Stars and Bars

Under a new law, the INS prepares to kick out thousands of immigrants who have done nothing wrong--except play by the rules.

A A A Comments By Beth Hawkins Wednesday, Sep 17 1997

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If that still doesn't convince Congress to act, Myers suggests that maybe the long-term economic impact will. If it gets too hard for high-tech and other industries to recruit specialized labor from abroad, one likely outcome could be the relocation of more U.S. industries overseas. "Bill Gates," Myers says. "He's threatened to go somewhere else--India, like the T-shirt manufacturers--if he can't get labor here... Industry is going to get its job done. Textiles, shirts, baseballs, medicine--all of their products will get made, it's just a question of by who and where." Geoff Evans, Sergei Kostine's employer, couldn't agree more. "It's been a huge inconvenience. Fifteen to 20 percent of my time has gone to solving this problem in the last two months." Without Kostine and his other Russian employee drumming up business, he adds, Minnesco couldn't stay in business, meaning all of its employees--including the immigrants--would stop paying taxes. "With the new law, I feel we've been grossly mistreated," he says. "It goes against the principles that are American, that is, recourse to a legal system when something goes wrong. The new law provides for no legal recourse, there's no judicial check on the system."

As for Kostina, right now she's feeling grateful that she's not lined up with the scores of other Twin Cities immigrants for whom September 30 looms large. Incredibly, she still retains an immigrant's faith in the system. "Now I realize that in America, laws are created for the people, are there to be enforced, and that we as taxpayers have rights," she says. "That's one of the beauties of living in America."

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