But I promise to pay my taxes....

Amongst all of the tragedy and injustice in this world, no injustice seems quite as pronounced as your own. Your friend's cat dies. Sad. Your cat dies. Absolutely heart wrenching tragedy.

And so it goes with my current views on migration in the US. A couple of years ago, while I was studying at Arizona State University, I would often read about the number of would be migrants dying as they attempted to cross the border from Mexico to the US (460 in 2005 alone). The US solution to this? Increase patrols. Put up more fences.

Then I tried to migrate to the US. I didn't need to endure a desert crossing to do it- but I still didn't go about it in the most legal way. My plan was simple. Come stay with my friend in NY and eventually find someone who might be willing to sponsor a work visa for me. Unfortunately I discovered the hard way that your chances of becoming legal here are much higher if you are (a) a model, (b) an agricultural worker or (c) an Australian. That's right, if you're a hand model, handy with a cherry picker or were born in Burpengary, you are in luck. Of course it also helps if you are rich. Filing a petition for a work visa, once you employ the use of an immigration lawyer and pay all of the relevant fees, can cost you up to $7000US. So here i remain, an unemployed alien (the category my bank put me in when i opened an account) doing voluntary work and contemplating the injustice of it all.

While of course i am reasonable enough to see that my own situation is not a heartbreaking tragedy, i can't help but think of the thousands of illegal workers here, who through whatever means, have risked everything to cross into the US and work primarily in low income jobs. The US administration will claim that there are plenty of ways for these workers to enter the US legally, and will even claim that they have tried to make it easier for them to obtain the proper visas, through those extra places in the agricultural categories for instance. How helpful. Of course, a person who chooses to risk their life running across the desert to enter the land of the free is going to have a spare $7000 tucked away for safe keeping. In fact, I am sure most who choose to cross the border "economy style" are just trying to save a few pennies for the condo they are going to buy on the other side.

If the US is willing to accept that these migrants are currently filling major gaps in the agricultural and service sector, they should also acknowledge that a process which does not reasonably allow most of them to become legally recognised, or does so for three years but gives no guarantees long term (as Bush has proposed) is severely lacking. I have the luxury of being able to give up on the American dream and move on, most do not.

I make no apologies for my presumptuous overly simplistic and personalised rant. My cat just died.