Follow me into the weeds a bit.
Yes, the U.S. has a Diversity Visa program, in which a potential immigrant could apply and, through a lottery system, be given permanent legal residence, but Mexico does not qualify since the program is designed for countries with low rates of migration to the U.S.
If Salgado Araujo had an immediate family member (spouse or parent) who was either a legal permanent resident or a U.S. citizen, they could petition for him to immigrate. If he had a sibling, they could also petition for him to come, but there is a wait time of at least 10 years because of annual visa caps. Perhaps when people refer to immigrants getting “in line,” they mean that decade-plus-long queue.
Regardless, once Salgado Araujo was in the U.S., that “line” disappeared completely.
Let’s say Salgado Araujo had married a U.S. citizen. Since he entered illegally, he could not adjust his status inside the country. He would have to leave the U.S. and effectively risk being banned from reentry for up to 10 years. You can petition for what’s known as a hardship waiver, but they are difficult to obtain.
He could have also waited for one of his children to reach adulthood and petition for him to immigrate, but the potential to be barred for a decade remains.
…
To be clear, I do not know what happened in Salgado Araujo’s case. I was unable to reach the family before this column went to press. But it’s clear they were going through a fraught immigration process — one that, given the existing state of the law, would likely have been unsuccessful.
MAYBE he should have Done it the LEGAL way like he was Doing if he didn’t want to DIE in Front of his Child!
-Literally EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN you know!
