In most cases, I do not like to be emotional when dealing with specific issues, since I believe being emotional tends to disturb making rational decisions. Thus I usually try to view those issues in the unattached manner if possible. The same rule applies to the immigration issue. During the past two weeks, I have learned the difficulties of undocumented immigrants; they cross the border to live, not having a choice to stay in and live peacefully as legal citizens of their own country. Still, it does not change the fact that they are ‘illegal’ in terms of the US immigration law. Therefore, I think it is not helpful enough just pitying them and trying to make them seem innocent by appealing to people’s emotions. Though they are victims of the dire law, they are victims who decided to violate it.
Of course, I understand their situation. I assume even my parents would choose to cross the border if my sister and I were dying of hunger. Also, as Mike Wilson told us, there exists the higher law of humanity above the US immigration law enacted by humans. Moreover, the process of trial such as operation streamline seems not legal or constitutional enough to gain legitimacy for criminalizing them. The points of dealing with those problems are, however, as I mentioned in the earlier post, to ameliorate the Mexican economy to give them more jobs, to guarantee humane treatment to them when they go through legal processes, and to make legal immigration process more accessible to them. What we should do is not to explain why they keep crossing the border illegally but to find out – and act – how to stop them from crossing the border illegally.
In that sense, REPAIR proposal drew my attention. While studying materials about the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act last week, I got to read one article about it. I soon became interested and researched more. REPAIR (Real Enforcement with Practical Answers for Immigration Reform) proposal is a bipartisan project proposed by Senators Schumer, Reid, Menendez, Leahy, Durbin and Feinstein on April 29, 2010. According to an article by Schumer and Graham, "the proposal contains four big pillars: “requiring biometric Social Security cards to ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs; fulfilling and strengthening our commitments on border security and interior enforcement; creating a process for admitting temporary workers; and implementing a tough but fair path to legalization for those already here.”
I believe it is a good approach to be made, though some specific contents are still disputable. It clearly states that undocumented immigrants are illegal and thus should be dealt with firm legal processes. On the other hand, it also offers those people opportunities to legally work and live in the US without waiting a few years for documents when their families are starving. Moreover, it awards green cards to immigrants who receive a PhD or master's degree from a U.S. university. I agree with Schumer and Graham on that “it makes no sense to educate the world's future inventors and entrepreneurs and then force them to leave when they are able to contribute to [the US] economy.”
I am not saying that I totally support this proposal. It does not deal with some deeply rooted causes of immigration problem such as NAFTA and Mexican economy. Biometric Social Security cards or stronger commitment on border security may seem too harsh to enact within a few years. Providing opportunities of getting green cards to college graduates may attract poor parents even more to cross the border with their children for their future. Yet I think some of its underlying purposes are still worth being considered further:
Immigration without documents is illegal and should be stopped – “for the 11 million immigrants already in this country illegally, we would provide a tough but fair path forward. They would be required to admit they broke the law and to pay their debt to society by performing community service and paying fines and back taxes. These people would be required to pass background checks and be proficient in English before going to the back of the line of prospective immigrants to earn the opportunity to work toward lawful permanent residence. The American people deserve more than empty rhetoric and impractical calls for mass deportation.”
However, while strictly dealing with the illegal immigration problem, the process of opening another door for people to find legal ways should also be accompanied – “ending illegal immigration cannot be the sole objective of reform. Developing a rational legal immigration system is essential to ensuring America's future economic prosperity.”
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