The issue of an amendment to the
immigration laws is not a new topic. For years, it has been discussed in the
Senate and the House of Representatives, but these discussions have shed light
on what kind of clear immigration reform is the most suitable in these crucial
moments in the country. While it is true that a comprehensive reform of
immigration law imply a huge expense for the federal government, it is equally
true that prevailing the immigration law (the undocumented harassment by
immigration authorities and the authorities of the border’s neighboring cities,
civil rights violations, deportations, night raids, civilian volunteers,
helicopters, thousands of troops stationed in the various border crossings), is
dysfunctional.
The federal government spends
billions of dollars each year to protect our borders, but in recent years the
traffic and smuggling of firearms have gone up steeply on both side of the borders.
This means that the cost of immigration reform could be less than the costs
that the federal government currently spends on repatriations.
What is now being discussed in
the Senate is the process of legalization of more than 11 million undocumented
immigrants. I think that an intelligent way to solve this national problem
should be viewed from the humanitarian point of view, rather than feeling like
you are rewarding the lawbreakers. There are people living in this country for over
25 years illegally, who have fathered families and their children and grandchildren
are U.S. citizens; and it is not their fault that their parents and grandparents
are undocumented. It is the case of Dreamers, American Students who cannot obtain
financial aid or the recognition from universities to study what they want, due
to their undocumented status.
Recently, in these past months nine
young Dreamers were arrested in Arizona while participating in hunger strike,
defying immigration policies. Lawmakers and immigration authorities do not
understand the reality of the problem, they do not understand that every time
one of these young people are deported, they are in an unfamiliar country, confronted
with a language they may not speak well. And the worst part of this is, that they
often come to live with relatives who they do not know.
President Barack Obama recently
said that there is nothing to prevent “a common sense” Immigration Reform to be
approved before the summer ends. Similarly, He stressed that "there is not
a good reason to go into games or use any obstructionism to block now the only and
best chance we've had in years to address this problem in a fair way to the middle
class families, for employers and for legal immigrants."
Hopefully Republican and Democratic
lawmakers will soon reach a two-party agreement among themselves, to stop postponing
the long-awaited and expected immigration reform.
By: Eddy Ulerio
Photo: Google Images
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