TN Visa story
TN Visa story
Date: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 2:35 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
December 27, 2005 No. 1391
The Arizona Republic newspaper is known for its advocacy of open borders,
so I'm suspicious that this article appeared on the front page to
perpetuate their agenda. The intent of the article is probably to
demonstrate why all efforts to enforce our immigration laws are hopeless,
but in so doing there is some very interesting information if you read
carefully.
The article starts out as a typical sympathetic story of an illegal alien
who got a fake social security and driver's license in order to get a $10
an hour job in Phoenix. Kathleen Chouinor isn't just a typical illegal
alien though. Chouinor was a computer IT professional that originally came
to the U.S. on a TN visa. Her story shows how easy it is to live and work
in the U.S. by gaming our immigration system.
This is a short summary of Chouinor's visits to the United States - minus
the touchy feely stuff in the article:
* In the 1990's Chouinor, a Canadian citizen, got a job offer in Arizona
for an information-security job making $75,000 a year. That was triple what
she was earning in Winnipeg for a similar Computer IT position.
* The employer got a TN (Trade NAFTA) visa so that Chouinor could work in
the U.S. The TN visa is unlimited for foreign professionals from Mexico and
Canada. Most professionals who use TN visas take jobs that are similar to
H-1B visa holders. To find out more about TN visas, go to this page:
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/pdf/fourteen-two/xiv-2-127.pdf
* After a few years Chouinor was told by her employer that her TN visa
would not be renewed. Her job in Phoenix ended but she didn't leave the
U.S. like she was supposed to do. Like the H-1B, the TN visa is supposed to
be temporary, which means the alien must return to their home country when
the job ends.
* She sent her children back to Canada and then moved in with her American
boyfriend in order to look for a new job. At this point Chouinor was a visa
overstayer, and therefore would be considered an illegal alien.
* Chouinor couldn't find another job in the U.S. so she returned to Canada.
* Companies in Canada would no longer hire her because they assumed
Chouinor would demand American style salaries.
* Chouinor returned to the U.S. on a visitor visa with the intent of
staying permanently in Phoenix. Once again she became an illegal alien. One
of the stipulations you must agree to in order to obtain a visitor visa is
that you don't intend on staying permanently, so Chouinor lied in order to
get the visa.
* Chouinor got a fake social security and driver's license in order to get
a $10 an hour job in Phoenix. She has been here illegally ever since.
* An immigration officer called Chouinor when her daughter came to visit
from Canada, and told her that they knew she was an illegal alien. Nothing
happened since then, and Chouinor is no longer worried about being
deported.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1224overstays.html
Visa 'overstays' often blend in
Daniel Gonzalez
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 24, 2005 12:00 AM
Kathleen Chouinor got up from the sofa and returned from her bedroom
clutching an Arizona driver's license and a Social Security card.
Both documents were forgeries, Chouinor said, purchased on the black market
in Phoenix for $150.
"I went to the guy's house. He took my picture, and within two hours, I had
my driver's license and Social," she said.
The documents looked authentic enough to fool the manager of a large retail
store in the northeast Valley. Chouinor had no trouble landing a job a year
ago making $10 an hour as a salesperson.
But she had something more going for her than just fake documents. With
strawberry-blond hair, blue eyes and the ability to speak English like an
American, few would suspect the 39-year-old Canadian is an undocumented
immigrant, especially in Arizona, where the overwhelming majority of
unauthorized immigrants are Mexicans who crossed the border illegally
through the desert.
Chouinor flew on a jetliner from Winnipeg to Phoenix as a tourist more than
two years ago, needing only a Canadian driver's license to enter the United
States. She hasn't gone back since.
Chouinor represents the millions of undocumented immigrants, many from
Canada, Mexico and Europe, who have entered the United States legally with
student, work or tourism visas and then remained after their visas expired.
Known as "overstays," they have received scant attention in the contentious
debate over immigration reform and homeland security, even though the
government estimates overstays make up at least a third of the nation's
total undocumented population of about 11 million people.
Though most legal visitors from other countries return home, many decide to
remain here illegally primarily because of better economic opportunities or
family ties. Any attempt by Congress to create a large-scale guest-worker
program or seal the border will have to take overstays into account.
The large number of overstays in the country also reveals weaknesses in the
nation's immigration system beyond border enforcement. The 19 Sept. 11,
2001, hijackers are believed to have entered the country with student or
other visas. At least three overstayed.
"The more you do focus on the border and the more successful you are at the
border without focusing elsewhere, the more you exacerbate the problem of
overstayers," said U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a proponent of
immigration reform that includes greater enforcement at the border and the
workplace, along with a guest-worker program.
Chouinor asked that her full identity not be published out of fear of
losing her job or being deported. But she asked to be interviewed in hopes
that Congress will adopt a guest-worker program that allows undocumented
immigrants like her to legalize their status.
Entered legally
The information-technology boom of the 1990s was still going strong in
early 2000 when Chouinor posted her resume on an Internet job bulletin
board.
At the time, Chouinor was divorced and living in Winnipeg, a city in
central Canada, with her two children. She was barely making ends meet as a
computer mainframe administrator. She hoped to land a better-paying job in
the United States with one of the many companies hiring foreign workers
with computer backgrounds.
Within three months, a financial services company in Phoenix saw Chouinor's
resume. After a series of interviews, Chouinor said, the company offered
her an information-security job making $75,000 a year, triple what she was
earning in Winnipeg, plus $5,000 for moving expenses.
Chouinor packed her bags.
With the company's help, she applied for a TN visa, a special
temporary-worker permit created under the North American Free Trade
Agreement that allows Canadian and Mexican professionals to work in the
United States.
Chouinor's loved her new life in Phoenix. She moved her children into a
nice apartment building in Ahwatukee with a pool and tennis courts. She
bought a car, settled into her job and made new friends. One day, a
co-worker and his daughter showed up unexpectedly at her door bearing a
Christmas tree and gifts.
"They just said they wanted to make sure our first Christmas in the United
States was one to remember," Chouinor said.
By the end of 2002, the information-technology boom had collapsed. In the
wake of 9/11, many companies were skittish about hiring foreign workers.
Chouinor was told that her TN visa would not be renewed. Her job in Phoenix
ended.
Chouinor sent her children back to Canada. She moved in with her boyfriend,
an American, while she hunted, without success, for another IT job.
In April 2003, she rejoined her children in Winnipeg and job-hunted there.
Chouinor discovered jobs were scarce, and her U.S. work experience had
tainted her in Canada.
Most companies wouldn't interview her.
"They knew I had been making a lot more money here (Phoenix), and they
assumed my expectations were going to be a lot more than they could pay
me," Chouinor said.
Lied at the airport
Chouinor missed Phoenix. She found people friendlier and more accepting
here than in Winnipeg. Her boyfriend offered her a place to stay if she
came back.
Because she is Canadian, Chouinor had no trouble re-entering the country.
Canadians and visitors from 26 other countries, mostly European, are
allowed to enter the United States for brief visits as tourists or for
business purposes without visas. The only documents Chouinor needed: her
birth certificate and a Canadian driver's license.
In August 2003, Chouinor bought two round-trip plane tickets from Winnipeg
to Phoenix for herself and her son, 11-year-old Frank (his middle name).
Her daughter remained in Canada with her father. Passing through a U.S.
customs and immigration screening process at the Winnipeg airport, Chouinor
lied and told the inspectors they were coming for only a two-week visit.
She failed to arouse suspicion even though she was carrying four suitcases
and a garment bag, far more luggage than needed for a two-week visit.
No one has a good handle on how many overstays there are in the United
States or which countries they are from. The majority of undocumented
immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexican border illegally are from Mexico and
Central America. Overstays, on the other hand, tend to come from all over
the world and tend to be better educated and financially better off,
experts say.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates the overstay population at
2.3 million as of January 2000, according to congressional auditors. Most
overstays came on student, work or tourism visas. In 2000, they accounted
for about a third of the total undocumented population, auditors said.
The 2.3 million estimate, however, did not include overstays from Canada
and other visa-exempt countries who entered legally without visas, or
overstays from Mexico who entered legally with border crossing cards.
Earlier reports by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service
estimated overstays accounted for as much as 40 to 50 percent of the
nation's undocumented population, auditors noted.
For months after returning to Phoenix, Chouinor lived in fear of being
deported. With her TN visa expired, she no longer was authorized to work
legally in the United States. She had a Social Security card, but it said
"unauthorized to work" without approval printed on the front.
Marrying her boyfriend could have provided a way to legalize her
immigration status. But the relationship fizzled.
A scary phone call
Then one day she had a scare. Her daughter, Amber, was coming from Winnipeg
for a visit. Chouinor received a telephone call from a U.S. immigration
officer at the airport wanting to verify her visit.
"He asked me point blank, "Are you here legally?' " Chouinor recalled.
Chouinor told him the truth. No.
"He said it would be in my best interest to leave the country immediately,
and it was up to him whether he was going to file a report about my
status," Chouinor said.
Chouinor was surprised by what happened next. Her daughter, who was 16 at
the time, was allowed to enter the country for a three-week visit, even
though Chouinor was living in the United States illegally. Her daughter
returned to Canada at the end of the three weeks. But she could have easily
stayed.
After her daughter's visit, Chouinor waited for immigration officials to
contact her again. They didn't.
A friend who owns a business knew someone in an industrial area of Phoenix
who sold fake documents to undocumented workers from his home. The man
created a false Arizona driver's license for her and a new Social Security
card.
The fake documents helped Chouinor rent an apartment and get hired in
retail. When filling out job applications, Chouinor checks the box for U.S.
citizen.
Most undocumented immigrants work in construction, agriculture and
manufacturing. But Chouinor said her fair skin and American accent have
made it easy to blend in.
"I've never had an employer even blink when I presented my documents," she
said.
Working retail, Chouinor struggles to pay her bills. Her son needs dental
work, but she has no health insurance and can't afford a dentist.
To save money, in November she moved in with a sympathetic couple, the
parents of her son's best friend who own a large home.
"It doesn't matter if she is here legally or not. She's a human being, and
she needs help," said Kevin, 45, who asked that his last name be withheld.
Deportation unlikely
U.S. officials say they are doing a better job of tracking and deporting
foreign visitors, especially those who pose a national-security threat.
In June 2003, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement created a special
unit to investigate foreign visitors who violate the terms of their visas.
Since then, the agency says, it has arrested more than 1,417 overstays
nationwide, a small fraction of the total.
The government also is phasing in an automated tracking system that
collects digitized fingerprints and other data from foreign visitors at
U.S. consulates abroad and at the border. The US-VISIT Program is designed
to help inspectors screen out potential terrorists and criminals and
determine whether foreign visitors overstay.
The system has been implemented at airports, seaports and 50 of the largest
land ports, including five ports in Arizona.
A June 2005 study by the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.,
however, said the US-VISIT Program is riddled with holes. Less than 2
percent of the 360 million entries through land ports annually are
currently tracked by the system, the report said.
Most Canadians and 7 million Mexicans with border crossing cards are exempt
from the program. Together, they account for about 155 million entries
through land ports a year. Visitors who enter the country by air but leave
by land also are not tracked.
The government is "only scratching the surface," said the study's author,
Rey Koslowski, a political science professor at the University at Albany in
New York.
Tracking overstays still won't significantly slow illegal immigration.
"Even if you (identify) an overstay, then what? How do you find that person
and deport them?" Koslowski added.
Chouinor doesn't know how much longer she will remain illegally in the
United States. She is waiting to see if Congress adopts a guest-worker
program that could give her a shot at a legal immigration status.
She doesn't worry much anymore about deportation. Overstays who otherwise
abide by the law are a low priority for immigration agents busy trying to
root out foreign terrorists and criminals.
"The longer I'm here, and the more I come to know how the whole immigration
system works, I've come to be less afraid," Chouinor said. "I realize there
is no such thing as the immigration police who are going to come and kick
my door down and take me away."
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