by Jasper Wolf

Created on: May 24, 2007

As my family waited in a long security line to visit the Statue of Liberty, I heard murmurs behind me. A lady and her two children were cutting forward in line. Finally, they finessed their move ahead of me and my family. Annoyed, I asked, "Are you cutting in front of us?" She said no. I looked back, and a lady said, she's been cutting in front of us all. I pulled my daughter past the cutters, and said, "no more cuts." In changing immigration policy I would aspire to the the Statue of Liberty's welcoming message, but I would not abide cutting in line.

A roadmap to US citizenship makes sense as a compromise solution.

Illegal immigrants are, by definition, breaking the law. They are (perhaps unwittingly) offending all those with the integrity and patience to navigate the legal immigration roadmap . Furthermore, their "illegal" status promotes a culture of "living in the shadows" which hinders both national security and their own civic involvement.

Illegal immigrants are clearly here seeking a better life and/or better economic opportunity. Legal immigration options are apparently not sufficiently available. As a proud American, I can empathize with people from other countries who desperately seek the American Dream for themselves and their children. I can root for people who accept a humble place in American society while espousing American values of hard work and perseverance . For such people, of which there are an estimated 12 million in the US, a legal roadmap to citizenship should be an alternative to continued criminality.

The details of the roadmap will be complex. It must be punitive enough to say "no more cuts" but still be preferable to "illegal" status. To craft such a roadmap , we must acknowledge America's historical ambivalence towards immigrants, be they legal or illegal. Only if we acknowledge our ambivalence can we resist the easy solutions - amnesty at the one end, more aggressive enforcement and deportation at the other - and devise a fair roadmap to US citizenship.

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