Oh, I don't expect that to ever happen. It would mean admitting the system is broken, and I can't see the people in power ever committing to significant immigration reform. Of any kind.
Here is the thing though. Let's assume that the kid turns 18, and he wants to be a citizen but his parents were lazy. He files for a green card, waits four or five years and he is a citizen. He's 23 and likely has 50 more years of being a citizen. There isn't really a problem here except for the narrow sense of a soccer player peaking at about 23 and probably not waiting to get capped. The immigration system needs reform, but this doesn't seem to me to be the place where it is needed.
Don't green card holders get federal aid? I'm not an expert on all that, but you might have a point. Voting obviously should be something that isn't casually given away.
Some — I believe the Pell grant can be given to non-citizens — but most federal aid tends to be citizenship-only. However, I'm not an expert on this.
The situation where you would all of sudden want citizenship at 17 or 18 while spending 9+ year here of not really caring is pretty limited to break out youth soccer stars, and maybe some Olympic sport athletes. Everyone that was saying there were great undiscovered players that were shut out of the system by pay 2 play was right; unfortunately, looks like a lot of those kids are not citizens. (I think its probably the best thing to happen to U.S. soccer; itll raise the game of everybody.)
Some people here have discussed how hard and long the green card process is so lots of these kids' parents never bother with it. To them, I'd just like to point out the cases of Steve Zakuani and Sebastien Le Toux. Le Toux emigrated to the US in late winter/early spring of 2007 when he signed with the USL Sounders and was here on a work visa. In early August of 2010, he got his Green Card. Took him three and a half years. http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/2010/08/le-toux-receives-green-card Zakuani first came to the US on a student visa at Akron. Persons here on student visas can't apply for Green Cards and time here on a student visa doesn't start the clock towards a Green Card and citizenship. That process only started once Zakuani turned pro, which required a work visa and that was in January of 2009. In early December of LAST year, Zakuani announced he received his Green Card. Less than TWO YEARS after turning pro. Hell, even if you count the two years he spent at Akron (which the government doesn't), he still did it in less than four years. http://www.sounderatheart.com/2010/...-card-permanent-resident-status-in-this-great Now, maybe the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Seattle is just fare more efficient and/or less busy, and paperwork gets processed there faster. Maybe the Sounders were more proactive as employers towards getting the process started since they saw a benefit in not having players taking up an international spot. I don't know. I do know that Le Toux and Zakuani show this process can be done fairly quickly if the persons are proactive about it, which clearly, people like the parents of Diego Fagundez and the myriad other players we discuss and lament losing here didn't do. Again, if Zakuani can do it in less than two years, it's hard not to blame the parents of someone who have been here over a decade for not getting a Green Card.
Completely agree. People can whine all about "the system" that they want to. But ultimately it's the responsibility of the individual parties to be proactive if they want (or want their children) to become Green Card Holders/American citizens. As wiki says, though.............. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_citizenship However, one study suggested legal residents eligible for citizenship, but who don't apply, tend to have low incomes (41 percent), do not speak English well (60 percent), or have low levels of education (25 percent). One suspects that the families under the microscope in this thread for not starting the process earlier may fit snugly into one or more of these categories. [Just an assumption on my part. I could be completely wrong.]
I know Matthew Tilley's dad. He has a green card. He will /can get US citizenship when he turns 18. He has a lot of interest from EPL teams so that might change things if Galaxy don't sign him soon.
CB and DMF. Thus far he's played in three games (out of four), with one start. The Galaxy U17/18 DA has a lot of talent, and they picked up some quality defenders from last year's U17/18 Pateadores championship team, so Tilley is fighting for playing time.
That's about right. I think Tilley has more potential than the others, I also think he is better, but competition never hurts. That is the kind of pressure these kids need if they are going to make it. If he is he will rise to the challenge and that's good for the Galaxy.
Torre has much more potential than him. Tilley quite frankly has not performed that well this year. Daniel Selpukhin has been very dominant so far for the Galaxy Under 18's.
The Gals are gonna have some serious homegrown signing decisions to make within the next year. (particularly if Mendiola and Villareal end up staying) And this is the way it should be. Each club should think of every player on their U18 roster as a potential homegrown signing, and the competition should push each player to improve. I'm not sure if they'll go on a homegrown signing spree like FCD did........but they could. The talent is there.
Torre. Good player and going to UCLA I hear. He is very vocal which is good, but when I have seen him against better forwards (last year) he is troubled. The thing is with this Galaxy U18's is that there are so many good players it's really hard to say who is better than who. But I will stick with my opinion Tilley is the best 16 year old defender in the US after what I saw at the DA championships and U17 Gen' Addidas cup. Bottom line, I believe boys are really good and I would pair them together and also give them a run in the reserves - they could really push each other.
Absolutely right. The Gals must be wondering what to do. here's my list. What's your list? Villareal - if he comes back? Mandiola - if he comes back? Tilley - if he doesn't go back to Tottenham/Birmingham? It's interesting that these all have others clubs / countries after them Rodrequez - Back from residency program Valasquez Seb - probably the most natural player There are other but I think they want to go to college. Howe Dhillon J (U16) Not sure on some of the new guys yet but Torre has a good potential.
Diego Fagundez can be American if he somehow convinces Congress that he has amazing ability like this Ice skater did http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanith_Belbin http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/23/sports/sp-olydance23 Actually it was a big support group with petitions that helped get it to congress. maybe Diego's friends should start a site. outside of that, hes gone.
Bump. Orr Barruch. No. Diego F. No. ...but this is the place to dream, whine, complain, etc. Thank you.
http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=8373 It's actually possible to get citizenship! Maybe we should give guys like Juan Agudelo and Stuart Holden's parents some credit for beginning the process when their children are young.
There are quite a few Dzenan Catic too also went through the process and he's now at Kaiserslautern's U23 team http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=8173 Same thing with Danijal Brkovic who is on the first team with Velez Mostar (Bosnian Premier League) in Bosnia. He was born in Dubrovnik and immigrated to the US in Binghamton and became a citizen when he was 16. You know one guy who is eligible for US citizenship but who is content with not getting it? Jurgen Klinsmann
Barrera and Agudelo were able to obtain citizenship because their mothers got divorced and then married Americans. I suppose you can give them credit despite their failed first marriages, but I'm certainly not going to point fingers at couples who have a harder time getting citizenship because they stay together.