1 Jajaira Flores Social work 101 sect: 002 Immigration reform 10/04/2013 Immigration Reform The United States

is one country that offers many opportunities that several other countries dont offer. As human beings, we all possess a common goal, and that is to be happy in the lives that we are living. How we all define happiness could be different for each individual and how we all pursuit happiness could also be different for each individual. For citizens of the United States, we have opportunities that people living in poverish countries hear about, and then they dream about having themselves. What is unfortunate is that most citizens do not realize how privileged we are to be living in a country where we have many freedoms, freedoms that include the liberty to pick our religion, and the liberty to voice our opinions about our government without running the risk of being imprisoned or being killed. So, why do many still wonder why immigrants want to flee their country and come here? To this day, Americans whose whole lives have been in this country, and have only known this country still ask that question, but will never understand the answer unless they put aside their ignorance and put themselves in the shoes of people who quite possibly have never been able to afford a pair of shoes. Immigration is not a topic that this country is new to. It is a little trivial to think that the people of this country want to keep out the kind of people that found this country in the first place, immigrants. As early as around 1500, the first settlers arrived from the

2 European countries. For those who say that immigrants are a threat to this country, it is a bit senseless to say because, except for those who are full Native American, we are all from immigrant decent. The United States gained its territory in a malicious and violent deletion of the native people, yet the Americans still believes that this country is rightfully theirs, and its harmful for the United States for immigrants to want to enter it. It is also little hypocritical that the dreams of good fortune and prosperity of the Promise land that inspired the Europeans to search for the New World, are the same dreams that the government is trying to take away from immigrants today. Most immigrants come here to escape poverty and oppression. They come to America in search for their happiness. It is estimated that there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. With these many illegal immigrants, it would be impossible to find them all one by one and evict them out of the country. The easiest solution would be to offer them an opportunity for legalization, permanent residence and citizenship. Many would say that this solution is too rash and it would basically be like rewarding them for breaking our countrys laws. The best way to go about this proposal would be to only award those with residency and citizenship after they go through vigorous background checks and pay fines. Those who have been incarcerated for violent crimes or drug crimes would be the ones not eligible. Fines should be reasonably high, but people should be given adequate time to pay them off. People awarded should also have been here for a certain amount of years and with some type of acceptable documents to prove that they have been here the number of years they claim to have been.

3 This law should also pertain to those who have over stayed their visas. Overstaying their visas should not be considered a crime, but should be considered a punishable act. They should also go through the same conditions to achieve permanent residence, but perhaps pay a higher fine for knowingly staying after their visa has expired. This law should only pertain to the people who have entered the country as children and attended school here for most of their lives. It goes without saying that there would be plenty of people who would be against this idea. Some could argue that it could cause bigger problems such as less American jobs left for born and raised American citizens. But in actuality, the kind of jobs immigrants take are tough, menial jobs, jobs the average American citizen would not want to do, such as fieldwork. That argument would be an invalid argument to make, considering that if an American citizen was given a choice between working in a fast food restaurant for minimum wage, or working in a field picking vegetables all day in the hot sun for less than minimum wage, chances are they would pick working in a fast food restaurant. Another way that can help with the immigration reform would be to keep track of the 40% of immigrants who enter legally. A special system should be made where each individual is being tracked with the date the visa was issued and the date it expired. Individuals would need to call into immigration once a month that way immigration would be able to check on their whereabouts. If they decide to travel within the U.S, they will also have to let immigration know. Once their visa is approaching the expiration date, immigration will let them know to either start the process for renewing, or start residency applications if possible. If the individual does not check in or if immigration is

4 not able to locate them and there is no record of them returning to their native country, a warrant for their arrest should be made. It is also largely debated if immigrants help or hurt our nations agricultural businesses. There is a lot of evidence to support that immigrants do, in fact help with our nations agricultural business for cheap labor. Not only in agriculture, but cheap labor in other regions of our country. In recent decades undocumented immigrants have shifted away from transmutation in temporary jobs in agriculture and are settling in an array of cities throughout the country and finding work in a variety of economic sectors. In 2013 construction, manufacturing, meatpacking, food service, and maintenance are large sectors that are huge contributors to the U.S economy, and are also employers of immigrant workers. In 2012 construction spending in the U.S. totaled $857 billion. Builder Jacobs Engineering reported nearly $11 billion in revenue in 2012. Construction and maintenance giant Fluor Corporation reported revenues of $27.6 billion in 2012. Meat producer Tyson Foods reported $33 billion in revenue in fiscal 2012. In the U.S. major businesses have a stake in promoting immigration reform as an economic priority. Doug Oberhelman, Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar, Inc. earned $65.9 billion in revenues in 2012 and has emerged as a pro-reform advocate. Providing consistent, reliable access to both high-skilled and low-skilled talent is critical to sustain our nations global competitiveness in many industries including healthcare, technology, manufacturing, hospitality, and tourism. We need reform that will provide opportunities for immigrants and foreign students to enter the U.S. and our workforce legally, attracting

5 and keeping the best, the brightest, and the hard working. He announced during a public event. In his blog, Univision correspondent Fernando Espuelas, explains The Senate bill is a legislative solution that will help grow our economy, create more jobs and bring 11 million people out of the shadows. The bill not only enjoys broad, bipartisan consensus in the Senate, but also has the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the largest employee unions, while businesses from Silicon Valley to the industrial heartland are clamoring for an immigration system that satisfies the real-world needs of an America with aging demographics and anemic economic growth. When it comes down to it, there is too much money spent on border control, and its not working. People who are coming to this country are coming to work, and their work can contribute to this nations economy. The money being wasted on border control should instead be spent on creating and easier pathway for the immigrants already in this country who truly deserve it. Most Americans believe that immigrants will steal our jobs, depress our wages, and are a net drag on the economy. According to Ben Powell, Professor of Economics at Suffolk University, when immigrants come, they largely complement our towns; they don't substitute for us. The immigration reform will create new jobs for U.S citizens and undocumented immigrants. President Obama's book, Change We Can Believe In, states that small businesses are the engine source of our economy, which means millions of immigrants will start up their own business due to their eagerness of progressing. In fact, according to the White House blog, immigrants create businesses and file patents at a much higher rate than native-born residents do.

6 If people do their research on their concerns of the immigration reform, instead of basing off really harsh opinions centered on their own thoughts, perhaps they could have a change of heart. Also, trying to understand why people want to come to this country instead of staying where they are from could make a difference. Sure, along with a lot of the positives that the immigration reform could bring, there are also negatives that come along with it. But, perhaps what this country needs is this exact change. This country was built on values and dreams, and turning away the immigration reform would be a challenge to those exact values and dreams.

7 Works cited Veloz, Jendelley. "Immigration reform will create new jobs, increase wages, and lower the deficit.." Policymic. Mic network, 01 10 2013. Web. 3 Oct 2013. <http://www.policymic.com/articles/65711/immigration-reform-2013-will-create-newjobs-increase-wages-and-lower-the-deficit>. Wendell, Johny Angel. "The "Do Nothing" solution to illegal immigration.." San Francisco Bay Guardian Online. N.p., 17 05 2013. Web. 3 Oct 2013. <http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2013/05/17/do-nothing-solution-illegal-immigration>. Flannery, Nathaniel Parish. "Immigration Debate: Whats more important, border security, or protecting immigrant workers?." Forbes. 2013 forbes.com, 09 09 2013. Web. 3 Oct 2013. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanielparishflannery/2013/09/09/immigration-debatewhats-more-important-border-security-or-protecting-immigrant-workers/>.