arise Fortiani»
Page 6
(Observer
July 22,2014
New Prices
Effective
May 1,2010
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG
$45.00
A sm all d istance/trav el charge
m ay be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or
more $30.00 Each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: I sm all H allway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$40.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services)-. $25.00
Standing in Line is a Myth for Most of Us
Area/Oriental Rugs:
Our broken
immigration
system
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wooly.
$40.00 Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area:
Additional $10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $69.00
Loveseat: $49.00
Sectional: $ 109 - $ 1 39
Chair or Recliner
$25 - $49
%
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services). $5.00
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Area & Oriental Rug
Cleaning
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet .
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
SEE CURRENT FLYER
FOR ADDITIONAL
PRICES & SERVICES
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
D iana A nahi
T orres -
V alverde
In a bustling
room at the Third Presbyterian
Church in Albuquerque, N. M.,
a group o f white and Latino pa
rishioners gathered for a w ork
shop on im m igration. T hey
wanted to learn more about the
issue.
Julio Alvarez, a M exican im
migrant, was there to answer
their questions. “Why can’t im
migrants just wait in line and
move here legally? Isn’t there a
process to do that?” one parish
ioner asked. “The truth is,”
Alvarez replied, “standing in line
is a myth for the majority o f us.”
Alvarez’s personal experience
with our nation’s immigration sys
tem illustrates this harsh reality.
M e x ic o ’s w eak eco n o m y
pushed A lvarez out o f his coun
try in 1996. “ W hen I decided to
im m ig rate to A lb u q u erq u e,
N ew M exico, I had 5 pesos —
or less than a dollar — in my
pocket and a fam ily to feed,”
he recounts.
Upon his arrival, A lvarez’s
by
U.S.-citizen brother sponsored
his petition for U.S. residency.
As allowed by federal law, he
included his wife, M yma, and
their school-age son, Edgar, in
his application. He hoped that all
o f them could eventually reside
in the United States legally.
That was 16 years ago.
Since then, Alvarez has es
tablished a successful automo
tive repair shop, bought a home,
and saved enough money to send
his child to college. But our bro
ken immigration system has left
him standing in that immigration
“line.” And a recent Supreme
Court decision just made things
worse.
It takes the Citizenship and
Immigration Services agency an
average o f seven years to grant
immigrants green cards. Due to
the structure o f the immigration
system that imposes a per-coun-
try cap, the wait now lasts more
than two decades for Mexican
immigrants.
As long as the petitioners’
dependent children don’t come
o f age during that period, they
remain eligible for green cards.
If those children turn 21 before
the family reaches the front o f
that proverbial line, a Supreme
Court majority recently ruled,
those young immigrants “age
out.” They lose their place in the
immigration line where they may
have stood for most o f their young
lives.
T hat’s a brutal reality for the
Alvarez family.
Julio Alvarez has waited 16
years for his green card. He
probably needs to wait two more
years — or even longer. M ean
while, Edgar will turn 21 and lose
his place in the line he has waited
on for more than half his life.
If Edgar, an engineering stu
dent at the University o f New
Mexico, applies for his own green
card, h e’ll be in his 40s before he
gets to the front o f the line. Tens
o f thousands o f people face this
Orwellian predicament.
The new ruling m akes con
gressional action even m ore
urgent. B ut H ouse M ajority
L eader E ric C an to r’s stunning
defeat to D avid Brat in his
recent prim ary m eans that the
already stagnated im m igration
reform debate m ay hit a dead
end on Capitol Hill. A ccording
to conventional w isdom that
ignores the prevailing view s in
that V irginia H ouse district,
anti-im m igrant fervor helped
C an to r’s tea party challenger
pull o ff a surprise win against a
candidate who outspent him
40:1.
This is bad news for Edgar
Alvarez, who will turn 21 later
this year.
After he reaches that mile
stone and graduates college, he
may be forced to move to Mexico,
a country he barely knows.
If Edgar wants to stay here he
has limited options: He can marry
a U.S. citizen or resident. Or he
can find an employer to sponsor
his green card. Few employers
make this commitment because
it’s a costly and time-consuming
process.
If Edgar can’t find a path to
shedding his undocumented sta
tus, his New Mexican com mu
nity will feel the loss. The young
man engages in local politics and
campus life. He pays taxes, men
tors younger boys who are as
piring engineers, and works as a
public health advocate.
How can the United States
turn its back on the more than
560,000 talented, young adults
that are in a situation similar to
his?
Our nation can certainly do
better than that.
Diana Anahi
Torres-
Valverde is the New Mexico
Fellow at the Institute fo r
Policy Studies in Washington,
DC. The author changed the
name o f the church and the
names o f the members o f the
"Alvarez fam ily” in this com
mentary at their request.