Issue Of The Week XI Fall 2011-2012: Immigration Reform And The 2012 Presidential Election

I think that immigrants are a very important factor in the economy, they continue to do jobs that many citizens find unfit for themselves. Presidential candidates have to make clear their proposals and what they think of doing with immigration. Immigrants here in the United States should be extended citizenship to be part of our society completely. Immigrants will continue flowing into the U.S. and not to invade or cause problems but because life in Mexico is much more difficult than here, if the U.S. economy is bad what can we expect from Mexico? People work many hours for a very very low wage and it is never enough for family expenses. Immigrants are searching for better opportunities and it is essential that the U.S. aid immigrant families who are searching to relieve themselves from poverty. Electric fencing? is it not the U.S. the land of opportunities where anybody can be given a chance to prosper and progress for a better life. Any child including immigrant children and children of immigrant parents but born here in the U.S. have the complete right to have their parents with them and obtain a better education that will help them be more integrated into society. Let's not allow immigrants to fear being deported and separated from the families, who has the right to separate families? or who has the right to not allow families to unite?

In the past and especially now, Immigration has always been an issue in the United States. Undocumented immigrants have always been seen as a threat and danger to society. In reality, that is not always true. Just because a person is undocumented does not mean that they are a criminal or a delinquent, or should be seen as a unfitting “alien.” Rather they are simply human beings that want to better their lives for themselves and for their family. Sure the number of undocumented immigrants has increased and continues to do so but having them in society benefits many and especially the economy. For this reason, our government should seek ways to help these people. They play a significant role in society by working unpleasant jobs for ridiculous amounts of hours, provide for the economy with their consumerism in shops and stores, and young undocumented immigrants with their intelligence. The U.S border should be left as is. Reality is, immigration will not stop. So why not help those who already contribute to the U.S? They will be able to then provide more our country because they will not be living in fear anymore. People should have grand opportunities and it should not stop for immigrants.

With the rate of undocumented Mexican immigrants currently living in the United States illegally increasing, immigration should be a major part of the platform of the candidates vying to become President. It is vital that all presidential candidates provide an in-depth plan as to how they are going to prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the United States illegally and propose a set of solutions to address the treatment of immigrants that are currently living in the United States. Personally, we must hold immigrants that have entered this country illegally accountable for their actions. Those living here illegally should be forced to pay a fine each month to the federal government until they are able to obtain citizenship thus providing motivation to become American citizens. This notion should apply to all those that have immigrated to this country illegally not just Mexican immigrants. Children of illegal immigrants born in the United States should be considered American citizens and be provided all the privileges and opportunities that we as Americans are entitled to. Children of illegal immigrants should not have to fall victim to discrimination and inequality because of their parent’s criminal actions and decisions in which they had no control over. To increase security along our borders we must expand our law enforcement particularly our Border Patrol in order to do so educating and training youth and young adults about law enforcement is vital thus in return providing a pool of applicants to fill the surge of new Border Patrol officers needed in the future. Measures such as creating an electric fence along our borders is inhumane and ridiculous we cannot lose sight that though they are illegal immigrants they are human beings first and we all must respect that.

It’s highly impossible to have the U.S. government deport every undocumented immigrant back to their homeland. The article has a good point, what if they’re working and have a family to take care of. Among those who work to support their family and contribute to their communities, I support them 100%. Those are the kinds of people we should be considerate about, not causing any problems. On the other hand, undocumented immigrants who come to this country in the hopes of “having a better life”, and soon turn their life around behind bars should be deported immediately. Although, some may argue that immigration increases crime, I believe that most people that come into the U.S. usually want a better life. If the government is so upset about the number of illegal immigrants increasing then they should probably enforce the borders with higher investigation. No matter what, we still have over 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. And of those 12 million undocumented immigrants, many have a family to raise and support. It would be devastated to see a child without their mom or dad only because their parents were illegal immigrants. It’s sad to say that there are many cases that have happened. As elections approach, we’ll see what our presidential candidates solutions are to these types of problems.

There has been so many things that have been done to try and stop illegal immigrants from crossing over the border. There was a bigger wall that was built so that they would not be able to jump over. None of these ideas has worked. They are still finding their way around everything that the government is building to try to prevent them from crossing over. There is no need for there to try to make something safe. The only reason why these people are trying to cross over our borders is because they are trying to better their lives so that they could help their loved ones that they have in Mexico. If it wasn’t for illegal immigrants who would be out there doing all of the dirty work that they do? For example gardening, cleaning other people’s houses, painting houses etc. There are just things that people don’t really think about. In my opinion I think that it is going to be really hard to try and completely stop illegal immigrants from crossing over.

The 12 million immigrants who are already living here should not have to return to Mexico. However, it is clear that there needs to be some sort of solution in terms of granting citizenship so that the American-born children of these immigrants can reap the benefits that every other American is entitled to. Because of this, I think that the Dream Act, or similar legislation, is essential for integrating these individuals into society. Also, immigration is a prominent issue within the 2012 election. As of January 2011, the United States has already spent over $1 billion on the US/Mexican border fence, as well as other “virtual fence” technologies (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/15/us/politics/15fence.html?_r=1&ref=bord...). The current security measures are not entirely effective to a certain extent, and with the financial crisis that the United States is currently involved in, investing in further security measures seems unrealistic at this time. Because it is such a prominent issue, and seemingly impossible to solve, potential candidates need to have a concrete, pragmatic policy for dealing with this problem.

The issue of Immigration is one that is close to my heart. I'm Mexican American and I have been exposed to a lot of people who are illegally in America. I am not shocked that there are 12 million immigrants in the United States. I don't think it would be ideal or possible to kick them all out either. Although it is wrong that they are here illegally, these people are working for their money and their stay here. Most of the jobs that immigrants currently hold are jobs that American's don't usually like to do or want to do. They are not taking jobs away from anyone; just trying to make a living for their family. Most immigrants are grateful to be here and do respect the Law. I don't think Illegals should be seen as bad people, but rather as people who wish to live a good life. We do not choose our background or where we come from, so I believe we shouldn't be upset for their efforts to try to live a better life.

Yes, America was built on diversity and opportunities. These conditions should only be allowed if pursued correctly, meaning applying for citizenship and taking appropriate steps on obtaining. My father and most of his siblings were born in Mexico. They achieved their current status as American citizens through the appropriate standards. This issue on what we should do as a country to eliminate illegal trespassing is a difficult one. It is an important issue due to the fact that most of these individuals are taking away resources that should be provided from legal citizens, such as jobs. I believe that the upcoming President elections should focus some on this issue. It needs a solution soon or the issue will only get worse.

Because the issue of illegal immigration is a matter of such huge importance, I think that finding a way to solve the "immigration crisis" and better secure U.S. borders should be - and WILL be - one of the major platforms for candidates vying for presidential candidacy.

The idea that I would offer to a candidate for office would be an alternative to blanket amnesty or mass deportation, because both of those options are equally
inadvisable. In my opinion, I believe the government should offer any and all illegal immigrants the U.S. choice to either become a citizen legally within a certain timeframe (this means illegal immigrants would actually go through the process of citizenship that they had by-passed in the past) or else be deported. I think this solution is the most ethical and appropriate for our nation and for the illegal immigrants that would be involved in its implementation. By taking the steps necessary to become legal citizen, the immigrants would finally become part of the system they have been using unchecked for years.

This would benefit both the immigrants themselves (as businesses would then be forced to pay them the legal rates they may have been denied as undocumented residents) and the U.S. as a whole, because the federal government would now have documentation of immigrants in the country.

As for the border issue, I do believe that the United States (just like any nation) has the right to protect and secure its borders. Further, I think that we could secure the borders with resources we already have. If we positioned a significant amount of border patrol people along the Mexican and Canadian border, they coul dbe more effective toward the goals of national security. Even 100,000 border patrol officers is viable, because it is such a small percentage of the millions of active duty military, guard, and reserves. This could be in addition to an increase in coast guard security.

Also, to increase protection, both borders could have a fence or a road that could be easily patrolled with vehicles and easily monitored with cameras and motion sensors.

I am very unclear of how I feel as well as what is good for our country when it comes to illegal immigrants. I personally am against the idea of illegal immigrants because of the fact that there are specific laws set up that I don’t think are ok to just break. At the same time I don’t know the other side of the story obviously coming to America for better opportunities is worth the risk so that makes me feel that maybe things are worse across the border than I am aware of. While I do not have to decide which way I feel one I believe completely that a politician should most likely have stronger opinions since it impacts their line of work. More than the idea that they should have opinions it is a must that they stick by their beliefs entirely unless they truly change their mind. Saying different things to please different people is wrong.

Immigration is definitely something that needs to be addressed in the upcoming presidential election. The idea that 12 million people are living in this country without citizenship is truly surprising to me. I think as this is a race relations dialogue, it is really important to understand a lot of the race driven motivation for the DREAM bill to fail. I honestly feel like many Americans are still in the mindset that immigrants, especially Mexicans, are trying to come into this country to steal the jobs of natural born Americans. We are okay with hiring these people to do the jobs that no one wants to do anyway but we are not okay with them living here and trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. Many Americans will never support something if they feel like it is solely benefiting another racial group and have their own definitions of who "deserves" to be helped. This is especially relevant because if we are supposed to be living in a post-racial society, things like race driven immigration should not still be a major factor and the focus of many debates.

I do feel that this is an issue because living here illegally causes a whole host of other problems, but to deny someone's child who was born and raised here the rights that everyone else receives is wrong. As far as solutions and measures that should be taken, you can't kick out 12 million people, as this article already suggested. People have lives and roots here and whether or not your grandparents might have come here illegally does not mean that you do not deserve to live here nor does it mean you are not really American. I am not sure what should be done. Doing anything illegally is wrong but denying someone their due rights is also wrong.

After hearing what the Dream Act is--I had never heard about it before--I would absolutely vote and encourage this to pass. I also think it is a very key issue that our congress and presidential candidates should focus on and be questioned about. One reason I think this is so important is because I feel as if our country is not unified. We don't support our neighbors--unless their skin color, salary, or sexuality is something we approve of. I think that accepting those 12 million into our country (just as we all were one hundred to two hundred years ago)would increase our chances of becoming a stronger and more unified nation.

People assume that illegal immigrants are taking jobs that Americans actually want or that they are the reason wages remain low, but I doubt that many Americans are clamoring for careers in the meat packing or fruit picking career fields. In fact, states that recently implemented harsh immigration laws, such as Georgia, had crops rotting in the field because they did not have enough migrant workers to harvest them. Georgia resorted to having criminals pick the fruit, many of whom walked off the site. Furthermore, I seriously doubt that employers would just raise wages if illegal immigrants weren’t available. From what I understand, they would more likely invest in technology to replace workers or outsource their operation to a country with cheaper labor. Why not allow migrant workers to unionize and negotiate better wages and working conditions by giving them some form of legal status? Then, not only would they receive more human treatment, but governments could also collect taxes to help offset the money they invest in education and services for migrant workers. People also discount the positive effects illegal immigrants have on our economy. They allow us to buy cheap goods and they also spend the money they earn in the communities in which they live – thereby creating demand and subsequently jobs.

There must be some way that we can resolve the illegal immigration issue. I think the best possible way to ease the transition from illegal to legal status would be to not make it such an arduous process to get legal status in our country. If we were to do this there may be more illegal immigrants that would be more willing to achieve legal status. But of course we are not the only country in the world that is struggling with immigration issues. We need to find a common ground among the illegal majority in our country and seek to make them of legal status.

Immigration is major topic that can enhance various of viewpoints. We must admit immigration allows for our economy to strength. It gives individuals the opportunity to work and help strength our nation.

I strongly support the dream act. Like many other, I came to America with my family at the age of 10. Not like so many, we were fortunate enough to legally reside in the states, however, for those who are not, imagining life back at home can be horrifying. Anyone who came to the states at an young with their family, like myself, would agree that, after living here for years, it is impossible for us to go back and try to live in our home country. First, we lack the sufficient knowledge in our primary language, where we would not be able to obtain a good job. We grew up in America and even though our first language may have been what we learned first, we are more sufficient in English. For example, I moved here when I was in 4th grade. My Korean has not improved since I left Korea since I started to speak english. For that reason, my Korean is still stuck in elementary school level, both reading and writing, and speaking. I could not imagine what I would be able to do if I were to ever go back to Korea. I would not be able to attend their university since I lack in Korean. For occupational purposes also. No job is going to hire someone that is not strong in their primary language. So I believe the Dream Act is doing a favor for those who came to the states at a young age with their family where they had no choice but to come. I don't believe these kids should be punished for the mistakes their parents have made.