Over eleven million immigrants live in the United States today. Immigrants who have recently came to the United States cannot get any benefits like food stamps, Medicare, Supplement Security Income (SSI), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (IANF) until they have been in the country for a minimum of ten years. Once immigrants come to the United States of America, they have nothing in their possessions. They must find a place to live, they must find a job, and if they don’t have any transportation, they must save up to buy one, so they can get to work and any other important place they might have to go. Because of all the saving and buying they will have to do, they will not be able to get medical insurance right away and they will be struggling to buy groceries.

As immigrants come to the United States legally, they are given no types of benefits. In Harris Myers’s article, Trump Rule Would Penalize Legal Immigrants for Using Medicaid and CHIP, he writes about a legal immigrant family who has been in the United States for a while. Harris explains how Cristian, the son of the family, has leukemia and the family uses Medicaid to pay for the costly treatment. They have been in the United States for over ten years, so they could luckily qualify for the benefits. Without the Medicaid benefits, Cristian could have never gotten the treatment he needed, or the family could have been in serious debt. If legal immigrants were given benefits as they become citizens of the United States, they would be more motivated to work harder to live the American dream.

Family-based immigration is when a U.S. citizen or permanent resident may sponsor family members for a visa.

In an article “Trump is Building a Wall of Bureaucracy,” Shikha Dalmia talks about how Trump is “going after authorized immigrants” meaning he wants to cut down the number of immigrants that come In to the United States legally.

The best solution for this matter is to allow immediate family members to be able to legally be in the same country, the United States, as their loved ones. It is important to keep family-based immigration and let it grow, Trump “initiated his notorious policy of separating kids from parents fleeing Latin America and holding them in separate detention camps” (Dalmia). Kids should not be separated from their families, especially not for fleeing to find a safer home for themselves.

Immigration laws passed by Congress that provide authority over immigration matters, includes entry and exit of all travelers. These laws choose who can come in, how long you can stay, and when you have to leave.

The Problem with the Visa Policy today is that it is out of date. It hasn’t been change for years and times have been constantly changing. Today’s immigration system is ineffective because it is not permitted to adjust to market or workforce demands, and it forces too many families to endure long separation. Immigrants enter the U.S due to it’s large job market. Since the backlog is backed up, and immigrants are in a dire need of jobs, they enter the United States illegally.

The solution is simply, update our Visa Policy. People who have applied for visas must wait months, even years to receive them. “More visas should be made available temporarily to clear the backlog” (“National Immigration” 1). By doing this it allows the immigrants a faster chance to enter the country through the legal process. Now many families can be reunited and be able to provide for them. As for those already in the country we must create a way for them to be able to gain citizenship. “A realistic solution that requires them to register with the government, go through the same national security and criminal background checks that all immigrants must go through, … if no problems are discovered, be put in line for legal residency and eventual citizenship” (“National Immigration” 1). If we enforce this our economy would bump up to a surprising $1.5 trillion in about ten years.

America has a large immigration problem, but it is mainly our fault this problem still exists. If we were to change the policy for the better it will help America greatly. Due to the backlog, immigrants are getting impatient so they enter the states illegal. If they clear this, immigrants will have a better chance of entering the country. However, immigrants have made huge impacts to the economy in a positive way. They make up 14.7% of our economy, and that will continue if they are given a path to citizenship.

United States Visas

What is DACA?

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act is an immigration policy that has been set in place to protect the rights of the children of illegal immigrants that were brought here as children. It grants a temporary “citizenship” to those individuals and guarantees their safety and rights. Recently, it has been under attack by Republicans and those who believe that the children are illegal arrivals just as much as their parents, and there is one simple solution to that issue: make them citizens.

The Dream Act is one that has provided a safe environment and secured the rights of childhood arrivals, and it is arguably one of the most important things that our government has done for immigration laws. Because the children of illegal immigrants were brought without their consent, they technically did not break any laws, and they shouldn’t be treated as if they have. The Dream Act is considered a problem because it rewards illegal immigrants for breaking the law and provides them with the same benefits as a legal immigrant, and even a natural-born citizen, with a few exceptions.

The solution to this controversy is simple, really. The children of illegal immigrants did nothing wrong, it was the actions of their parents that was wrong, and the children should not be punished for it. The simple solution is to make the children of illegal immigrants citizens, regardless of whether or not they were born in the United States. Some may argue that this is not a good solution because they are illegal immigrants just as much as their parents are, but this is simply not true. They were forced to come at a young age, and for many of them, the United States is the only country that they have ever known. Children of legal immigrants and of American citizens are not punished for their parents’ crimes here, so what makes the children of illegals any different?

With this in mind, what are the downsides of giving them citizenship? More law-abiding, taxes-paying citizens to contribute to the economy, their neighborhoods, and their society? Some might argue that allowing the Dreamers to become citizens will attract many more families to bring their own children in hopes that they will become citizens as well, and this may be true, but that can be combated by setting some laws in place, such as age restrictions, having a job or being enrolled in school, and being a law-abiding citizen while illegally staying in the United States. If those laws are implemented, then there can be no room for argument that the Dreamers should be allowed to stay in the only country they know.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act is one that acts as a saving grace for many of the people affected. Not only are children’s lives saved by being able to stay in the country where they were raised, but they are able to do so with no fear of their parents being punished, and are able to grow to contribute to their country. It is an act that should be preserved if not for how they can grow to contribute, then just because we are decent human beings.

DACA ACT

Blog Posts

“Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).” 23.11 Cuban Adjustment Act Cases. | USCIS, www.uscis.gov/archive/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca.

“Our Immigration System Must Be Reformed: An Overview.” National Immigration Forum, immigrationforum.org/article/immigration-system-must-reformed-overview/.

Dalmia, Shikha. “Trump is Building a Wall of Bureaucracy.” Reason, vol. 50, no. 6, Nov. 2018, p. 6. EBSCOhost, 0-search.ebschost.com.libcat.sanjac.edu/login.aspxdirect=true&db=a9h&AN=131784038&site=eds-live

Ana Avendaño, and Charlie Fanning. “Immigration Policy Reform in the United States: Reframing the Enforcement Discourse to Fight Human Trafficking and Promote Shared Prosperity.” Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, 2013. EBSCOhost, doi:10.14197/atr.20121326.

Angel Carole. “Immigration Relief for Human Trafficking Victims: Focusing the Lens on the Human Rights of Victims.” 2007. EBSCOhost, 0-search.ebscohost.com.libcat.sanjac.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=35766853&site=eds-live.

Lynch, Robert, and Patrick Oakford. “Granting Illegal Immigrants a Path to Citizenship Would Boost US and State Economies.” Immigration, edited by Debra A. Miller, Greenhaven Press, 2014. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, http://0-link.galegroup.com.libcat.sanjac.edu/apps/doc/EJ3010362284/OVIC?u=txshracd2544&sid=OVIC&xid=cf8ccb49. Accessed 11 Dec. 2018. Originally published as “National and State-by-State Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform,” Center for American Progress, 2013.

mitchell Schurma.” Undocumented texans contribute billions to the economy. why are we chasing them    away?”.https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/06/05/undocumented-immigrants-contribute-economy-texas-chase-away

Videos

FWD.us. “What Is DACA?” YouTube, YouTube, 18 Jan. 2017, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqzBfZ7oSZA.

Mic.”What do Undocumented immigrants contribute to the economy?” YouTube,YouTube, 4 Oct.2016, https://youtu.be/8w_W3O5dq-s.

Images

“An Immigrant Wife’s Place? In the Home, According to Visa Policy.” Ms. Magazine Blog, 19 June 2013, msmagazine.com/blog/2013/06/19/an-immigrant-wifes-place-in-the-home-according-to-visa-policy/.

Garciadealba, Leslie. “Immigrants Benefit the Economy. – Leslie Garciadealba – Medium.” Medium.com, Medium, 18 May 2018, medium.com/@lesliegarciadealba96/immigrants-benefit-the-economy-c54cd56f6fc4.

“New U.S. Visa Policy Affects International Students.” World Education Services, www.wes.org/advisor-blog/new-u-s-visa-policy-affects-international-students/.

“Family Based Green Card Applications.” Hoover Law Group, 2018, gshlaw.net/family-based-green-card-applications/.

“The Sad Truth About DACA.” The Odyssey Online, Odyssey, 11 Sept. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/the-sad-truth-about-daca.

Church, Santa Teresa. “Stop Human Trafficking – Upcoming Events.” Santa Teresa Parish, 7 Aug. 2018, santateresachurch.com/stop-human-trafficking-upcoming-events/.