harvested. Avocado toast will still be available in Cambridge or on Martha's Vineyard, do not worry.
This is a question of law, immigration law. It is not a racial issue. The United States has the absolute right to decide who enters the Country and who gets to work and stay in the Country. Ms. Wahabzada can get in line with everybody else, at the US Consulate in Toronto, ON and apply for an entry visa and work permit. As a non-citizen she does not have any right to be in America.
11
@John Quinn
Are you serious? She was brought here involuntarily at the age of 5 and raised here. Basic human decency, DACA and the fact that she is a tax paying, consuming contributor to the US economy says she should be allowed to stay.
66
A gain for Canada and a loss for the US.
6
Many articles today just make me angry, this made me sad and I can only wish the author well although none of us can hold hope that things will dramatically change. I have several dear friends who are dreamers and that is what it now has become, just a dream, they both were also brought here at the age of five and have known no other country. I wish you well Ms.Wahabzada.
5
It is evident from many of the comments posted here that a lot of people have no idea what "Dreamer" means. Please educate yourselves before posting screeds against "open borders" & illegal immigrants.
Not every illegal immigrant qualifies for "Dreamer" status. The nickname "Dreamer" is used to describe those Americans who were brought here as children. The program they qualify for is called DACA (Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals).
There are certain qualifications necessary to qualify as a "Dreamer". To qualify for DACA, you needed to fill out an application, pay a fee & have a biometric screening. You had to be under the age of 16 when you were brought to the U.S. & had to have lived in the U.S. since 2007. You could not have a criminal record or be a national security risk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals
Dreamers have served in the U.S. military, have graduated from U.S. colleges & have established businesses here. They have never lived anywhere but the U.S since they were children, & nearly all speak fluent English. Essentially, they are as American as you or I.
DACA should have been been enshrined into law, but Republicans refuse to act on it. It's a useful tool to fire up their xenophobic base.
25
Canada's gain, America's loss of an educated, productive tax-paying individual.
Lucky Canada.
9
Very confusing. Born in Toronto ?? a Candian citizen? What was parents' immigration status? Relatively educated -- not Stem in which case work visas might well be forth-coming... but here's a question -- why is it so easy apparently for many people with foreign citizenship to get visas to teach at many American universities esp. in departments where the rest of the faculty may well be American born adjuncts (poorly paid!)?
Yes, of course DACA should have been a LAW.
2
". . . with liberty and justice for all." The Trump Era is a mirror for us to see what we have become in some ways, and how much work is needed still for us to become the example to other countries we think we are.
1
Here is one small sample of not less than an American vitality slipping through our withered fingers. The author arrived when she was five! No society deigns to allow five year olds the decision of settlement. They are simply bundled and taken. She has violated no law with volition. Rather, she has risen to the pledge and promise of America and embraced both. If we are to continue on as the beacon we believe ourselves to be we need to embrace Ms. Wahabzada as she seems as American a sister as any in our land.
14
Horror. But at least she’s going to a much better country than this one! Had she had only known how inexpensive her education would have been in a country which welcomes diversity.
7
I understand your need to say "Enough!" You have been jerked around and used as a political pawn by right wing republicans and by a president who has no humanity. The pain you express at the thought of being cut off from loved ones and family is palpable. Having said that, let me tell you how I covet your Canadian citizenship. I feel an urgency to prepare to leave the US should Trump be reelected, but I realize that as a senior citizen, Canadian citizenship is not an option for me. If I were your grandmother, I'd say to you Godspeed! Go forth and dream!
181
@Alice We don't have the dual citizenship escape hatch although we tried for dual with Italy since we're 2nd gen here. We're still looking for a viable exit strategy should 45 or his offspring be in office for 4, 8, 10 years. It's less and less safe for the educated class.
4
@KnoxPatch I am afraid that Italy is headed down the same path of right-wing nationalism as we do in the US, so it's not the greatest escape hatch either.
3
Amazing. 45 senators, a minority, filibustered hundreds of thousands of innocent children out of their career, livelihood, and the only home they know. And this continues with every progressive issue in front of the senate.
11
Ms. Wahabzada grew up in the US. It is her country. Her departure is our loss. US policy that keeps children and young people in limbo is stupid & mean and exists only because of Republicans.
Many commenters write that her parents broke the rules and she must suffer the consequences. No idea if her parents came here illegally or left Aghanistan because or despite US actions there. The debts of parents are not transferred to children since medieval times nor the sins since Vatican II. NYTimes commenters notwithstanding.
Immigration debate is based on false premises.
About 800K total immigrants/year equates to .006% of total US employment of 132 million. Many are children and do not work. If all immigrants were working age, the impact equates to about half of 1% of the workforce.
The "invasion" of all immigration equates to less than 3/10ths of 1% of the US population. Could be readily managed without caging children.
More than 10% of immigrants start businesses employing on average 8 people. So, a bit skewed, but 9 jobs (owner + 8 employees) for every 10 immigrants.
Immigrants pay into social security. Illegal immigrants do not recover that money. It is paid to US citizens.
Immigrants spend money in the US and create demand that sustains jobs.
Unauthorized immigrants have declined by 1.5 million people since 2008. The crisis is one of management. Refugees are not an "invasion."
21
While the Trump administration is uniquely racist and cruel, immigration policy has always been and will always be a dividing line between who gets in and who does not. Ms. Wahabzada has been living on that line. In my view she's clearly an American and deserves to be a citizen.
However, what about someone who came to this country with her parents when she was a teenager or a young adult? Is that person on the wrong side of the line? If there's a line of any kind short of open borders, good and wonderful people who can contribute to our society will be on the wrong side of it and most of their stories will be heartbreaking.
As the world population continues to explode, the warming earth is making it harder for people to live. Travel is cheap and ever more desperate people will be seeking to enter the United States for the sake of life itself. Do we open our borders to ALL of them? The one arguably good thing Donald Trump has done on immigration policy is to have us consider this question and answer it honestly.
At the end of the day, like the vast majority of Americans, I feel badly for people who are desperate, happy to give them some of my tax dollars, pleased to make personal donations and... very much want our borders controlled such that the number of annual immigrants and refugees is limited. The line I draw is far to the left of Donald Trump Republicans. But it's still a line and it will never be pretty.
5
You did not deserve the treatment that your received from your country, there is no justification. And you have the right to seek the freedom that your own country is denying you. And yes, it is ironic, but mostly deeply painful.
Just do not let resentment ruin your life anymore, enough damage has been done. We will try harder here. You cannot given an impossible fight, but we must.
4
I don't know what it is about this country that convinces so many people to sacrifice so much for so little. Living in Miami, I know many legal immigrants who have watched their families prosper in their home countries while they languish here under the weight of cultural and lingual isolation. Tawheeda, your story is truly heartbreaking, but I'm not sure why you didn't leave long ago. Who needs this crazy land of division filled with people who are both insular and narrow-minded as well as entitled? Who needs endless cultural wastelands filled with Walmarts and big box stores? Who needs to watch entitled 17 year olds driving the BMW their daddy bought them right next to families struggling without food and shelter? Who needs to live in a place that doesn't respect the value of family and recreational time, where workers snicker and devalue those who take their hard earned vacation time or take off too long to have a child?
America is a used car salesman selling hope that a better future lies around the corner. Work hard, don't see your family too much, cash in your vacation time and you too may one day live the American dream. It is true that a small cadre of highly educated professionals from doctors to a small percentage of lawyers, engineers, and business professionals live in extreme luxury compared to their peers in other nations. For everyone else, the American dream is dead. Long live the Canadian dream, Tawheeda.
19
@Expected Value
Couldn't have said it better myself.
The US is not 'the greatest country in the world'. Not even close.
Tawheeda, I'm not sure why you didn't leave long ago either. There's a great big world out there. All the best to you as you shake the dust from your feet and face your future -- in Canada.
6
Thank you for sharing this, for putting a face and a name to all that we are losing. I hope you can take heart in the courage your parents had in finding a new home when they needed to, and that you can now find your own way forward to some place more welcoming than here. The US is part of the past now, yours and ours, with the boors in charge. Create your future, and use your good heart to create a better future for others. Good luck to you!
12
Canada is not without its own faults but it is a beautiful country that offers many advantages. I'm sure you can enjoy a good life there and perhaps your close relatives who are still in the U.S. will be able to visit you.
18
I am truly sorry for Ms. Wahabzada and for us. She deserves to be here, it is her home. How is a 5 year old to know that she is doing something illegal? How are we so small-minded to not forgive? How many similarly bright and aspiring individuals will leave us in hopes of finding a permanent home? We are diminished by these losses.
20
This story helps explain why the US is losing -- indeed, forfeiting -- the race to attract global talent. So many other countries are more welcoming and rational, and will reap the benefits economically as well as culturally. Saddest of all, this story is the kind of thing Stephen Miller might print and frame, and point to with pride.
16
I would actually be thrilled to have Canadian citizenship. I think the writer will find that good universal health care and fabulous universities, a welcoming attitude towards immigrants, and beautiful cities that cater to pedestrians and bicycles, and a generally bilingual populace, will make up for losing that tenuous grasp on a decent life in the U.S.
40
I don't quite understand her story. She was born in Toronto and when she was 5 the family moved to the U.S.. Apparently, unless I am missing something, her grandmother is a permanent resident. Why is grandma a permanent resident and she is not? In any event, why isn't the family in Toronto, a stone throw away? Since she was born in Canada, I assume she is a Canadian citizen, which is where I would have gone long before the age of 29. What might have worked is if she had gone to high school and college in Canada. Then, applied to legally settle in the United States perhaps through an employer. Otherwise, Canada in many respects is a superior society. I would stay there.
35
Such a sad story, however the writer can return to a better country. Just sad that she can't return to visit family. Thinking Warren or Castro's proposal to change bars will pass Republican Senate is really dreaming. Putting life on hold for politicians is no way to live.
19
Reading her story makes me really sad. A young woman with so much obvious potential is being forced to leave the only country she has known. She is being disconnected from family and friends for many years... perhaps forever.
We, the descendants of immigrants, have labeled her "illegal."
The loss is ours.
43
Your story made me think of a slender and exceptional young man of Afghan descent who was the neo-natal intensive care doctor in charge of my twins after they were born. I talked with him nearly every day, for a month- probably the most stressful month of my life. I see him on occasion picking up coffee at a nearby cafe and happily relay tales of my growing and healthy children- health that he carefully cultivated in their first month.
To Ms Wahabzada I say, you have been away too long. Come home to Canada and bring your talents to help our country. You are needed and wanted here.
83
@Georgia M Why in God's name would she stay down there? Come back so sheer and harper can move down and get a gig at fox views.
This piece illuminates that countries that have financially benefited from exploiting 3rd world countries labor, environment and resources should welcome, without constraint, immigrants from anywhere. Our world of nations (and the nationalism associated with it) is a dinosaur. All the money spent on militaries, policing our borders, spying on each other, etc., amount to money that could easily be used for the benefit of all. A world government where moving to another “country” would be no more difficult than moving from Wisconsin to Nevada. Market forces, true capitalism, would reign with nearly unrestricted trade and commerce. Laws could be made uniform, fair, just. There would be no more 3rd world countries, just “earth.” Everyone provided for, taken care of, educated, using governmental models found in Scandinavian countries. Imagine what the human race could do under this system where there were no more “nations”? We could reach for the stars and never look back.
28
@SMcStormy Ah, the “no borders no nations” crowd. The one thing you didn’t mention is that this is particularly the unidirectional aspiration of non-whites trying to move to white countries. The reverse, as you likely understand, is not true.
Every foreign born resident in the USA has a story of how they came to America. There is no other country in the world that has processed and settled millions of foreign born people over the past 100 years and that has not changed in the past 2 and a half years. I am sure compassion and fairness will prevail as congress takes up the immigration reform issue as the top priority. With regards to Thanksgiving mentioned in this article as a reason to be in the USA and being thankful to those who deserve to be thankful for, I have a story of my own.
I have lived overseas in Africa and the Caribbean not as an ambassador but as a private citizen and I would spread the spirit of Thanksgiving to other countries and find ways to make a Thanksgiving turkey dinner by procuring local produce and turkey available in local grocery stores. Surprisingly I found frozen turkeys with thermometers inserted in the flesh which could be cooked to a good finger licking delicious consistency. Point is where there is a will there is a way and always a better way to move on in life and hope Ms Tawheeda Wahabzada finds a way to continue with her successful career and be grateful that US has given her so much to love it in return. Americans love diversity and we appreciate every person from countries of which there are few. So whenever I meet a person from a country from which I have not previously met one, I am especially happy. Interestingly I met persons from Cyprus, Senegal, Afghanistan and Ecuador.
6
Sorry we'll be losing you. I was born and raised in the U.S. Were my family not all grown by now, I'd consider migrating to a real democracy - to one of the many OECD countries with much higher rankings than the us in democracy, low corruption, literacy, income distribution, and many more indices - in which we are usually close to bottom (except gun deaths, where we excel dramatically).
43
Don't feel sad for the author; feel said for America. She is making a smart move, and one which many native-born Americans are already doing or beginning to plan for. Like many Americans who live or have lived abroad, once she is able to see America from a distance, she will wonder why she waited so long.
84
It’s a sad commentary. 24 years spent in the US with no means to stay. Was DACA the solution or Obama dodging the issue? By the author’s account, it was a delaying tactic that failed. Now he is forced to leave.
7
This is one of the saddest pieces I've read.
42
Tawheeda's story breaks my heart. Here we have a well-educated, focused, determined, talented and dedicated individual who WANTS to contribute in meaningful ways to society at large. And she is faced with leaving - the U.S. LOSES this asset.
Then, I look around my community - overwhelmingly white, non-diverse, with a struggling economy, riddled with meth-heads, homeless young people, vagrants and those on an almost daily basis carrying out crimes, people of all ages with poor health; many on government assistance for food, medical and housing - again, keep in mind this community is over 82% anglo. The people I see bog down the system and deter from the quality of life of the community. And THEY will stay. They won't be forced out. They won't contribute. THEY take from us on so many levels. Where is the justice in any of this - simply infuriating.
65
@JRS
What has made the Anglos in your community so dysfunctional?? a serious question. (Sounds like Appalachia, which much of CA is like!!)
(Actually, they provide jobs for many other people. Prisons, drug rehab centers, grocery stores... all frequented by this population Under some circumstances people do get well and do get jobs.
From about 1930 America has never been that immigrant friendly, BTW. Review the horrible treatment of Jewich refugees under FDR.
Income inequality has a lot to do with all kinds of attitudes.
Another story about "good" illegal immigrants. The USA can not take in every good person from failed states. Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires, is such a state. The writer is going to Canada. Good for her. Eventually, Canada will realize that it can't take in everybody either.
I guess my problem with the Democrats (and I am a registered Democrat) is that they refuse to acknowledge that current high levels of immigration have so strained the civic fabric of this country that we ended up with Donald Trump. I don't here Democrats explaining how huge numbers of immigrants is improving this country--just that each of them has their own right to the "American Dream." Well, my dream is for a sustainable country that isn't growing by 3 million per year (almost all from immigration), for a country of a protected working/middle class, and a country that puts Americans First.
43
@LB
As an immigrant myself, I take exception to the notion that immigrants caused the rise of Donald Trump. The vast majority of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, work extremely hard, often in industries native-born Americans don't want to do. I am a nurse, and can say from first-hand experience that if all foreign born nurses in the healthcare system left, the nursing shortage would be even more dire than it already is. If immigrants stop picking US crops and processing chickens, expect the cost of food to go up. There is a labor shortage in the construction industry. Be careful what you wish for.
77
@LB I fully agree with you.
On the day that ICE raided the factories in Mississippi recently, a Latino journalist appeared on one of the cable news channels deploring the action.
She had been invited on to speak about the horrific shooting in El Paso. At the end of her interview, she linked the two actions.
While righteously believing the US must fight domestic terroism and racism, she someone seemed to belive the government had no right to enforce US lmmigration law.
As typical the news has yet to announce fines, arrests etc.. aganist the owners of the chicken processing plants. It was reported however they would hold a job fair.
Folks will not sneak in if there aren't employers who hire them. Those who are aganist illegal immigration and "Sanctuary cities" have to demand Congress go after the employers who benefit from their steady arrival.
I salute the writer's decision. She will be able to exhale in Canada.
21
@Mary K Very tired of hearing about "jobs that Americans won't do." Americans will do all jobs for a decent wage. A construction job used to support a wife and family back in the day. That ended when floods of illegal labor came in. Plus, down here we are sick to death of endless population growth. US gvt could have realized that the US needs nurses and could have incentivized colleges, etc. but no, easier to just import workers. Farmworkers are often illegal and are not paid a living wage. US taxpayers end up subsidizing them and their US born kids with healthcare, food stamps, school, etc. Agricultural mechanization is going to end the need for illegal labor soon...and it would have happened quicker if big ag didn't get its way for an endless supply of cheap, disposable labor. Enough already.
26
Unfortunately antidotal stories about DACA individuals do not good policy make. No non-citizen is “owed” citizenship; it is up to the Congress to enact enabling legislation and the Executive to sign and enforce such. Here, the Congress has repeatedly failed to address the immigration issues including the status of individuals such as this author; and, her legal status is exactly what the law allows. President Obama acting without Congressional authority literally made up some law. That’s not the way in works in this country.
In my view, the Democrats have principally failed this country in being unwilling to compromise on immigration issues because of their decision to place politics (‘can’t give Trump a win’) above the good of the country. What is fascinating to me is to watch Democrats complain about the immigration issues, deny the problem and actually hinder even humanitarian responses to the flood, yes,invasion, on the Southern border.
Democrats just don’t like the rule of law in this country when they don’t like the law; but, won’t to anything to change it through normal order.
43
@Truthbeknown
Ask Republicans about obstructing any compromise on immigration, especially when non-white immigrants are involved. They're very good at it. And ask the Republicans, like the President, about employing undocumented immigrants in their businesses. Happy to do it until it becomes known. Immigrants save the President the trouble of having any coherent policy on anything except scapegoating vulnerable people.
4
@Truthbeknown
Frankly, NY Times you need a thumbs down button, readers can use to "flag" this sort of rhetoric. Ill-informed and IMO inflammatory.
Yes, Obama ruling by executive order did help pave the way for the current executive in the White House. Yes o-called Democrats have done dreadful things -- including the DOJ ruling that keeps Trum p from being indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, while in office. and yes, blame Congress.
@Truthbeknown
I think you've mixed up your presidents. It was the Republicans who wouldn't allow President Obama a "win." Before the likes of Stephen Miller and the anti-others got to the current president he was all for finding a solution to the DACA situation. (You clearly don't remember the photo-op around the conference table.)
Once he began tying the idiotic wall to anything and everything DACA was doomed.
And your inclusion of the word "invasion" after recent events just shows such a lack of empathy. I feel terribly sorry for you, truly.
"Illegality"?
What does it have to do with being a productive, caring person who wants - and apparently can - contribute to our society?
18
@Jak
Lots of folks have good intentions, but we have laws too.
What would our society look like if we didnt obey them?
12
@Sports Medicine
Funny... I've live in and around NYC for 30+ years and I've never met anyone who has not broken some law or another - ever cross the street against a red light or driven faster than the speed limit?
7
@Sports Medicine You have someone like President Trump.
Dear Tawheeda, You could be one of my daughters. You sound like a lovely, young, motivated young woman, someone who could have pursued a visa marriage but instead has a wonderful sense of self that I can only admire. Good luck to you in the future. You were clearly raised with values, drive, and a sense of family and duty. We would be lucky to have you as a true American citizen, but instead Canada (I suspect, you didn't say) will claim you as their own. They are lucky to have you. Best of luck in the future. I'm tempted to join you.
53
You will be welcome. Canada wants to reach a population of 100 million, at which point the economy will be sufficiently robust it can literally close the border and laugh at whatever nutbar is elected down south.
1
Many Americans do not want to deport undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children, by their parents - they were not responsible for their parents’ actions. Only their parents should be held to account.
The problem with this is that it does not satisfy the undocumented. As soon as President Obama announced that he was creating DACA to protect those who had been brought here as children, the organizations which represent the undocumented loudly complained. They declared that the president’s plan should cover parents as well. They said the parents were the original dreamers - that they had made the decision to bring their children here, and so they also deserved to stay.
The president relented and tried to create DAPA, which would have given the same protection from deportation and work permit to parents. Had DAPA been allowed to go into effect, it would have rewarded parents for bringing their families here illegally.
If we were now to tell those who are eligible for DACA that they could remain here permanently, wouldn't they hold multiple protests until their parents were also allowed to stay?
We should not consider giving legal status to DACA recipients until all other illegal immigrants (including their parents) have left the country, with the knowledge that our law forbids them from applying to move back here for 10 years. Otherwise, we would be announcing to the world that our borders are open for every family who wants to come.
45
@ann where did your ancestors come from and when/how? Do you know for a fact that they did so legally, whatever that meant at the time? Would whatever they did to get here pass muster now in this incredibly difficult immigration environment? The rabid defense for what amounts to pulling up the ladder behind us is nauseating.
Often people forget about numbers and limitations.
Ms. Wahabzada wants what many Americans take for granted. The problem? Her parents came into this country, illegally. She doesn't have the "right" to be here. She doesn't have the "right" to take that car/apartment/job.
Why? How would you feel if you lost the chance to buy that car/rent that apartment or gain that high skilled, limited job to someone who shouldn't be here? Before you say that that would never happen- There are 700,000 Dreamers. Additionally, there are 100,000 people trying to immigrate to the U.S. -every single month.
What are we going to do will all of these people who want to buy cars? Rent apartments? Take that high skill job?
Ms. Wahabzada should blame her parents for not following the rules.
51
@Allen Yeager Ms Wahabzada followed the general rules for being successful. She went to school, college and graduate school. She is employed. She is a productive member of society. There are native born Americans who didn't do those things. Why should an accident of birth, over which she had no control dictate that she leaves?
95
@Allen Yeager
In fact, anyone with enough $$ (more than 500K to invest in a redevelopment) such as the luxury condos as Hudson Yard can legally get a green card (and a 20 year property tax abatement.
8
Since when was there competition to buy a car in this country?
4
Immigrants who are highly skilled and qualified and contribute meaningfully to our economy and society should be fast tracked into citizenship, DACA or not. I think this is a problem of the system in general, not DACA. I have a coworker who makes a very good amount of money who just had a kid here but he is on a work VISA. Extremely talented and educated but his time frame to just get a green card is 20 years from now. Pretty crazy. He should be in the very front of the line, not the end. The people who come here and are a net burden to society seem to get the fast track unfortunately.
26
@Kev
The truth is that the work visa programs need to end as they are not needed and never were. Nearly every other country had cut back their programs or ended them.
There are not enough jobs for everyone who can and wants to work and this situation is not only in the US. As technology advances fewer and fewer workers will be needed. The US does not care to spend money educating and training its citizens for the jobs are available because they know visa programs will bring cheap labor.
10
Should the DACA recipient, upon reaching age 21 and attaining citizenship, then be permitted to petition the parents to come here as IR’s? Then, will we hear Tawheeda’s impassioned plea for family reunification? Then, what do we do about the other Afghans who weren’t lucky enough to be born in Canada or have parents who didn’t break the law who can’t come? How do you think they will feel. Suckers!! It’s very easy to be swayed by individual stories. There is a huge difference between good immigration policy (of which we have little) and compassion and sympathy towards individuals. Compassion towards an individual, or even a group like DACA people, can actually exacerbate the problem. Comprehensive reform means comprehensive, not just DACA.
4
Dear Tawheeda, I am so sorry you have had to endure this situation. It is inexcusable. Now we are chasing away our young, educated, and gifted immigrants who are making significant contributions to our country.
You will be successful in your new country. Go for it! I am probably too old to make a move like you are planning. Oh, how I wish. Best wishes.
48
Our country is sick right now and I know I speak for most Americans when I say, we are so sorry for our lack of compassion and foresight. Further, I would say most Americans welcome you with open arms and wish you could simply stay in the only place you've ever known, but we can't control crazy. Living in the shadow of your peers with uncertainty for all these years must be very difficult. We are sorry to lose such a valuable and dedicated American.
100
Populist rage is often about skin color and religion. But Tawheeda Wahabzada's history highlights an often unspoken motivation for those who want to stop immigration: resentment and jealousy. Here's an immigrant, possibly with darkish skin, who earned college and post-grad degrees and is starting a desirable career in DC. Fearing and hating him are millions who avoided learning much in school, possibly even dropped out; who mistrust people who use big words, think abstractly, work toward long-term goals, and who treat others with dignity and respect, regardless of immigration status. Pity the poor presidential candidates who speak articulately in paragraphs - this populist crowd detests them.
66
The loss of high achieving and talented workers will speed up America’s downfall. Add this to its decline in leadership and loss of respect from current/(former?) allies brings a dark future. Blaming refugees and/or brown people is a cop out. The entitled folks won’t go near the farm work required for our food supplies. Education and continuing education is not a high priority for some of the entitled. Our parents days of working at the same employer their whole career is over.
The disparity in income and a decline of a talented workforce (white or brown; citizen or not) is a guarantee America’s days are over. In addition, the 3 branches of the federal government is about as useless and corrupt as the media reports third world governments to be.
The climate is no longer nice to anyone. But every problem is an opportunity (like the decline in healthcare, infrastructure, education). But that requires working together and government investment. We can only blame ourselves for kicking the can down the road, not the new brown people.
38
Much as I can sympathize, I think this is a case of people taking advantage of the system that makes it harder for refugees in legitimate fear of their lives to gain access to the US. As I started reading I thought she was self-deporting to Afghanistan.
Her parents were in Canada, she was born in Canada, a citizen of Canada with absolutely no fear for her life and liberty as a woman and still her parents decided to leave that sanctuary to break the law and illegally enter the US.
Yes, she has made much of that opportunity and would be an asset to the US, but what about the children from Guatemala who did not have these opportunities and are in genuine fear of their lives. Mrs Wahabzada talents as a writer serves her well in making her case, but at the end of the day, laws and principals have to mean something. And my sympathies are entirely with those who are in fear of their lives and whose opportunities as refugees are being overshadowed by people like this.
62
@Sipa111
Principles
@Sipa111 Clear that her parents were "benefits-shopping". Gain asylum in Canada, but move illegally to the US. Afghans seem to think it is there right. At least in Europe, there are thousands of Afghans who come claiming asylum--Taliban killed my parents!!--with every intention of moving where ever they see fit (countries with good benefits and naivete), then bring the rest of the family as soon as they get some kind of residence permit. That they lied in their asylum application doesn't bother them in the least.
1
@Sipa111 your sympathies are commendable, but we're not helping those running for their lives either. We're separating them from family and throwing them in concentration camps.
Most crimes have a statute of limitations. Most crimes committed by minors are tried in juvenile court and not carried into adult life. It is time we recognize that after 24 years, the statute of limitations should have run out for the childhood crime of being brought into the country.
59
@skramsv
There was nothing she could do to become a legal resident. That was the whole point of DACA. There *is no path* for people who were brought here as children.
2
What is most troubling about the treatment of immigrants is not just the closing of borders, the targeting for marginal status and surveillance and harassment of selective groups among residents, or the reactionary nationalisms that have gone with this, but also the politicization of conditions of national belonging.
I was told by a hospital psychiatrist in 2013 that I was not acting "American." He implored me in a parody of encouragement to "be American with me." He surely knew there was no answer to this question or way to comply; it is nonsense, and he was looking for an excuse.
In democracies, "the people" are theoretically sovereign and the government is supposed to represent and serve them. So how do we get to a situation where governments (and perhaps majorities that they appear to represent) choose their people? Is the nation like a God that people are supposed to obey?
Of course, one thing is hopeful about the United States in this respect: historically. we do not have an ethnicity proper to citizenship that most of us share. Neither citizenship nor rights normally due citizens should normally be conditioned on possession of any attribute or belonging to any demographical category or type of persons. It is bad enough that our vaunted demographical tolerance is often overwhelmed by our profound moral intolerances.
Trump does not like the victims of global inequality and war, but they built much of this country. It can be improved, or just guarded.
10
I was born in Switzerland as my US parents were traveling. I lived there for only three years. At the age of 18 I had to choose either US or Swiss citizenship. It appears that in some ways I made a poor choice.
I have no regrets, as my family is my life and had I left I never would have met my wife of over 30 years.
That said, I spent 30 years paying off medical school debt. My children are now acquiring their own pile of student loans. Our medical system is a for-profit disaster. And now, under Trump, I am embarrassed to even admit that I am a citizen of the United States.
Our country has been exposed as a swamp riddled with ignorant xenophobes. Our government is an international laughingstock. Instead of leading a green energy revolution the US seems hellbent on the destruction of the environment.
If I could easily obtain a license to practice medicine in Canada I would leave this place that has been home for over a half a century. As this is not the case I will stay and fight the forces of fascism that seem to gain momentum daily...although I have little hope for a pleasant ending to our national nightmare.
349
@Truthtalk Many of us would consider fleeing to Canada but I agree, we may need to fight hard to protect our nation.
8
@Truthtalk
Don't even try! They don't want doctors here, although we badly need them. Protectionism is a terrible barrier to professionals, especially doctors. It's a very small pond, and they (MDA) like to keep it small.
3
Totally agree with you! I am a physician for almost 4 decades now ! I am so ashamed of our disastrous for profit medical system run by big pharma/private insurance companies/big hospitals and see how we gouge our young doctors and put them into ridiculous debt for decades to pay for their higher education- something that happens no where else in civilized world ! If I could have I would have also left for a country like Canada or somewhere in Western Europe where doctors make a comfortable but not obscene living and still practice ethical medicine and serve the people rather than the insurance companies and their shareholders!
18
While, I'm sympathetic to the Dreamers and to Ms. Wahabzada's story, I also can't help not to think about the Dreamers who would be returning to other countries. At least in Canada you know the language, the culture, and the politics, though, leaving friends and family is very difficult. I could not imagine being deported to another country in another part of the world. I can't help not to think of the Dreamers who, though, technically from those countries would feel the same as I do. I hope the intent of this article was to illuminate the feelings of other Dreamers at risk of going home to much more difficult circumstances than Canada. Best of luck, Ms. Wahabzada. You'll accomplish great things.
36
Well, you could move to France? I did almost 20 years ago and never regretted it for a moment! I worked in France and the US (flew back and forth a couple of times a year), got my carte vitale, and visa with the right to work - then citizenship. Pourquoi pas?
22
@Anne At the end of the day I don’t think it will matter really, as this thing that is Trump reveals itself to be a global disease. I left for Australia 40 years ago and certainly do not miss the ugliness that I see from where I am. Unfortunately, it is here as well, just not so widespread (yet) and without the violence and poverty.
21
@Carl Yes, the ugliness is spreading everywhere. One just needs (or at least in my case) find a place where one feels at home - do the proper paperwork (so we don't get kicked out on a new president's whim) and move. It's not simple at all, but one can choose. At least before the world implodes with global warming! We had to cancel a trip today to the Var because of wildfires. No swimming in many places on the coast because the water is so warm bacteria is growing. Oops - that wasn't very cheery - but we do have choices, thank goodness!
9
@Carl But you still have national health care and gun control.
2
I love my country, and, being born here, I am not inclined to leave. I love my country, but I do not like it. It has lost its greatness, and is not occupied by way to many people thinking small ugly thoughts and then enjoying their meanness when Trump tweets what they were thinking. It’s a sad turn for such a rich country. As for leaving, it makes me sad for my own sake, because with every self deportation, or forced deportation for that matter, we get smaller and uglier. As for you, I hope and expect you will be happier elsewhere. Just remember there are many people here who would welcome you back and consider your return a blessing to our future.
78
@Gordon My love evaporated during the senseless Vietnam War, after hearing the lies from smooth talking Reagan, during the Nixon debacle, the hamstringing of Democrats, the errors and misbehavior of Clintons and now the contemptible Trump Dynasty. After traveling nearly the whole world, I am ashamed of my country and its nasty and stupid support for more of the same. Once there were a thousands points of light - they have all been mocked and extinguished.
2
@Gordon. Typo first word in line three is “now” not “not.”
1
Too bad.
Of course, why did her family leave Canada in the first place if it’s so great? Probably for the opportunities this nation allows that Canada, in all its decent mediocrity, does not.
In any event, she benefited from decades of opportunity in this nation and she has no business slagging it on the way out the door.
And, yes, we should work to legalize the Dreamers on a bipartisan basis but that will never happen as long as Democrats encourage and enable illegal immigration through their sanctuary city and state magnet policies.
35
@EGD
I don't know if you're American born but Canada, because of its lower population numbers, is not mediocre. A smaller population means fewer job opportunities, especially for highly educated professionals. My husband who has a Ph.d in biology came here 25 years ago to work in an American university. When he was hired, he expressed surprise that he got the job, a tenure track position. The hiring committee, all Americans, told him that Canadian universities are highly regarded in the States and are considered more rigorous than American ones. They went on to say that he was the best candidate by far and that it was no contest between him and the other candidates. Hardly mediocre!
30
@EGD: Democrats do not encourage and enable illegal immigration, that should have been clear from Obama’s strict deportation actions. It’s Republican employers, Trump included, who encourage and enable illegal immigration of low skilled, cheap and compliant workers that are easy to exploit. They are the ones who are behind the Republican sabotage of the bipartisan immigration bill of 2013 that would have forced them to use e-verify. But meanwhile, Trump and his party are cynically railing about illegal immigration, using it to play politics. And sanctuary cities are just cities that don’t want their local taxes go into supporting federal initiatives. The term “sanctuary” is a misnomer, because even in sanctuary cities, illegal immigrants are not safe from ICE. It’s just that local police doesn’t assist ICE because that’s not their job.
17
@EGD
Our decent mediocrity looks one heck of a lot better than America's alleged greatness, these days. Who wouldn't take decency over xenophobia and intolerance?
We might be mediocre, but we aren't ugly in the eyes of the rest of the world.
5
The USA does not need to "compete" for immigrants.
We don't need to "compete" with Canada,
nor with any other country.
Clearly, tens of millions want to come here.
That does not mean we have a duty to take them.
We can limit the inflow any way we want.
Many seem to choose the USA over Canada --
or at least to try to come here --
even from Canada --
despite all the supposedly good things about Canada
and all the supposedly bad things about the USA.
Maybe they are mistaken, maybe not.
But in any case, we need not accept them.
Certainly not all of them.
And if some -- even many -- "give up" and "return" to Canada -- fine.
We have more than enough.
24
@sam finn
To remain competitive we do need to maintain talented people - and other countries have programs to welcome persons especially knowledgeable in STEM, business and education. To say "we have more than enough" in the current competitive worldwide environment shows a lack of understanding what you need to be successful tomorrow and ten years from now.
23
@sam finn
Canada is a much smaller country so of course there are more opportunities in the USA. You were able to dominate a large part of North America through violence and so have been able to exploit natural resources and people for a long time. Imagine how much greater America would be if the Civil War had never happened and so much hate hadn't been used to rebuild,
14
@sam finn
The only advantage that the US has over Canada is the weather. I have little doubt that, after three years, Tawheeda will slap herself on her forehead and wonder why she didn’t move to Canada earlier.
There are many Canadians now moving back to Canada from the US. They will be getting a saner,more fulfilling life.
37
I am not going to talk about the bigger issue of immigration reform, but many of the restrictions on DACA recipients do not make any seng se.
DACA recipients face obstacles in getting a green card through marriage. They must leave the country, get something called "Advanced Parole" and risk getting denied re-entry into United States.
In addition, DACA recipients will face additional obstacles due to the new rules about use of public benefits when getting a green card through marriage.
DACA recipients cannot travel for work for their companies, a significant issue for many along the Canadian border.
A majority, perhaps a vast majority of DACA recipients are not college graduates. As a high school graduate at their age, many of them need and will use welfare. This will create problems for them in getting a green card through marriage.
4
My (Indian) family immigrated to Canada when I was 10. My family all became naturalized Canadian citizens. My father once was offered a much higher-paying job in the U.S. My mother wanted to go, to the land of the Ivy League schools, under the maternal delusion that her offspring could attend the same. My father said, bluntly, "I will never go there. Have you seen the colour of your children's skin? That country lives in apartheid!" In 2020, my prescient father would have turned 100. He was glad to raise his children here, and touchingly proud to be Canadian.
I wish for your sake that he could have convinced your parents. In the eventuality of your return: Welcome home!
246
@Mira Choudhury Your father was a smart man.
1
We welcome you!
Your decision to come to Canada is a gift to us as much as it is an escape for you.
We are a country that delights in our diversity.
May you find joy in your new life here.
134
A desperately sad story. The writer should know, however, that Canada is more than just a high income country - it's a country with vast resources and limitless opportunities for young people - especially those who are as driven to make a positive contribution to society as Ms Wahabzada. For all her accomplishments It goes without saying Canada is lucky to have her back, and before too long (though perhaps not in the depths of winter) she'll be feeling very lucky to have Canada.
72
As an American who moved to Canada a decade ago, I can assure you Ms. Wahabzada that as painful as leaving may seem now, you will be delighted once you settle here. Canada is a much better country—better run, more compassionate, with a stronger sense of community, nicer people, far less anger, less violence, universal health care coverage, better social support, more tolerance, more real freedom—and a strong economy with good jobs too.
454
@617to416
One reason Canada is doing well is that it has become very selective about whom it allows to move there.
1. Most of our green cards are awarded to relatives of immigrants who are already living here, regardless of the applicants’ merits. Canada chooses most of its immigrants according to how much they could contribute to the Canadian economy, whether they are fluent in English and/or French, and how easily they could assimilate.
2. Canada has managed to deter almost all illegal immigration. Researchers at Yale and MIT estimated there were 22.1 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. in 2016.
3. Canada has a “Third Safe Country” pact with the U.S. which says that anyone seeking asylum must request it in the first country they enter. Anyone who comes to the U.S. before trying to enter Canada, through a formal gateway, must request asylum here before being allowed to request it there. This shields Canada from having to process claims for asylum from many poorly educated people from Mexico and Central America.
4. Some have asked Canada for asylum after crossing in-between formal gateways. Prime Minister Trudeau has made it a priority to quickly deport anyone whose request is denied.
5. His political party has introduced a bill to automatically deny asylum (with a few exceptions) to anyone who has been denied asylum in the U.S.
The result is that most of Canada’s immigrants have high paying jobs and can pay hefty taxes.
36
@ann
No, they don't have highly paying jobs, and they pay disproportionally more than those on the high-earning spectrum in the privileged professions, as I call them.
10
@ann
Yes, "Most of our green cards are awarded to relatives of immigrants who are already living here, regardless of the applicants’ merits." Like the President's in-laws.
39
Given the current political and social envirnoment in this country, I fail to understand why any one would want to come here. And before someone starts with that "we're the greatest country on earth" you'd best check the recent statistics. The US lags in every category, except the number of guns. Great again? We'll be lucky to rise to mediocre in the coming years.
249
@crystal
You are certainly correct the US lags many other nations in mandated universal benefits such as health care, job protection, maternity leave. But where we lead is in opportunities. Why are such categories never included in the assessment? My nephew living in Europe has "topped out" and needs to return to US to apply his abilities more widely and rise any higher in his field.
He's hard working and ambitious. And European employers tell him he should take his talents back home as they have no place for them.
Great countries aren't built on freebies alone.
2
@crystal For years now, whenever I hear Americans crow about this being the best country on earth, my first thought is "You people need to get out more". I've traveled a lot in other countries, and believe me, they've been steadily passing us up in so many areas such as healthcare, housing, transportation, etc etc. Our current arrogance has inserted the final nail in that coffin.
2
You can see, we all can see, that the issue of rampant illegal immigration has torn this country apart. Yet, you write “I no longer wish to be a bargaining chip for a border wall.“
Well, I feel for you, I really do, but the reluctance to offer a solution to the current problem besides blanket amnesty is destroying our body politic, and that is not acceptable to a majority of Americans. I hope you stay and help advocate for a reasonable solution.
13
@Conservative Democratic I think 29 years have been more than enough to wait for a solution for a body politic that has become increasing dysfunctional. It may feel righteous to invoke the law but her departure is not an opportunity for a native American to get housing or go to College. Whatever one feelings about immigration, the narrative that she has taken someone else place is false.
8
@Conservative Democrat
And why not blanket amnesty and immediate rights to work, vote, etc.? Who would it hurt?
What do we gain by deporting "illegal" immigrants? We'd rip apart families, communities, businesses, all for the sake of what? Following rules? Making an example of people to frighten others from coming? Do you really think a mother afraid for the lives of her children is going to spend time contemplating all the "laws" she'd be breaking by trying to reach what should be "safety"?
Yes, we need solutions. Starting with a blanket amnesty, an end to those cages, reunification, and then a serious discussion with those central American countries about what aid could be provided to make people feel secure in their own countries.
No doubt few people actually want to cross multiple countries on foot with children to arrive in an unknown land where they do not speak the language.
3
@Conservative Democrat This woman does more for society than the entire state of West Virginia put together. What gives the lazy freeloading hillbillies that populate your state the right to be here and suck up public resources, but this woman does not have the right to be here and work hard contributing to making our society better? Because you all got lucky to be born on a particular patch of dirt, and she did not? That's the basis by which you deserve a piece of the taxes I pay, but she does not even deserve to work and pay the taxes that West Virginians suck up so readily?
1
I assume you are returning to Canada based on what I read. As a Canadian I can tell you first hand you will be welcomed there. You will enjoy all the privileges of a free society and meet many people who feel as you do. You will have healthcare, as do all Canadians. If you work (which I am sure you will) you will pay into the federal pension plan (known as CPP) and collect it upon retirement. You will also qualify for Old Age Pension at retirement. If you work for a private company who offers their own pension, you will receive that along with your CPP at retirement.
I know this doesn't make up for not being able to visit your family but hopefully it will give them comfort knowing you are well cared for.
61
I sympathize with her, but we must follow laws. At the same time, we must reform laws and get rid of the bureaucratic bloat that prevents anything from getting done. There needs to be a better path for when parents bring their children to the states without their consent but at the same time our immigration laws must be respected.
7
@Samantha These people were children. And as children they had no knowledge of the law. it seems you believe the sins of the father should be visited on the children. Shame on you to be so heartless.
@Samantha
So, should Melania also face deportation since it has been shown she lied on her application to citizenship and worked here illegally?
Cut your losses, get out with what you have. I am 75, born a citizen and had high hopes for the country. Now I know that if there is ever an end to this, I won't see it. The damage of this presidency is so profound that it will take more years than I have the right to expect to begin to right the ship. If the president is reelected, well, that's kind of it, isn't it. Another country will benefit from your skills and experience, you will live a longer, healthier and happier life, and at my age, won't be sorry. This country will be a pariah in decent circles for a generation at least. I wish you all the best, choose well, and get out of this sad and toxic culture.
599
It is a sad, sad state of affairs indeed when promising young people must flee the United States in order to get ahead and lead fulfilling, stable lives. Ours used to be the country of hope and opportunity. How long, if ever, will we regain that status in the world? Perhaps not in my lifetime.
83
@Mark Krieger
It must be terribly difficult as a native born American to see what this country has turned into. I became an American citizen in 2016 just before the election to stop Trump. I am proud of a country, the world's longest lasting republican democracy, that when I took my oath of allegiance, I pledged an oath to a set of ideals and not to a monarch (I'm from Canada). But I worry for my new country and I am fearful if Trump wins again next year, it will be broken for good. As for Ms. Wahadzaba, Canada will be the richer with you in it. Good luck!
47
@Mark Krieger
Reputable sources estimate that there are 10-20 MILLION illegal immigrants in the US.
I believe most Americans welcome LEGAL immigrants, but do not want ILLEGAL immigrants. They recognize that the US cannot afford (or choose not) to support our own citizens: the poor, the ill, elderly, disabled, veterans, et al., and that they and other US taxpayers cannot possibly support the hundreds of millions of foreigners who would like to come here, especially if they are likely to be dependent on taxpayer support.
US laws allow foreigners to seek entry and citizenship. Those who do not follow these laws are in this country illegally and should be detained and deported; this is policy in other countries, too.
The cruelty lies not in limiting legal immigration, or detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, or forcing those who wish to enter the US to wait for processing. What is cruel, unethical and probably illegal is encouraging parents to bring their children on the dangerous trek to US borders and teaching the parents how to game the system to enter the US by falsely claiming asylum, persecution, etc. Indeed, many believe bringing children on such perilous journeys constitutes child abuse.
No other nation has open borders, nor should the US.
8
Sorry, but America is great again only for white Christians who were born here. The rest of us don't matter.
51
@KAN
That would be white, christian men who were born here.
In another thirty years US Population will be 3 out of every 5 non-European Descent. Don't expect more white Christians at 2050. And when the very name AMERICA is gone(name will be changed in near future), other people will look at white Christians and say that "these are the descendants of early European Settlors, who call them selves as "Americans".
@KAN
Nah. It's only great for white persons with 'Christian identity.' Actual Christians who follow what Jesus said would be appalled.
Our country ought to be better than this. It's such a shame that we've turned innocent children into political pawns. I don't blame her for leaving. Her position is completely untenable and out of her control. As for the writer from Ohio - exactly what would you have her take responsibility for - her life? Seems like she's already done that very well. As another writer has said, this is our loss. A great, compassionate country would not do this. A small-minded banana republic would.
64
I am so sorry for our loss. Obviously you have been a great asset to your country. Like many who came before you (most of our population), you have worked, achieved, contributed and tried to keep making the USA the great place it used to be. I was born here, as were my parents, so I have no place to go back to. I need to keep trying to make America America again. How did we slide so far down so quickly? Fare thee well.
45
This triples my resolve already in full gear to make this a place where you can come back to and where others who are hounded, despised, humiliated by one part of the population and greatly loved and admired by the rest of us will find a country transformed.
31
I am very ashamed that our country has broken its promise to the Dreamers. It sickens me that so many worthy hardworking people, who have so much to contribute to our society, are living under such duress and may be forced to leave their families, lives and country.
46
You'll do fine here. Welcome home!
40
This story is so sad and I wish it were otherwise. Here is another.
My late husband, an engineer from the UK., came here as part of the British brain drain of the 1960s. He had a successful career and gladly became an American citizen. But when Donald Trump was elected and implemented his scorched-earth style of "governing," my husband was visibly dismayed. He said repeatedly, "This is not the country I emigrated to."
This is also not the country I grew up in.
At first after my husband died, I hoped out loud that I would live long enough to see Trump and the other Republican scoundrels like Mitch McConnell driven out of office. Two years later, I'm afraid I won't be around to see this Ship of State right itself.
I need reasons to be optimistic again.
90
The smiling mask of a kind and welcoming America has been ripped off to reveal an ugly persona that is infamous outside of her boarders.
Come to Canada, once you get over the cultural shock you may learn to love it. You will never have to leave it. Welcome home.
52
This is such a sad story. That we would deny creative, productive people the right to become citizens. The hypocrisy of this administration is astounding. We soon will no longer allow immigrants a home unless they can prove they can take care of themselves. What a horrible joke.
I agree with previous commentators who are urging you not to return to Canada Ms. Wahabzada. This nightmare cannot last.
5
I think you should go back to Canada. You will have MUCH better healthcare and your future generations don't have to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for education.
36
@Samy
And your children can go to school without fear of being shot at.
Dear Ms Wahabsada, I am deeply ashamed of how our country has treated you. Proud of your drive and persistence under duress. Wish our country still had the wisdom to prosper and benefit from your expertise and energy. Am envious of your freedom to go to Canada, where you will enjoy national health insurance and a level of personal security not possible for anyone in the US who is not mega wealthy.
You deserve to be here more than any imported trump, and as much as, or more than, any of his imported wives.
My thoughts are with you; I sometimes wish I could follow you to that better place. Hoping for change here so that this need not need be a one way trip for you.
I fully expect that you will in every way succeed, and humbly suggest that in future you opt to bypass the US and take your warm weather vacations in Mexico, where I am confident you will be genuinely and properly welcomed. We do not deserve your patronage. Our loss.
50
Good news for Dreamers.
If the Supreme Court rules against DACA, Democrats will rush back to the bargaining table that they abandoned when Judge Alsup blocked Trump in January, 2018.
At that time, Trump/Republicans were willing to trade increased border security, including a wall, in exchange for legalizing Dreamers. Once Judge Alsup blocked Trump, the Democrats had no incentive to negotiate and walked away.
Unfortunately, the price for Democrats will be higher this time, because Trump has now successfully secured funding for the border fence requested by Customs and Border Protection.
Nevertheless, a deal is still possible, including something like:
1. Complete funding for a border fence and other security measures
2. Changes in asylum laws to prevent the current wave of scamming
3. Ending chain migration
4. Shifting from a family-based to a merit-based immigration system
Once the border security measures are completed
5. Ten year path to citizenship for Dreamers, beginning once the border security measures are completed
6. Legal status, but never citizenship, for most other illegal aliens in the U.S.
A SCOTUS decision for Trump will ironically lead to a comprehensive immigration deal.
12
@John - The deal Trump offered in 2018 provided protection for people who qualified under DACA only until 2020 while it provided $25 billion for Trump's wall (you know, the one Mexico was supposed to pay for). It did not give permanent protection to Dreamers.
4
@John Trump and the GOP will just renege on any agreement that treats the DACA people fairly. Don't be fooled or played by people selling false hopes.
1
@Annie
I believe that you are mistaken.
I think you are confusing the negotiations that took place at the end of 2018, during the government shutdown, and those that took place in late 2017 and early 2018.
In the earlier negotiations, permanent legalization for Dreamers was on the table until Judge Alsup’s decision on 1/10/18 caused Democrats to walk away.
1
What will be a loss to the U.S. will be some other country’s gain. Thank you for this article, revealing in a poignant, unforgettable way, what you have had to go through. This should not have happened, and if this were a more reasonable system, you would be able to stay here and contribute to our society, as so many immigrants have done in the past. May God bless you in whatever you do - whatever country you go to will be fortunate in having you there. Our loss, rather tragic when one thinks about it. All of these good DACA people, and you represent them, made to suffer in this limbo for no reason. Maddening.
36
@St. Paulite
Just think. If Senator Obama, Senate majority leader Reid and Nancy Pelosi had supported immigration reform in 2008 Bush would have signed it into law. He was famous for not vetoing legislation. But McCain might have gotten some credit. Or if the 60 super majority of Reid along with Pelosi had passed immigration reform in 2009, the issue would have been done.
7
@ebmem
Unfortunately, there were once rules in the Senate and the Filibuster was one of them.
2
@ebmem:
Perhaps you don't remember, but the Dems had a LOT to get done during that three months. And why, exactly, is it the responsibility of the Dems to act like the adults in the room all of the time?
5
Virtually all crimes except for a very few of the most severe have statutes of limitations. After the statute has run, the criminal need no longer worry about prosecution. But an innocent child brought into the United States illegally has no such benefit. Bank robbers and fraudsters have it better than children in this regard. Does this make sense to anyone?
113
@Neil Grossman The argument is invalid on statute of limitation as our government is never allowed to enforce immigration laws. If ICE starts deporting illegal immigrants immediately there is a huge outcry that they are separating good families and breaking apart communities. The fact that author spend 20+ years and got through school, college just showcases that.
When you rob a bank, or commit a fraud just try to go to school and see what happens.
The lack of enforcement of borders and not enforcing visa stays is what caused this problem in the first place and not related to any statute of limitations.
17
"I eventually found work in Washington, where I am pursuing a career at an NGO promoting the transparency and accountability of governments throughout the world."
No wonder Trump wants to get rid of her....
166
What would be ironic and compassionate would be for the Canadian government to hire Ms. Wahabzada as a diplomat and station her in Washington.
456
@Mark
That's just the point. She will be banned from reentering the US for 10 years. I'm not sure if that gets waived if you're a diplomat.
3
@Pooja - She would have diplomatic immunity.
3
If the Canadians want to be *really* smart, they should offer citizenship to all of America’s Dreamers. Our loss, their gain.
For people who argue against some kind of legitimate path to citizenship for Dreamers, think about it this way: the US has invested significant sums in this woman, and many other Dreamers. Why wouldn't we want to keep them here? Especially when they are so clearly capable of being productive citizens in our country?
Nevada taxpayers spend roughly $8000 per year per student in K-12. So in Ms. Wahabzada's case, since she's been here since she was five years old, that's about $100,000 that taxpayers spent for her education if she started in kindergarten. She then went to the University of Nevada, as a resident, (I assume thanks to DACA?), and then graduate school at UT. I have no idea what kind of subsidy or support she got after high school (if any), but it is absolutely ridiculous that after the USA invests so much in someone, that anyone would want to see that investment accrue benefits to some other country, even if it is Canada?
We're just a crazy people and we definitely can't do math.
307
@Jane You are correct, and I agree. Still, it infuriates me that we might have to invoke dollar value in order to justify treating another person in a decent, human way.
68
@Jane I think that not everyone can see it as about investing in productive persons who in turn expand the economy. Instead they see a fixed number of jobs, such that if an immigrant gets one, a citizen must lose one. It's zero sum in the same sense as cultural replacement theory. And right wing media keeps pushing those views.
33
@Joe America is no longer decent. Lack every bit of moral. By the way, this is not new for America.
29
Ms. Wahabzada, please wait until after the 2020 to decide whether or not to leave. If the Democrats win the Presidency, House, and the Senate, you and those 700,000 other Dreamers will have a fighting chance at citizenship.
You will make a great addition to our country, others may not see it that way, but they are wrong. No matter the outcome, I wish you the best.
176
@cherrylog754
DITTO!
9
@cherrylog754 Unfortunately, it is a long shot to win all 3 and there are many other problems to be fixed: environment, gun laws, deficit, health care, drug prices. I fear that immigration will not be fixed. Better to move back to Canada, as other commenters have stated, it is a better country, particularly if you are not a white male.
Why is the author expressing all her angst and pain against the US?
She and her parents were given sanctuary and freedom in CANADA - a country renowned for its welcoming and generous attitude to refugees.
Ms Wahabzada could have attended college, gained her degrees etc etc as a legal resident of one of the leading countries in the world .... but her parents decided to enter the US and stay illegally. They were not forced by poverty, persecution, physical abuse to leave Canada and live illegally in the US.
Her parents decision to live illegally in the US, is the reason she is in the position she now finds herself ; they chose to enter the US and live illegally; it is not the US's 'ugly politics' as she call it.
Until such time as a DACA solution can be found, and if Ms Wahabzada does leave the US, her relatives can visit her in Canada.
117
@Paul
Exactly ! Not a word regarding the irresponsible decision made by her parents but somehow we are all collectively to blame for her situation.
36
@Paul
Very simply, she thought she could stay, and she has been through hell in uncertainty. She's had enough. What is so hard to understand about that?
37
@Rod Stevens
Mr. Stevens,
She could have applied to Canadian universities while in high school, went to Canada for university, incurring no more than a three year bar to re-entry (if she had stayed in the US more than 180 days past her 18th birthday, less if she left for college sooner), gotten her driver license in Canada, as well as her health insurance card, passport, and all other necessary documents, worked part time, and then, if she had wanted, applied to graduate schools in the US and earned her graduate degree here. If she preferred the US to Canada, she could even have applied for US citizenship at some point.
Instead, after her parents brought her here illegally, she remained as an adult, squeaked by on the margins (when a full life in a country that welcomed her was available to her just over the border), and is now resentful, even though she has legal permission to stay, a good job, and is not being deported.
I have no sympathy.
34
The author was born in Canada. There is NO reason to illegally emigrate from Canada to the US. None.
Also, if you don't punish people who immigrate illegally by instituting bars for a set period of time then you literally have NO power to control their movements. That is, you guessed it, a form of open borders.
87
@KW She was born there but does not tell us whether or not her parents were permanent Canadian residents. She has Canadian citizenship by virtue of her birthplace, but her parents do not.
20
@KW
In recent years it's actually Canadians, more than any other foreigners, that overstay their visas to the US.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/08/07/dhs-foreigners-overstayed-visas-2017/924316002/
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/canadians-not-mexicans-represent-largest-number-of-visa-overstays-in-the-u-s-according-to-department-of-homeland-security
8
@HR
And Canadians blend.
Until they tip.
"Those five votes cost me my future as an American."
I apologize to you on behalf of this country's selfish, regressive, and hypocritical policies. It is quite possible that in 2020, a mere five states -- thanks to the Electoral College -- will cost America its future.
132
This comes from ignoring, bending, subverting, selectively enforcing immigration laws for 50 years. Self deporting seems to be the only way anybody ever has to leave this country. Once you're in, you're largely home free. But of coarse if you're interested in being a normal member of society you aren't. How about an immigration time out? We need to work thru the stupendous back log of people here illegally now. We should not be adding to the masses here until we've sorted out a system that has mr wahabzada self deporting and criminals gaming the system to stay here. Some people will get to stay and some are going to have to leave, And of coarse, this entire out of date, corrupt, politicized system has to be over hauled, top to bottom. Almost nothing we do now works for this country or many of the people that have come here.
26
@Al:
I'm so sorry to hear that there is a backlog of immigrants in this country. Are you planning to take the jobs picking fruit or slaughtering turkeys that so many of them now hold?
4
@heliotrophic. 10-20 million illegals is a pretty good back log I'd say. Very few do the jobs you describe (most work in jobs traditional done by unions like construction and food processing that companies used illegals to break unions) and if you like subsidizing the growers by taxpayer provided education, food stamps and healthcare for them and their kids sounds economically short sighted, it is. We could try making growers etc hire legal residents and make them pay livable wages with benefits, but the left prefers to exploit these people then cry crocodile tears over their treatment. Typical hypocrisy.
2
I would gladly extend citizenship to the 'Dreamers' in exchange for actually enforcing our current immigration laws and fixing the abused asylum system. I believe that President Trump has argued for the same. But the Democrat leadership is more interested in scoring political points with Dreamer sob stories than in actually helping the Dreamers. I think some of the Dreamers are waking up to this fact.
50
@MC
I doubt any immigrants are dumb enough to think they're welcome by the GOP unless they're 1-rich or 2-white
@MC
"the Democrat leadership..."
I ignore the opinion of anyone who uses "Democrat" as an adjective.
1
I disagree with UA; the U.S. just needs to educate more people in science and technology.
7
@Sharon
America has cut taxes to deeply to afford good education. And with the successful conservative campaign to label taxes as evil, there is very little chance that America will be able to improve the situation and become great.
27
Tawheeda
I’m sorry you had to make this decision.
America’s loss is Canada’s gain.
Welcome to Canada
371
@Toronto Guy
It is heartbreaking that this accomplished young woman feels that she can no longer live in the US. You are right--it is our loss when she leaves. At least Canada is nearby; it has healthcare so that won't be a worrying burden; and the people of Canada (and the nation) are the gracious, vibrant people that we think we are, or at least were.
Please welcome this fine person into your Canadian family. A growing number of us wish we had dual citizenship or might consider opting to move to Canada ourselves.
9
This loss for Ms. Wahabzada is an even bigger loss for America.
253
@Kathryn
It's a gain for Canada.
46
@Kathryn
Maybe not. Her current job is as a “senior researcher” - a job category that will eventually be largely replaced by AI.
@Maureen
Dream on. So, educated people are Soylent Green to be replaced by AI? Republican doomsters are very big on "replacement".
The author is one of a trend of many which foreshadows the future: not only will people compete to go to specific countries, but countries will also compete for the best people. The educated, the inventive, the intelligent, the exceptional from all over the world will choose other developed countries if they are unwanted or discriminated against in the US because of their origin. This is already starting to be felt in the US if you work in certain fields that are being hamstrung by anti-science regulations (for example against stem cell or climate research). It will increasingly be felt in other fields as well, not only due to those leaving but also due to those who were not allowed to come or simply decided against it because they know they will be treated better in other developed countries. The US will have to choose--open its borders (within reason) or fall behind in science, technology, after already lagging behind in health outcomes and social safety net compared to other developed countries.
152
@UA Yes, indeed. The fertility rate in the US is 1.8 and expected to decline further - well below the 2.1 level that is considered necessary for population replacement. America will someday be offering incentives to attract immigrants like the author. But by then it will be too late.
17
@UA And yet let me guess, you also virulently oppose shifting our legal immigration policies to prioritize merit-based migration (as every other Western country does) over "family reunification."
1
Since merit based immigration is on the GOP's mind, then they should offer up a merit based exception that would benefit this young man.
Go for it, Mitch!!!
8
@Caveman 007
*young woman
14
The author tries to appeal to the heartstrings, but any blame should be placed on the parents who brought her here illegally and tried to game the system. Sorry, but laws are laws and I for one am glad immigration laws are being enforced.
64
@Roberta How is punishing her the same as punishing her parents? Should we all be punished for our parents’ crimes?
76
@Nina
Oh please, no!
13
@Roberta
Yes Americans do seem to like to punish innocent children now. Cruelty is now the American way.
163
Please, someone, illuminate me with even one thing that Einstein Visa recipient, Melania Trump, has done that has created more (or any value) compared to Mr. Wahabzada?
Then again, in his watchdog role, promoting government transparency and accountability, Mr. Wahabzada provides less than zero value to Donald Trump. Clearly, even though I am asking about the right kind of values for our country, I am asking about the wrong kind of values for the Trump administration.
143
...the hazards of writing a comment late at night without reading glasses - I read Mr. instead of Ms.! My apologies for the error.
22
I assume you are returning to Canada. Welcome home.
42
Too bad the author's parents acted irresponsibly. Had they not brought her here illegally she would have roots and connections and citizenship in another country.
Choices have consequences, both for ourselves and our loved ones. This violation of the law of the land had consequences.
Mr. Obama's irresponsible act of issuing the executive order that created DACA has incentivized illegal immigration. He acknowledged that. But enforcing the law of the land discourages illegal immigration.
Mr. Trump would trade a Dreamer bill for the tools needed to enforce our immigration laws. But the Democrats won't have that.
48
@AmarilloMike
I fail to see how any of this is the author's fault. My grandparents (both sides) fortunately came to this country when immigrants were welcome. They were dirt poor. My paternal grandmother came by herself when she was 7 years old before Ellis Island existed, but immigrants were welcome. She had a disease that caused her to become blind starting when she was a teenager. Obviously she would not have been allowed in the country now. However, her son, my father got a PhD in educational psychology. His sister was a successful business woman and one of her sons was an electrical engineer and another of her sons was a vice-president of a major supermarket chain. I got a PhD in biophysics. I published 92 papers and have more than 30,000 citations. My sister was a MD and worked in an ER for 30 years. We should be welcoming immigrants, not treating them like trash. You are blind to facts.
212
Need I remind you that the Democrats had 25 billion dollars on the table for border security to trade for a DACA solution - and Trump walked away? He could have gotten everything he wanted, and he blew it because he'd rather spend four years complaining. This falls square lt on his shoulders.
126
@AmarilloMike. Democrats offered the $25B for Trump’s wall in exchange for the DACA/Dreamers. Trump said yes. The deal was announced. 48 hours later, Trump renigged, after the immigration hardliners in his Administration complained.
63
This is so wrong. We must reform the immigration system, but nothing good will happen until the Democrats have more control. The Republican party, well I was going to say can't get uglier, but they do, every day of the week without fail. We must work next year as though Russia can't steal the election, and if they are allowed to intervene for the Republicans then I welcome Iran's help and hope China joins Team Blue as well.
34
@Bridget McCurry
Iran and China are the Dems best hope?
This has gotten 20 recommends?
And it is the Republicans that are ugly?
Wow! There are no words.