voting rights

I come to this issue as a legal immigrant in this country.

Let me describe to you the immigration process as my family has experienced it. We arrived with temporary visas. It took two years to gain permanent, legal status or a Green Card. After this long, difficult and expensive process, we are now described as “legal resident aliens.”

Even the fact that it is called alien is significant in this regard. Our experience in this country, and we come from Australia which is so similar, we come with the English language, with the support of a large community, with the benefit of lawyers who have helped the process along, is that it is a tough process.

How hard must it be for someone without English as a first language, without support structures, coming from a completely different culture, to arrive and deal with the legal and administrative challenges, not to mention the human challenge of adjusting to a new culture?