Mehta Searching for Answers on Immigration

Mehta Searching for Answers on Immigration

By William Hinkle

BOSTON—Varun Mehta, a 21-year-old senior at Boston University, believes immigration is one of the most difficult issues facing the United States. As an Indian and the head of US India Political Action Committee’s nation presidential campaign, it is also an issue that directly affects him and his community.

Mehta is well-versed in America’s immigration policies and has observed as family members go through all the legal channels to obtain a visa or become a citizen. Even so, Mehta admits, “It is an issue I have not quite figured out for myself.”

In the late 1950s, Mehta’s great-uncle immigrated to the states and matriculated to the University of Michigan. He did not realize how much higher education cost in the United States and ran out of money after one semester. However, he worked his way through school, with the help of scholarships and loans, until he was able to bring Mehta’s grandmother stateside. Once here, Mehta’s grandmother applied for his uncle and his father to come, too.

Mehta’s father discovered that he disliked life in the United States and worked to make enough money to return to India. Back in India, he married the woman who would become Mehta’s mother before unspecified reasons forced him to India leave again. Although his wife could not come until a year later, Mehta chose to return to the states.

Mehta’s father quickly became a U.S. citizen, got a job at a bank, and began working his way up the bank’s business ladder. On the other hand, Mehta’s mother did not become a U.S. citizen until after her son was born. “I remember going to the immigration office with her,” Mehta says, “and all of the studying she had to do. I also remember trying to get a visitor’s visa or a green card for my grandmother.”

He continues, “My thing is, I have watched people go through all the proper legal channels and how nuts it can be. One angle I have on this issue then is, why should we let people continue to come in illegally?”

Mehta disagrees, however, with the construction of a wall or fence across the border, considering it a “cowboy or laymen’s way to think.” Agreeing with President Bush, he believes the immigration problem needs to be fixed because, as he says, “This is not just a Republican issue or just a Democrat issue – it’s an American issue.”

Because of his involvement with USINPAC, Mehta sees people wrestle with all of the important political issues in America. Nevertheless, immigration is often at the forefront. Peering through his glasses, Mehta concludes, “Immigration is one of the toughest questions our country, my community, and America in general faces. After all, we are a country of immigrants.”