Immigration Reform Anyone?

I have been looking around for a citizen type coalition to try to influence immigration reform in the U.S. legislature. I haven't found what I am looking for and perhaps it doesn't exist. If that is the case, I am not adverse to starting some kind of grass roots movement.

I don't even want to address the 'illegal' hot topic because I honestly believe that trying to 'fix' illegal immigration is putting the cart before the horse. The 'legal' immigration needs to be fixed first, then the 'illegal' problem and all that it encompasses will follow. It's like that old saying, 'free your mind and your ass will follow.'

I would like to influence how the U.S. legislators go about instituting overhauling the whole immigration system concentrating on family immigration, since it is an obviously personal issue. Additionally, since this is such a hot topic with the American voter right now, now is a good time to get involved in this decision making process with a new administration that will soon be in place. I have been in an immigration mode since I was married back in 2005. I am still waiting for some kind of closure. I could sit and do comparisons and contrasts between the U.S. and the Canadian immigration systems for hours and I do see the good and bad side of both these systems since I have (or am) lived through both sides. With this knowledge, I think I have some good ideas for how to reform the current U.S. 'legal' immigration system.

I do not see a valid reason for:

1. Diversion of funds (in the form of fees paid by applicants) to be used for enforcement rather than application processing;

2. Waiting for 1-1.5 years (conservative estimate) to sponsor a spouse with no criminal history;

3. Waiting for a Consular interview for months;

4. Skilled worker recipients being able to bring their families to the U.S. in a matter of a couple months in comparison to a spouse (see #2);

5. Not having a 'temporary' type approval where the intending immigrant family member receives temporary work permit and allow them to live and work in the U.S. while the application finalizes after they pass a basic security check.

I have other ideas that I think would improve the current system that my mind turns over in attempts to see from all angles. I try to be open minded and am trying to learn the whole immigration process. What exactly does USCIS do with the application, for example? Which data bases do they run name checks against? Why does it take so long?

I am weary though, of wading through immigration reform bill texts and seeing mostly how this bill wants to give all illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. and played nice and not ran with scissors a green card or the bill that wants to seal off the border with a larger than life fence and more and more border patrol officers. I am tired of reading newspaper articles about how this immigrant or that immigrant lived here since birth and lived a good life but happened to have parents of non-U.S. citizenship and will be deported. Or stories of human smugglers who extort their 'customers' for more money once they get their 'customers' across the border. Where are the stories about the normal families separated by the immigration system for months and months and the hardships they endure while their large fees paid to the U.S. government to process their loved one's forms is used to pay for the border patrol to drive around some remote area in the desert?

Why is it so hard and so difficult for me to live with my husband in the U.S. where I was born? That is the most basic of questions that it only requires the most basic of answers. Since I cannot find the answer right now, I want to invest some time and energy into finding an answer and a solution to not only my problem, but a problem that many are facing right now.

So, if anyone is aware of a group that works on this issue, that can, with clarity and an open mind, address the law makers to try to find a way to resolve the current immigration dilemma, please let me know. (You can just post a comment, link below). You never know what can happen when you get involved.