Sunday, August 08, 2004
Let Poland into the visa waiver program
Lech Walesa thinks that the United States should let Poles into the country under its visa waiver program, and I agree completely.
The American objection -- that the high rate of unemployment among Poles might motivate some of them to overstay their visas and work illegally -- is ridiculous. First, and I say this as somebody who lived in Chicago for many years, Poles make excellent employees. We need more of them in this country. Second, the unemployment rate in France is pretty damn high, and the French get in under the visa waiver program. Finally, and this is the big point, the Poles have shed blood to support our foreign policy, and the likelihood of any individual Pole working for the jihadists has to be vanishingly small. Let them in.
CWCID: Chrenkoff.
Former Polish President Lech Walesa wrote to President Bush on Friday asking him to lift visa requirements for Poles and condemning the travel requirement as "disgraceful" in light of historic American-Polish friendship....
Poles "deserve to be treated with proper honor and recognition," Walesa said he wrote in the letter.
"Important historical events, our common heroic history and today's cooperation prompt me to call on you to reflect on and abandon the disgraceful policy of U.S. immigration authorities toward the Polish people," the letter said.
Visa requirements are a sore point in Poland, where many citizens feel the country's strong support for the U.S. actions in Iraq has earned them the right to freely enter the United States.
The American objection -- that the high rate of unemployment among Poles might motivate some of them to overstay their visas and work illegally -- is ridiculous. First, and I say this as somebody who lived in Chicago for many years, Poles make excellent employees. We need more of them in this country. Second, the unemployment rate in France is pretty damn high, and the French get in under the visa waiver program. Finally, and this is the big point, the Poles have shed blood to support our foreign policy, and the likelihood of any individual Pole working for the jihadists has to be vanishingly small. Let them in.
CWCID: Chrenkoff.
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