Dreamers of Undocumented Immigrants - Term Paper Example

Dreamers of Undocumented Immigrants The issue of immigrants has for a long time been a thorn in the flesh of the United s. The US has always been a country whose majority population has constituted mainly of immigrants. During the 18th, 19th and early 20th century, the issue of immigration was not a hot topic as it is today. The country was less densely populated then and immigrants could come without having to undergo the strict anti-immigration treatment that is rampant today in all the states. Illegal immigrants is the title given to immigrants without legal authorization have come to be known in America. Who are Illegal Immigrants? Illegal immigrants in the United States are those people who: 1. Enter the country without authorization or inspection 2. Overstay beyond the legal period after authorized entry 3. Violate legal entry terms In recent years, immigration has been the cause of major controversies especially in regards to economic benefits, ethnicity, crime, jobs for citizens and upward social mobility. According to the definition given above of illegal immigrants, children who immigrate into the United States at a young age, alongside their illegally immigrating parents, are also considered illegal immigrants. The question that many ask is whether these people who know no other country as their home should be treated the same way as their illegal immigrant parents. These children cannot be said to be guilty of breaching immigration laws. They should not be viewed like they are criminals who are out to rob American citizens of their political, economic and social opportunities. Since students who were brought in by parents who illegally entered the country or have overstayed are not officially recognized as US citizens, they are referred to as undocumented students. Every year, tens of thousands of undocumented students graduate from high school, but they lack a clear way forward because they aren’t certain of their citizenship or immigrant status. Schmittroth (124) states there are many others who do not reach the level of high school graduation due to lack of learning incentive. Most of the undocumented students normally revert to living hidden lives within their communities. This has been a major problem especially for children who come into the country at a very young age and do not acquire citizenship. For a long time, these people have been considered part of the illegal immigrant population in the United States, and this view has often elicited controversy from many quarters. To address this ever present issue, the federal government introduced the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act of 2001. The Act has been re-introduced several times in order to address some of the rising issues of undocumented immigrants and the young children they bring with them into the country. The Dream Act The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act came into existence in 2001 as a way of trying to ensure that immigrant children do have to go though forced deportation and other hardships that comes with being an illegal immigrant. One of the requirements of the Dream Act is that eligible undocumented immigrants must have come to the US before they were 16 and the person should be in a position to proof this (Congressional Digest 9). There are other conditions that one has to satisfy before he/she is considered under this act: 1. He/she would have to pass a thorough background check 2. He/she would have to be of good moral character and should not have any criminal background. 3. The undocumented person has to graduate from high school, attend college or any other institution of higher learning, or serve in the army for a specified period. 4. He/she must also have lived in the United States for not less than five years prior to the enactment of the bill. This means they should have been between ages 12 and 30 at the time the bill was enacted. The 2009 version of the bill stipulates that one has to have registered with the Selective Service if they are male. Recent Immigration Trends Children from immigrant families have been increasing rapidly in number for the last 20 years or so. During the 1990s, it is estimated that more than 15 million people entered the US as immigrants. The same trend is being repeated in the current decade. While immigrants make up 12% of the entire population, their children comprise at least 20% of the current US population. More than a fifth of all immigrant children were born outside of the country. They came in as immigrants together with their parents. This fact alone makes them undocumented immigrants, just as their parents are. Children who came in as immigrants are face the same challenges as their parents. This means that they do not enjoy the same level of social services that citizen children enjoy (Galindo et al 76). Most of these non-authorized immigrant children, just like their parents, are concentrated in specific destinations: Texas, California, Florida, New York, Illinois and New Jersey. Other states that are experiencing an increase in immigrant population are Nebraska, North Carolina, Georgia, Idaho and Nevada. These states have not had much experience dealing with immigration integration, but they are feeling the impact that immigrants are having on the demand for social services that include healthcare and education. For many people, the social services pressure that is being exerted by the presence of undocumented immigrants is a major cause of worry and many of them view undocumented immigrants and their children as a threat to their social and economic well being. Merino (85) reveals that most children who come into the US with their parents are normally subjected to the same hardships as their parents. For instance, many immigrant families are low income; therefore, it is not surprising to find most of them living way below poverty levels set by the federal laws. Due to the nature of their livelihoods, immigrant families together with their children are normally forces to bear with cases of food insecurity, crowded housing, poor health and little or no education opportunities. Since federal laws treat the children of immigrant parents as illegal immigrants, they often do not get access to cash welfare, housing assistance or even food stumps that citizens are entitled to. In other words, children of undocumented immigrants, and who came into the country as young children, are considered non-citizens who do not qualify for federal assistance. Arguments Opposing the Dream Act The opponents of the Dream Act argue that this Act is an amnesty for people who broke the law governing immigration. Schmittroth (124) however says that an argument against this claim will be that the Dream Act does not offer automatic citizenship to all illegal immigrants but only those who qualify as determined by the outlined requirements. It is a lengthy path to citizenship. The opponents of the Dream Act conquer with the fact that at the time of immigration, the undocumented students could not impact on the decision of their parents to immigrate into the country illegally. Holding to their ground, these opponents argue that by choosing to join instructions of higher learning or work and continue to live in the US, the undocumented students are making a conscious decision to keep the illegality going. They claim that they are no longer powerless to do something about their citizenship in the right way as they were when they came in. These opponents claim that the government should force these students to go through the current process of obtaining citizenship rather than providing for them an additional path (Pattison 13). Another argument from the opponents of the Dream Act is that the government should begin by providing enough funds for its legal citizens before pledging help to illegal immigrants. They base their claims on argument that currently, there is no student aid funding the legal US citizens. To them, it seems unfair to the US citizens for the government to give such great attention to illegal immigrants before its citizens. They also claim that the US education is declining hence the government should not spend extra money for the education of the illegals when its legal citizens are not making the grade (Lee 235). In addition to the above argument, the opponents of the Dream Act state that the US does not afford and should therefore desist from aspiring to pay for the education of any person who just happens to be on American soil (Lee 241). Another strong arguments leveled against the Dream Act was that it did nothing to solve the problem of the other 10 million plus illegal immigrants in the country. While this argument may be true, it is also logical that the government cannot solve the problems of all immigrants. It should also be noted that illegal immigration into the US still occurs hence solving the problems of all illegal immigrants will serve to encourage it. However, the Dream Act is meant to benefit people who are in the US illegally but they are not foreign in the US and this number is not bound to increase due to the requirements alongside it. Benefits of the Dream Act According to Merino (89), U.S. immigrants who entered the country when they were too young in the company of their undocumented parents should not be made to pay for the actions of their parents, actions that they had little or no control over. It is not fair that these people, many of whom have never done anything to deserve the kind of horrid lives they live to be bundled out of a country that they have come to regard as their home. It is true that the country’s immigration policies need some through revision, but denying immigrant children a chance to live a satisfactory life through a rejection of the Dream Act will not help solve anything. Not so long ago, the case of Ivan Nikolov, a Russia immigrant who came to the country in the company of his undocumented parents at the age of 11 was documented in the press. A decade after his arrival, Nikolov was thrown in jail for breaching immigration laws. This occurred despite the fact that at the time he was coming to the U.S he had played no role in the decision to flee Russia and enter U.S illegally. He spent many nights in jail and yet he had not committed any crime. Ivan Nikolov considers himself an American having lived in the country all of his teenage years. He went to a high school in Michigan and graduated and he has a stepfather and fiancee who are both American citizens. Although Nikolov was finally let out of jail, his case just shows how broken the immigrant law in the U.S is. It is unfortunate that there are many other. Galindo et al (92) state that bills such as the Dream Act and other related policies were created to help people such as Nikolov, who are American but lack the papers to prove it, to solve their immigration problems once and for all. This way they can become fully productive members of the society and there is nothing to stop them from being the best they can be in this beautiful country. The Dream Bill would allow such immigrants to access public education and be allowed to attend college, receive scholarships loans and government aid just like any other American citizen. Like any other American, these people should be allowed to apply for driver’s licenses and work permits whenever they need them (Chitty 25). Education is very key in the development of a country. Having learned in America schools until they graduate from high school, there is no need for America to waste a precious pool of learned undocumented students. All along, they had been enjoying educational benefits like other children. Maze (13) explains that under the Dream Act, such students will be able to obtain conditional permanent residency in the US and in this case, they will not be subject to any form of deportation. This means they can advance their education and work for the US. According to the Act, such students can only earn citizenship through serving in the military of joining institutions of higher education. This is a fair treatment since some of the students have little or no recollection of their countries of origin. The Dream Act also serves as a motivation to undocumented students who would otherwise have graduated from US high schools without a clear direction for moving forward educationally. Due to this benefit, the Dream Act will be of great importance in reducing the great number of high school dropout cases among undocumented students. Edwards (11) reveals that many of such students have been dropping out and reverting to hiding in the American society. Therefore, it will be a better option for them, and the general US society, to flow this lengthy path to citizenship than to exist in limbo. In the long run, their hidden existence might cost the nation more than it costs to educate them. This Dream Act will ensure that all students who are undocumented but are willing to attend colleges in the US or serve in the US armed forces are given a full chance to contribute to the society. This is because the Dream Act supports the creation of a clear path to citizenship for such students. It also allows the various US states to determine the requirements that will make a student eligible for in-state tuition. From these findings, it is therefore clear that the Dream Act is a significant accomplishment in the struggle for the educational attainment and civil rights for the many undocumented students in the US (Palacios 2). Conclusion The issue of treating the children of illegal immigrants who came into the country at a very young age as if they are citizens should not elicit the kind of controversy that it does. These children never forced their way into the country. On the contrary they were brought in by their parents. No one can claim that at an age as young as 10 one can influence their parents decision. The same case applies to immigrants children whose parents brought them to the United States. These children have grown up knowing no other place as their home apart from the country they have always known and considered themselves to be part of. No one has the moral right to determine which children deserve to be American citizens or not. This is because almost 99% of all Americans today would not be the proud Americans they are had their parents not been immigrants. The Dream Act should not be opposed. In fact more support is needed for this bill which gives the children of immigrants the chance to enjoy bountiful opportunities that can only be found in the United States. Those who oppose the bill claim that it is too expensive to implement and that it would be effective in taming the illegal immigrant problem in the country. However, what most of those people who oppose the Dream Act bill do not take their time to think about the benefits that the bill would have on the country and also on the lives of people who had no control over their current situation. There are also moral grounds for supporting this bill: it is not the fault of the innocent young children that their parents felt the need to bring them to a country they believed would offer them a hope for the future. The children should not be punished for the decisions their parents made for them, at a time when they (the children) could not apprehend the seriousness of those decisions. Works Cited Camia Catalina. (2010). “Senate blocks DREAM Act.” USA Today. Online. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics. Retrieved on 24th August, 2011. Congressional Digest. “The DREAM Act Immigrant Access to Higher Education.” Congressional Digest (9) pp 257-67.2010. Retrieved from EBSCO Website on 24th August, 2011. Chitty Haley. “Debating the Delayed DREAM Act.” University Business (10) pp 28-30. 2010. Edwards James. “Reid Wants DREAM Act to Give Amnesty for Illegals.” Human Events (33) pp 11. 2010. Galindo Rene, Medina Christina and Chavez Xochitl. “DUAL SOURCES OF INFLUENCE ON LATINO POLITICAL IDENTITY: MEXICOS DUAL NATIONALITY POLICY AND THE DREAM ACT.” Texas Hispanic Journal of Law and Policy (1) pp 74-98. 2005. Lee Youngro. “To dream or not to dream: a cost-benefit analysis of the development, relief, and education for alien minors (DREAM) act”. Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy. (16) pp 231-258. 2006. Maze Rick (2007). “Bill would grant citizenship for service”. Army Times. Online: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007. Retrieved on 24th August, 2011. Merino Noel. What rights should illegal immigrants have? Detroit: Greenhaven Press. 2010. Palacios Moses. “THE DREAM ACT EXPLAINED.” Journal of College Admission (206) pp 2. 2010. Pattison Mark. “DREAM Act defeated, advocates pledge to fight on.” National Catholic Reporter. (6) pp 13. 2011. Schmittroth Linda. “Immigration and illegal aliens: burden or blessing?” Detroit: Gale Group. 2004. Read More