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Immigration
During every presidential election and every presidential term, there has always been one major issue that has stood out. In recent times it has mainly been immigration, more specifically the immigration and deportation of Mexican or Latin immigrants who may or may not be protected by DACA. Immigration has always been a talking point in the United States, and although the majority of Mexican immigrants illegally arrived in America, the need for them is overlooked. Mexican illegal immigrants are not recognized for the positive political, social, economic, and historical impact they have on the United States, but should be.
America, during its early periods, was a nation that opened its doors to anyone who desired to live the American dream, and throughout American history, many people traveled to America in hopes of achieving that dream; however, it did not mean that every immigrant was actually welcomed. There are several instances where politicians created and passed laws in order to stop certain or most immigrants from becoming citizens or entering the country. Most recently in 2012, Congress decided to not pass the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (D.R.E.A.M.) Act that would have provided a way to obtain legal status for individuals who entered the United States illegally as children and were enrolled in college or in the military. Shortly after, the president at the time, Barack Obama signed off on the executive order called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to help those who were a part of the D.R.E.A.M Act or were trying to obtain legal status. DACA recipients are protected from deportation for a renewable two-year period to people who entered the United States before the age of sixteen, have lived in the U.S. since at least 2007, and have not committed a serious or repeated felony. It allows DACA recipients, many of whom arrived in the United States at a very young age they have no memory of their country of origin, to obtain drivers licenses, attend school, and obtain employment authorization or in other words to be able to be a regular person. More than 800,000 young people were granted deferred action under DACA, but on September 5, 2017, President Trump took these protections away as he stated he would during his political campaign.
All this was intended to satisfy the supporters of President Trump who had been misinformed throughout the 2016 presidential election about Mexican immigrants being the main issue plaguing America. The misinformation and misrepresentation of illegal immigrants as criminals who murder and smuggle drugs by politicians in order to not only gain support but also votes is not new as previous American politicians and Hitler similarly did the same. However, with a somewhat polarizing leader now in office it has caused a huge uproar from the whole nation and has caused politicians from both political parties to argue for more tolerant approaches on immigration, which may be a ruse for votes. Several arguments for tolerant approaches are that the Trump administrations actions threaten more than just immigrants coming into the country as the actions also threaten the future of not only DREAMers but also that of their children who did not have the opportunity to decide where they live.
Since the retraction of DACA, hundreds of thousands if not millions of families have been separated and torn apart as young people all over America are deported to countries that many have never known. While parents were in the process of deportation, thousands of families lost their children (who were younger than eighteen) to ICE, where they were held in conditions that were similar to concentration camps by several news outlets reported on the topic. Media similarly to politics uses immigrants as a means to receive attention by oftentimes misleading the audience with inaccurate information that does not tell the whole story of immigrants or by using the immigrant’s situations for a quick story. The public’s attitudes are not always completely shaped by media; however, in this age of technology, media has become a very powerful tool that can sway public opinion depending on the information that is shared. Depending on the type of media and the purpose behind them, they can either promote the criminalized image of immigrants and emphasize anti-immigrant rhetoric or they can help to better integrate Mexican immigrants and serve as a genuine source of information for the stories immigrants pose. By doing so it would counteract the misunderstanding and fear many Americans have of Mexican immigrants. To make sure that the human rights of immigrants both illegal and legal are protected an intercultural understanding needs to be built where diversity is seen as a positive experience all over America, not just in small cities. In addition to this people need to address the power of media and the effects they produce in the public conversation on immigration when news outlets publish a one-sided or inaccurate story involving immigrants or immigration.
Instead of viewing immigrants as something other than humans and as threats to the existing social order, as persuaded by politicians and media outlets, people need to see the increasing diversity of their home countries and recognize how it could improve societies. The Trump administration made it clear that the deportation of DREAMers who have not broken any laws is not a priority there are still major issues affecting DREAMers. Many DACA recipients have children who were born in the United States, therefore they are still U.S. citizens. If DREAMers are deported or denied the ability to work legally, their U.S.-born children will face financial instability and live in fear that their families can be separated at any moment. This will not only affect immigrants but also the economy. There is a very popular view in the minds of Americans that immigrants are taking jobs from American citizens. However, that is not completely true as immigrants increase the supply of labor by spending their wages on homes, food, TVs, and other goods and services. By doing so Mexican immigrants actually expand domestic economic demand. This increased demand generates more jobs to produce and sell the goods or services that immigrants purchase or are in need of. The increases in labor supply, also aid American-born workers to receive raises or higher positions rather than being replaced, since the less educated immigrants often lack the communication skills required for many jobs. This is why many immigrants take jobs in manual labor such as agriculture and construction. Even the low-skilled American workers in these industries take advantage of their communication abilities and switch to careers or positions where these skills are more valuable. However, without protection from deportation, DREAMers will not only lose the ability to further their education and work legally but they will also be denied the opportunity to pursue the American dream that everyone desires.
*They will also return to a pre-DACA period in which they must live in fear that any interaction with a government official could trigger the process of deportation, which causes less diversity within communities and fewer improvements to societies.*
(History) Americans hold widely divergent views on immigration, specifically, whether the government should offer a path to legal status to people who entered the United States illegally. The parents of DACA recipients entered the United States illegally for reasons that some, possibly many, Americans would find compelling or logical explanations. Other Americans, however, feel that the terrible or even unbearable conditions endured in the country of origin do not justify breaking the law. Yet, despite the different opinions, it is clear that the individuals who came to the United States as children, without volition, and often without knowledge or understanding (given their young age) that they were entering the country illegally, are here through no fault of their own. Children do not choose where they go or live meaning DREAMers technically are not lawbreakers as they have to an extent not committed a crime when they entered the United States. If it is true to believe, as the U.S. Supreme Court has held that children should not be penalized for the acts of their parents (Maldonado), it is difficult to justify the removal of the protections extended under DACA as …anything, but malicious and an abandonment of humanity or willfully blind to the harm these policies will unnecessarily inflict (Maldonado) on DACA recipients, their families, and Latino communities. The majority of DACA recipients are from Mexico, but would the Trump administration have overruled DACAs protections if its recipients were mainly Caucasian?
Works Cited
- Cooper, Tom. Daca: US Supreme Court Seems to Back Trump on Key Immigration Case. BBC News, BBC, 12 Nov. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50397928. Accessed 10 Nov. 2019.
- Fernandez, Valeria, and Jude Joffe-Block. She Raised Her Niece like a Daughter. Then the US Government Separated Them at the Border. The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 Oct. 2019, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/25/family-separation-trump-immigration-nonparents. Accessed 10 Nov. 2019.
- Maldonado, Solangel. Punishing Dreamers for the Sins of the Fathers (and Mothers). Family Court Review, vol. 56, no. 2, Apr. 2018, pp. 353354. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/fcre.12347. Accessed 10 Nov. 2019.
- Platt, Spencer. US Held a Record Number of Migrant Kids in Custody in 2019. CNBC, CNBC, 12 Nov. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/11/12/us-held-a-record-number-of-migrant-kids-in-custody-in-2019.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2019.
- Shoichet, Catherine E., and Tal Kopan. DACA, Dreamers Explained. CNN, Cable News Network, 26 Oct. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/09/04/politics/daca-dreamers-immigration-program/index.html.
- Tareen, Sophia. As Trump Expands Deportation Powers, Immigrants Prepare. AP NEWS, Associated Press, 27 July 2019, apnews.com/7a8cca3f25384ab084f8c35faa3c683f. Accessed 10 Nov. 2019.
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