Immigration Reform

All freshmen students in Ms. Dunn’s English class have a new engaging and fascinating project called “You and the World”. For my “You and the World” topic, I chose immigration laws and reform. Why, you ask? I have been interested in immigration for a very long time. Firstly, my whole entire family immigrated to the United States from Russia before I was born. Including all of my siblings and cousins. That had me curious about the process of moving to a new country.

I went to a Jewish middle and elementary school. At school we learned a lot about the Holocaust and that sparked questions about where Jews and other groups of people went when they were persecuted in their hometowns. Surely they would not stay, but they also could not legally immigrate to most surrounding countries because Hitler had such a powerful influence. I started wondering about immigration and restrictions for those two reasons. Now onto to modern day USA immigration laws! Hoorah!

For several years now, the United States has had many disagreeing opinions about immigrants coming into the States; mostly feuds about Mexican immigrants crossing over the borders and living here illegally. There seem to be three major sides to the arguments about immigrants.

            The first being typically one of more conservative working-class citizens. These people believe that we need to act harshly and immediately take action towards removing illegal immigrants that are here already as well as enforcing very strict border protection. These people are mostly worried that there will not be enough job opportunities because these immigrants are taking all of the jobs.

            The next opinion is one of the most liberal kinds of people. They believe that it is cruel and inhumane to deport people from a country. This include not letting people in or out as well. They support the arguments that people have certain rights that they are always entitled to and to kick one out of a country would violate those intrinsic rights.

            Finally, there is a medium opinion. This side of the argument actually has Obama on their side as well! These people think we ought to apply the existing laws to all of the illegal immigrants that are here today, yet secure our borders as well. They want to keep the 12 million Mexican immigrants here, but not let any more in illegally. 

This image shows a sign that is by the Mexican/North American border. It is really unpleasant and cold. Though I am not particularly fond of it, I think it is quite necessary. 

In his first term president Barack Obama did not make many changes towards immigration reform. Yet this was not completely his fault. President Obama had tried to pass new laws yet congress would not pass them. However, this term President Obama really tried his best to appeal to Mexican and Hispanic voters. We still do not know whether he will stay true to his word, yet we all hope he will.

            In the past, Mexico and North America did not have such a great relationship. They could not communicate well and there were many disputes and they sparked much unpleasant publicity. However, the new president in Mexico is willing to take a different approach to compromising and the future seems bright.

            In my blogs to come, I will inform all of you about how immigrants will be affected and have been affected by immigration reform. I also hope to educate you about ways you can make a change. We will go through this process together, and I hope you enjoy learning about this crucial topic with me.