The term “illegal immigration” is one that speaks for itself. Whether said person legitimately crossed the border to get into the U.S or overstayed their visa, said person is illegally residing in the United States.
I don’t care if you’re pro-illegal immigration or pro-law. Either way, you cannot deny the fact that every single person living here illegally broke the law. Now, whether or not you can justify them breaking the law is a different story.
While this isn’t the first time its happened, the president at my university has made it explicitly clear that he supports and condones illegal immigration by supporting DACA. While this article is not meant to reflect solely on the words of my President, he serves as a great example as to what is wrong with this country politically.
Empathetically speaking, I would love for every hardworking illegal immigrant to be able to stay here and have a chance at the American Dream.
However, they haven’t a clue about the American Dream.
The American Dream I know and love is working hard and doing it the right way. How can these illegals say they’re working towards the American Dream when they started off on the completely wrong foot –– aka coming here illegally?
Even so, I don't believe these "dreamers" deserve to be here. I have dreams to be rich one day, does that justify me going to rob a bank?
Absolutely not!
In fact, for all you out there who think I’m heartless, I think the premise of DACA is realistic. How can we punish young adults who were brought here as a child by their parents? In a non-reality, we couldn’t.
However being that we live in a real world with real laws, we have no choice.
In order to qualify for DACA you, for one, have to have proof you were brought here under 16 years old.
Well, shocker!
Being that you’re here illegally is it beyond easy to forge documents of "proof." This causes chaos as our tax dollars are being spent to pay officials to determine whether or not the documents are legitimate, whether or not said person even qualifies, and whether or not we will we grant them permits. I-9 forms, which verify a person's identity, and give employment verification, are easily forged.
In fact, employers can be fined, jailed (for multiple "offenses") or court ordered to hire said individual if the employer looks into the employee too zealously before hiring them. Now, being that these forms are easily forged, imagine how easy it is to forge documents showing "proof" that you were brought to the U.S as a child!
There would be no end in sight for determining how the government would best crack down on this type of manipulative behavior.
Looking back to the words of my President, as an educator and priest I understand the message of love and unity that is trying to be conveyed. However, as someone who is educated and the President of a rather large university, his beliefs should reflect the law, not his personal sentiments.
Many colleges across the country have signed a document supporting DACA and its illegal students. What I would like to know is this: what makes it okay for all these school officials to blatantly disregard the law and get away with it?
When you condone illegal activity you are not one step closer to solving the problem. Rather, you’ve taken three steps back. Most universities encompass a vast amount of students who do receive federal aid, including me. Why should the government keep giving money to students who attend universities that are purposely ignoring the law?
The icing on the cake remains that President Trump is actually being criticized for his decision.
We are first and foremost a nation of laws. We can’t just make amends with the millions of people who broke the law (Yes, coming here ILLEGALLY is against the law).
While some may say that it was not the child's choice to come here (which I understand), I ask you this:
Say my dad stole four million dollars and deposited it into a bank account. My Dad passes away but my sisters and I now have access to his bank account and start spending all the stolen money.
Are we not held liable for all the money that we were given illegally?
If you follow CNN then you saw the story about the college student who was accidentally given a million dollars instead of a hundred. She already had spent thousands of dollars of it, yet now she is being held responsible for that money.
This is the same scenario. While young children may not have chosen to come here on their own, they nonetheless should be held accountable for their status as an immigrant. You may think I have no heart, and nothing I say will ever change your minds.
As much as I’d like to grant amnesty to the thousands of children that were brought over here without a choice, when will this broken cycle of immigration end? DACA will keep extending to cover all children. How long will DACA be able to last. More importantly, how long will the United States be able to last with the floods of illegal immigrants breaking our borders down?