Opinion piece: An immigrant's take on the immigration issue in the USA
As in immigrant myself, I often get asked how I feel about the immigration crisis.
Now, I mentioned before that I am an immigrant, one who came here legally, possesses a green card, and is not a naturalized citizen. And as such, I do not feel it is my place to tell Americans how they should feel about immigration. Because I realize that as an immigrant, I do possess a certain bias. I try to be as objective as possible. But I'm only human. And humans tend to take sides with the people they identify with most. I cannot identify wholly with Americans, so I do not pretend to know their feelings. However, I can say with confidence that I know the immigration process far better than the majority of Americans because not only have I gone through it myself, I have helped many others through the process. So my (personal) opinions and conclusions are better rooted in fact than most Americans, who mostly base their opinions and conclusions on Fox News/MSNBC propaganda. So the two questions I often get asked: 1) Do you really think immigration reform is necessary? Yes. Our immigration system is broken, and not just in the way you think. I'm not just talking about dealing with illegals; the way we allow legal immigrants to enter this country is broken as well. You have no idea how freaking difficult, long, and drawn out it is to attain just an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) through the legal process, even if you are a skilled worker. There are people who applied for visas before I even came here (ten years ago) who are only just now getting their green card meeting. And do you know why they have to wait in line? Because if you marry an American, you get to skip that line and have your documents processed before all the people waiting in their respective countries. It's a family based privilege meant to keep families together, but it is so vague that it is very easily taken advantage of. And because of the influx of illegal immigrants exploiting this loophole by marrying Americans, the people who do things right get pushed back further and further. Sometimes waiting for up to 7 years for their approval of just an EAD. Also, if you marry and American and obtain a greencard, your unlawful time here is automatically waived. You don't get punished for it in any way. Not even a fine. It's almost like you're getting punished for doing the right thing and rewarded for breaking the law. I'm not excusing the actions of immigrants who go this route or the Americans who aid and abet them. But you have to admit it is tempting to break the law when gaining legal status is both easier and cheaper that way. Not only does the immigration system need to figure out what to do with undocumented immigrants here, they also need to mend their program in such a way that is isn't as easily exploited. If they make it harder to exploit a loophole, I guarantee you it will deter way more people from entering the country illegally. And we need to make it easier for immigrants to do it the right way, especially for skilled workers. 2)Do you support the DREAM act? Yes, and I'll tell you why: I graduated sixth in my class in high school. The girl who graduated second is also an immigrant. She worked her ass off. She was in every extra curricular activity, doing all the community service and making sure her grades were at the top of the class because she wanted to get into a top university to be an engineer. Do you know what she did up until a year ago? She worked at a warehouse. This girl had all the potential in the world to go above and beyond. But she was limited to a life of stunted potential because she had no legal status, no money to pay for college, and no real route to better herself. Not that there's anything wrong with working at a warehouse, but she wasn't even given a choice in the matter. She didn't even know she was here illegally until she tried to get a driver's license and her parents couldn't produce a SSN. She's been in this country since she was three. She grew up here, her friends and family are here, her life is here. America is all she knows. She is basically an American. It wasn't her choice to come here. And to the people who say that 'she should just go back home' are being unreasonable. You really think it is easy to go back to a foreign land that you know almost nothing about, with no money, no resources, no support, in some cases not even knowing the language? It's not. She's not like me. I'm the only one in my family here. I grew up in Trinidad. I have friends and family there. If I decided to go back home tomorrow, there's a warm bed, my dad's open arms, and a job waiting for me. But her? She's an American. She's an American who has been forced into the shadows because of the actions of her parents. And she should not be punished for it. Two years ago, when President Obama announced the Deffered Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) measure, my friend was filled with a bit of hope. And when her Employment card arrived in the mail, she cried. It meant so much to her to feel like she was finally a part of a country that she has spent her entire life in. She went out and got a SSN. She enrolled in community college, picking up where she left off almost five years ago. She learned to drive. She got a better job. She finally started to feel like she belonged. And yet, she is also filled with fear, because DACA can be revoked at any time. It is not a permanent remedy. It is just a bandaid. She and the countless others like her should not have to walk around with that fear. They should not have to fear being pushed back into the shadows. They should not have to pay for their parents mistakes. Do ALL undocumented immigrants deserve amnesty? I'm not an american, so I what I think they 'deserve' is irrelevant to most. But I cannot blame Americans for not wanting adult immigrants who knowingly broke the law to get here to become legal. Practically rewarding people for breaking the law does not always look good. However, I do not think people who were brought here as children were breaking the law. And I do think that they deserve to have their faces seen and their voices heard. Many of them are way more American than I will ever be.
