U.S. Citizenship

I've been at a loss to understand why nearly 12 million illegal aliens, residing on our shores, are reluctant to seek legal citizenship.  Knowing nothing about it as am 2nd generation on one side and 16th or 18th on the other, I looked it up.   The information I found was confusing, but then Time magazine came to my rescue.  This week's edition  (time.com - read the whole thing for yourself) features an interview with one Jose Antonio Vargas, an activist for illegal aliens.  In it, he answers specific questions.  The following is the short version.

"Why didn't you become legal?"  Answer:  Because the US issues about 25,000 green cards per country per year.  Moldavia, pop. 3.5 million gets the same number as Mexico, pop. 112 million.  Filipino siblings who applied in 1989 are still waiting in line.  (My solution - move to Moldavia and wait your turn.) 

Marriage to an American citizen.  Vargas says he couldn't do this even if he wanted to as he is gay and gay marriage is not recognized by the federal government. 

Despite being here illegally, he got a driver's license (cancelled when he declared himself an illegal alien.)  He lives in California, but went to Washington because they are much more lenient.  He says that illegal aliens also need to drive to work, drop the kids off at school, run errands.  He used his to board a plane, since he doesn't have a passport.    If the federal government is really trying to weed out the illegals, then make it mandatory to show a passport to board a flight.   Having to have a passport or stay home, would also give a truer picture, perhaps, than the US Census. 

Do you notice a theme in the above?  "I'm a victim!" by any chance?

He claims that there are 11.5 million illegal aliens here.  Of them, 59% are Mexicans, 1 million from Asia and the Pacific Islands, 800,000 from South America, 300,000 from Europe.  The US Census say that children born to racial and/or ethnic marriages now represent the majority of all US births.  Obama has caused 1.2 million illegal aliens to be deported in his 3 1.2 years in office; George W Bush took eight years to deport 1.6 million.  In fiscal 2011, Obama deported nearly 400,000 people, 55% of which were convicted criminals. 

The Office of Immigration Statistics at DHS, says that 86% of the illegal residents have been here for seven years or longer. 

Okay, they're here and, according to Vargas, paying their taxes and living  just as we do.  He tries to limn a picture that illegal aliens are "just like us."  I don't think so.  He is, after all, an illegal alien activist, pushing an agenda.